The Farmers Mart Feb-Mar 2023 - Issue 85 | Page 48

The farming enterprise at Bank House Farm runs to 1500 acres which is half-owned and the other half contracted and rented through family connections . James & Matthew are the farming partnership .

Matt said it was his and James ’ father who added the dairy operation to the farm 50 years ago this year .

“ Our father , John , stuck the dairy farm on to the arable unit in 1973 having bought the farm 10 years previously . He added the dairy farm because he had been struggling to acquire further arable land , so he needed another income stream and the dairy cows helped provide it .

“ We have 220-head of cows today . They are predominantly Holstein with a bit of Ayrshire and we have been being breeding a bit of Friesian in to give them a bit of stature and type . Our average cow yield per lactation is currently 8500 litres , which has reduced , but our milk from forage has gone up .

“ We get them out around the middle of March if the weather is favourable and they are generally out 7-8 months . The low yielders came in on 11 December 2022 .

“ We use sexed semen on the younger cows as the genetics are better from the younger stock . We used a bull called Inch Brilliant last year , which was more a Friesian type . We use British Blue on the older cows and sweep up with two Angus bulls . Our bull calves leave anywhere from a week old to 6 weeks .

Matt said that the recent good run for milk prices , that looks likely to fall back a little at present , really needs to be maintained .

“ We need prices to be like they have been recently for another 5-10 years to take up all the losses we have suffered previously .

James looks after the arable enterprise that sees half the land down to winter wheat this year .

“ We ’ ve 750 acres of winter wheat with Extase and Siskin as our first wheats , hopefully making Group 2 for biscuits , taking up around 400 acres and Lantern and Shabras as second wheats making up the rest . Lantern is a cross of Relay which was a really good second wheat .

“ Our land type goes from heavy to sandy and silty and is all below sea level . Our average yield is between 3.5 to 4 tonnes per acre for wheats . We spot treat any blackgrass .

“ Winter barley makes up 70 acres and we utilise the straw for the cows . We also have 150 acres of spring barley variety Planet to sow . We use a bit of barley or wheat for the cows and youngstock .

“ Oilseed Rape is across 300 acres and like everyone else we suffer a bit with flea beetle . Our other cropping will be 70 acres of spring beans ; 130 acres of maize ; and 120 acres of rotational grass . We also let 30 acres for potatoes .

“ On heavy land we go with two consecutive wheats and then rape or beans or grass , but on lighter soils we are just one wheat and a break , because there ’ s quite a lot of maize and grass in there .

James says the only annual ploughing is now for maize .

“ We are still using a combination drill because sometimes we need to knock the soil over again .

“ The only things we use contractors for is a bit of muckspreading and silage baling .

“ We ’ ve added to the farming enterprise by buying little parcels of land locally and by taking on short and long term tenancies to expand it , which allows us to keep up with the times with the size of kit .

“ Our uncle David Brooke decided to retire 15 years ago . That ’ s when we took on the contract farming of his farm .

“ We are in an ELS scheme . We have some flower rich margins and wild bird cover and grass margins around the big ditches . We are currently looking into the other , newly released schemes

Sam spent a year in New Zealand , just getting back last year . He was working for a silage contractor and got to look around quite a lot of dairy farms . He says their systems are completely different to the UK .

“ Their herds are bigger in number , but they don ’ t have the infrastructure that UK dairy farms have .

“ One thing they are doing is they are using a lot of drones to advertise their farming operations over there . I have now bought myself one and have filmed a lot here , including harvesting and the cows grazing . I then upload on Facebook and Instagram to advertise our raw milk and milkshakes .

Proud to support Bank House , wishing them continued success .

Dairy Equipment www . griffinsdairyequipment . co . uk

Family-run dairy engineering and farm supplies business operating in East Derbyshire , Leicestershire , Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire

Call us on 01476 575447 ( Office ) or 07980 584856 ( Mobile )