28 LANCE DALE & SON FEB / MAR 2021 • farmers-mart . co . uk
150 acres of Concerto spring barley ; 25 acres of maize ; and 15 acres of fodder beet I graze the cattle on . I also grow 30 acres of overwintered stubble and have 6 metre strips around all of the fields . My land is largely red clay , with some lighter land for barley and potatoes , that are grown by another farmer .’
‘ My cows are out all winter on stubble turnips and fodder beet that I put into standing barley and because they are outside they are fitter , as they are getting the exercise .’
Pip runs a Case and a John Deere tractor , a Manitou forklift telehandler and a Claas combine harvester . He brings in Dowsons of Pickering to handle jobs when needed and has a lad from the village who helps with the cattle occasionally . One of his nephews , one of Mike ’ s sons also lends a hand .
He ’ s also an inventor ! Pip came up with his unique cattle catcher – basically a crate with no bottom that he attaches to the front of his Manitou to put over errant cattle that won ’ t come readily to his heed or call . He ’ s sold it to many farms throughout the UK . It ’ s well worth getting in touch with him to see this in action .
‘ I came up with it because I had cows calving outside and most of the time I ’ m dealing with them on my own . This offers greater safety when you have cattle that are being stupid or are simply having a hard time , which as we all know can happen .’
Pip has been with his wife Liz for 20 years . They married in 2004 . He was also a rally driver in the 1970s and 80s and took part in the British Rally Championship .
‘ I think I made a better rally driver than a farmer ,’ he says , but nonetheless he is all set for another go at taking the Christmas Fatstock title again this year and has his own feelings about the beef sector .
‘ I ’ m not greedy but it would be great to win again . We need better publicity of the beef trade and the live market . We also need everyone getting behind it . What I particularly liked about James ( Glaves ) was that he took a proper look at every beast and touched every single one to check them all .’