26 LANCE DALE & SON FEB / MAR 2021 • farmers-mart . co . uk
PIP WINS AGAIN AT YORK
LIVESTOCK MARKET AFTER 41 YEARS
Chris Berry talks with Pip Dale of The Willows in Skirpenbeck .
WHEN Pip Dale was awarded champion at the York Auction Centre Christmas Fatstock Show in December 2020 it was hard for him to suppress his smile .
‘ It ’ s the first time I ’ ve won in 41 years !’ was the beaming response of the man who farms across 450 acres in several locations but with the home farm at The Willows in Skirpenbeck only a short distance from the livestock market .
As I was at Murton myself , providing voiceovers and interviews for the mart ’ s new online platform to show highlights of the day , I was able to hear Pip ’ s thoughts before judge James Glaves of the family butchers at Brompton by Sawdon started his rounds of the pens . Pip already had a twinkle in his eye . He didn ’ t want to presume , but he knew he had a good ‘ un . He ’ d bought it and fed it with the championship in mind . After winning I talked with him again .
‘ I ’ d had a buyer look out for one for me . When I asked James ( Glaves ) what he thought as he was judging , he said he could see that I knew already I had a good chance . Years ago when I won with my brother Mike we had also won the two years previously , so maybe I ’ d better start looking for one for next year now .’
At 73 Pip still handles most of the work on the farm . He has a suckler herd of 60 cows and with bought-in stock for fattening he has 300-400 cattle on the farm at any one time , with around 500-600 throughput each year .
‘ I vary between selling live at York and selling direct deadweight . I ’ ve been topping the market regularly . I try to buy mainly second grade ( R grade ) heifer cattle at around 12-14 months , mainly Limmie X and a few Charolais from Hexham and St Boswells . I bring in around 20 every fortnight , which I feed for 5-6 months and aim to get them to U grade . My show beast , which was 18 months old and 484 kilos liveweight , sold at 545p / kilo and killed out at 73 per
RE & A DOWSON & SON
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Tel : 01751 473267 Richard : 07774 843659 Matthew : 07798 862342 Bungalow Farm , Middleton , Pickering , North Yorkshire , YO18 8PB
cent . I ’ ve been told the way we do it the beef tastes fantastic and do a good trade with butchers like Peter Hogg of Fletcher ’ s in Norton and David Wilson in Huntington .’
Pip ’ s feed includes Traffordgold from KW Alternative Feeds , part of AB Agri .
‘ I feed using a mix in a Hi Spec wagon that includes baled grass silage , barley , Seda syrup wheat by-product , Trafford Gold , maize and minerals . I work off an average cost of around £ 15 a week per beast .’ Pip ’ s suckler herd is Limousin X Salers . ‘ The Salers is a good calving breed . It ’ s wide in the pelvis and I ’ ve had them for 10 years . We start calving in March and it carries dribbling on throughout the year . Their calves are up on their feet straight away , good and fit . We had one that calved outside and in the morning the cow was running around and the calf looked after itself . They ’ re also fetching a good price in the market . I had one that I bred , a Salers bullock of about 18 months , out of our cows that made 5p short of £ 1900 in October 2020 .’
‘ What cattle give you , different to other businesses , is something to sell all year round . They grow and increase in value if you do it right . I get a cheque every week in return for what I ’ m doing .’
Pip and his brother Mike ran the farm from being 19 and 22 respectively . They bought Bank House Farm in 1977 and split their partnership in 2003 . The Willows has always been tenanted from the Darley Estate in Buttercrambe . Pip owns 25 acres at Bank House and 42 acres at High Catton .
‘ Today I have 450 acres with 320 acres here at The Willows plus another 55 acres off the estate between Scrayingham and Buttercrambe that I take silage off . This year I have 75 acres of Gravity winter wheat , which I still had in store from 2019 as we couldn ’ t get it sown ; and will have
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