The Farmers Mart Jun/Jul 2015 - Issue 40 | Page 54

Maltby Grange
Martin’s passion for dairying
goes back to his grandfather,
James Brecon. He milked
cows and one of Martin’s few
regrets is that they hadn’t still
been around when he was old
enough to carry on.
“Cows are in my blood but
unfortunately, owing to ill health
he had to sell them when I was
10 years old. I would have loved
to be a dairy farmer and after
I had finished my studies at
Askham Bryan College I had a
look at restarting the herd but
the costs of setting up made it a
non-starter.
“I am passionate about
working with the dairy sector to
try and resolve the issue where
supermarkets are using milk as
a loss leader.”
Martin has a wind turbine that
provides electricity for his farm
as well as an additional income.
He is concerned that upland
farmers are not given the same
opportunity.
“The National Parks and
the National Trust could do a
lot more for upland farmers.
My feeling is that they are not
getting their own fair bite of the
cherry by not being allowed
to diversify in the way many
of us can – for instance with
renewable energy sources
such as wind turbines and solar
panels. National parks don’t get
the fact that there are only so
many B&Bs and 4WD training
centres that can be run before
you reach saturation point
and that other diversifications
should be pursued in order to
assist in creating much needed
income.”

Martin’s mother, Margaret,
married Middlesbrough
lemonade maker, John
Lowcock, who purchased
another farm, Upper Farm in
the neighbouring village of
Thornton to bring about the
acreage Martin runs today.
Simmentals provide the base
to his 140-strong suckler
herd.
“They’re a quiet breed and
I have a real emphasis on
temperament. They are long,
rangy cows that are great to
deal with and are wonderful
milky mums. I sell pretty much
all my cattle at Northallerton
market as stores and retain the
decent heifers as replacements.
The heifers go to a Hereford
bull for first calving. I was
using Aberdeen Angus but
the Herefords fit the bill better.
I have four bulls now. Two
Herefords and two Simmental.
I’m looking to take our herd
number up to 200 cows.”
The arable side of the
business sees Martin growing
wheat, spring barley, lucerne,
red clover and rye grass.
He explained: ‘”Our land is
heavy clay loam that is good for
wheat growing and grassland.
We are presently growing 120
acres of wheat and stick to
the big barn filler varieties of
Revelation, Relay and JB Diego.
It’s grade 2 land here and
we achieve between 3 to 3.5
tonnes per acre.
“Spring corn has got my
son Tom very excited. We are
growing 17 acres of spring
barley. After ploughing in the
autumn the land is left to work

54 Jun/Jul 2015 www.farmers-mart.co.uk

itself down and drilling can
take place in hopefully more
favourable conditions in the
spring. At just 18, Tom has found
that using the wether to break
the land down saves time and
fuel with less chemical imput.
It’s great that a teenager is
learning the old, traditional way
of farming. Seems we’ve come
round full circle!”
Lucerne and red clover is
grown to feed to the cows.
“They both tick a number
of boxes. They have a good
tap root, they give the land a
break, help fix nitrogen and
need minimum input. Our
rotation is two wheats, red
clover or lucerne, two wheats,
two year grass ley and then two
wheats. The barley fits in when
needed.”
Conservation and wildlife
habitat is another area dear to
Martin’s heart.
“Long before stewardship
schemes came along, I was
planting and growing miles
of hawthorn hedges with
holly in between hedges,
but I then went into ELS and
planted even more. As my cow
numbers have grown we have
taken more land out of arable
and put it into grass and that
means some of my fields are
now far too big for livestock. I’d
like to plant further hedges in
order to cut the fields into two
or three sections.”
Martin believes that the
creation of hedges has not just
added to the eco-friendly side
of his farm, it also saved him
substantially during the very
wet year in 2012.
“Hedges are the hub of
wildlife creation but during that
year my losses would have
been far greater if my cows and
their calves hadn’t been able to
shelter behind a decent hedge,”
he said.
Birds of all kinds have
also benefitted from Martin’s
hedgerows and wild flower
mixes.

‘Upland
farmers need
to divers