The Farmers Mart Jun/Jul 2015 - Issue 40 | Page 39
Julian and Linda Thompson
farming and William never
stops chattering and asking
questions.
Today, Julian farms some
1,000 acres – 500 acres of
corn, an important money
generator, and of these he sows
300 for himself and 200 acres
for other people. In addition,
he has 1,000 breeding sheep
and up to 150 head of cattle
at any one time, headed up by
his prize bull, Gordon. It takes
about two hours for Julian to go
round all his land and can often
mean doing 20 to 25 miles!
I asked him how all this
came about: “It all started
really in 2009 when I bought
a secondhand Square Baler,”
he explained. “Very soon word
travelled and I was being asked
to bale for other people.”
He initially did a small 25
acre baling job, he was looking
at hiring a combine but Julian
said he could do it which to
Julian cutting 500 acres of
corn for him. Linda has been a
constant support to him even
to the point of following behind
the wrapper with a huge knife
as the wrap wouldn’t separate
and cutting by hand! Last year
he did some 15,000 bales.
‘Very soon word
travelled and
I was being
asked to bale for
other people’
Word of mouth has really
helped Julian’s contracting side
and that has continued to grow,
but this means new and better
machinery, for which Julian has
a real passion. The downside of
this is financing it all and initially
not having anything to trade in.
Early on he bought an ex demo
FENDT for £45,000 and says he
wishes he had bought two of
these tremendous workhorses.
Things are now moving in the
right direction and he recently
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Taylors agriculture
(Northumberland) ltd
Agricultural merchant
TEL. 07834363042 Email. [email protected]
East Benridge Farm, Morpeth, Northumberland, Ne61 3rz
www.farmers-mart.co.uk Jun/Jul 2015 39