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“ Our farming enterprise at Crathorne is made up of an estate farm , on which we are tenants and contract farmers , which is owned by my cousin ; plus a 300 acre farm we bought in the early 1980s ; plus another 300 acre farm we bought in 2018 .
“ That sees us with 600 acres we own ; we contract farm 900 acres ; and we are tenants on the rest which runs to around 1000 acres , giving us an overall farming acreage of 2500 acres .
Crathorne Farms ’ enterprise is arable and dairy with 1800 acres of arable cropping and 700 acres of grass . The Dugdales have increased both the arable area farmed and the dairy herd to 440 milkers since Joe came back .
“ We have grown the farm in terms of cow numbers and area farmed . We ’ re also much more focused now on soil health and raising livestock to benefit both the arable and grassland enterprises .
Joe says the work on soil health runs right across the farming acreage whether arable crops or grasses and he ’ s trying new methods and new crops .
“ Our swards are made up of late perennial ryegrass and three or four varieties of white clover . We have just started integrating more diverse swards including legume rich leys of plantain , chicory , red clover , white clover and various others .
“ We are also outwintering heifers on arable land where we plant kale and short-term grasses so that we can integrate the livestock with the arable land to start trying to put some fertility back into the soil .
“ Our arable mix includes wheat , barley , oilseed rape , winter beans , oats and we are in the second year of growing crop a called Ahi flower . It is a hedgerow plant called corn gromwell and is part of our sustainability drive . It is high in Omega 3 , 6 and 9 oils . It ’ s an up and coming alternative to fish oil . There are some really interesting projects going on as to why it is a superior product .
“ We like it in a soil-focused rotation because it is a really good broadleaf break crop that we can direct drill in autumn . We drill it in between starting oilseed rape and cereals . We harvest it at the end of June or early July and that gives us an opportunity to plant a huge biomass catch crop between then and drilling winter wheat .
“ We grow on contract for a company called Nature ’ s Crops based in York and we have nearly 90 acres in the ground this time .
“ Our land type is 80 per cent Grade 3 silty clay loam , then a bit of Grade 4 . Overall our winter wheats have averaged about 3.75 tonnes per acre for the last 3-4 years .
“ We import a lot of muck , all slurries . That is the cornerstone of the enterprise .
Joe says they are also trying new methods with their traditional arable crops too , and with some success .
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“ This year ’ s cropping includes around 900 acres of winter wheat with half of what we ’ ve got in the ground this year a 4-way variety mix of Grafton , Parkin , Costello & Gleam . We also have them as single varieties , plus Dorsum .
“ We tried the 4-way last year with a similar mix and found it seemed to be a more resilient crop against fungal disease . We also didn ’ t suffer any yield penalty and we were able to drop a fungicide spray . It just required less babysitting
“ Our winter barley is around 200 acres and has similar yields to the wheat . We use a small amount for feed for the cattle .
“ We grow quite a bit of rape straight after wheat , and rape makes up 350 acres . We leave a very long stubble that
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we direct drill the rape into and make sure we digestate all the rape land . It seems to work as a deterrent to flea beetle . We are growing 150-200 acres of oats for Quaker .
“ We are in our second year of winter beans . We are trying to move away from what I call yellow store crops in the rotation which is wheat , barley , rape , wheat , beans , wheat , ahi flower / oats . What I want to do is get to a 6-year rotation and drop barley and oats , so that every break crop is a non-cereal crop . We are direct drill .
Joe says there have been changes to the way the dairy herd is today , and not just in the numbers .
“ We ’ ve been crossbreeding for a lot of years and since I ’ ve come home we
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have gone to a smaller animal . We ’ re now averaging 6500 kilos per lactation and we ’ re using a lot of New Zealand breeding .
“ The herd is 75 per cent Friesian and 25 per cent Jersey . Our milk goes to Wensleydale Creamery on a solids contract . Our cows weigh 520 kilos and we want them to do that in milk solids every year .
“ Our aim is to maximise milk from grazed grass and the cows graze , if the weather allows , from the end of January . In 2022 they were housed by mid-November . It ’ s clay land , but we have focused on infrastructure so we have a good network of cow tracks . If the weather is marginal we graze for only a few hours that day .
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