The Farmers Mart Jun-Jul 2020 - Issue 69 | Page 42

42 NETHER HAUGH FARM JUN/JUL 2020 • farmers-mart.co.uk
GOING DIRECT IS THE
KEY AT NETHER HAUGH
Chris Berry talks farmgate and Facebook sales with Nick Grayson.
SELLING direct to the consumer
certainly cuts out the need for
others in the chain having to take
their own cut out of what is being
produced and that’s how Nick
Grayson sees it at Nether Haugh
Farm near Rotherham where he
is looking to make his mark by
selling beef, pork and lamb.
He’s already had recent
success with his boxed lamb,
selling out of his stock by the
middle of April, and believes that
life has changed from the days
when his father sold free range
eggs from the farm gate.
‘I’d say over 90 per cent of our
sales came from posting lamb
availability on our Facebook
page. People are now more
concerned than ever over where
food is coming from and
they like buying local. They
also like learning more
about different breeds.’
‘This year’s lamb will
come from our small flock
made up of Herdwick,
Ryeland, Swaledale,
Whitefaced Woodland and
South Down ewes. We’ve
used a South Down tup
across the whole flock
instead of the Suffolk tup
and the South Down X lambs
are growing like weeds, big and
strong! Our customers will enjoy
some great lamb from them
shortly.’
Nick studied agriculture and
business studies at Aberystwyth
University. He recalls how he
approached his father about
having livestock other than
poultry at Nether Haugh before
he arrived in Wales.
‘I said I was going to rural Wales
to study agriculture and that
I’d get laughed at when I told
anyone that the only livestock we
had on the farm was chickens.
That’s how we started with a
pure bred Salers herd taking on
half a dozen initially.’
‘Today we have a herd of 18
breeding cows plus followers
that are a cross of Salers and
Aberdeen Angus and calve in
April. The Salers are fabulous
mothers and are fantastic for
easy calving. The Angus influence
sees the calves race on in growth.
We’re now closer to three-quarter
Angus than pure Salers and
we’ve done well selling steers at
Holmfirth livestock market in the
past year or so.’
Pork is now available as another
farm gate and Facebook-touted
purchase from Nether Haugh
as Nick added two pedigree
Saddleback sows to his livestock
enterprise last October that came
with 10 weaners.
‘Both sows farrowed recently
and we’re very happy with their
litters. We have both pork and
lamb advertised on our farm gate
and on social media.’
‘We are very much into flying
the flag for all British and Yorkshire
home produce. I just hope that
the surge in interest from people
during lockdown in farmers shops,
farm gate sales, village shops and
local convenience stores carries
on in the future.’
‘My father, Richard, gave up his
free-range eggs business selling
from the farm gate 15 years ago.
During lockdown we had dozens
of enquiries about whether we still
produced them, yet we haven’t
had them here for ages. If there
was the same interest then as
there is today in locally produced
food we’d probably still have been
in the egg business. Personally,
I think farming spent more time
chasing yield than it did in thinking
about selling less for more. People
are interested in things like rare
breeds these days and they like
the taste of native breed meats
with a bit more fat on them that
add to the flavour.’
Arable land and grassland make
up Nick’s acreage. His arable
crops would normally have
included 50 acres each of winter
wheat, winter barley and a spring
break crop. Unfortunately, the
rains of last autumn and winter
have led to just 35 acres of spring
barley to feed his cattle and 20
acres of winter wheat sown at the
end of January that he now wishes
he hadn’t bothered trying to
establish. He’s recently returned
to the plough for cultivation work
using a Dowdeswell that had been
sat idle in a field for a number of
years.
‘We’ve ploughed everything on
the farm in the past three years
for the first time in twenty,’ says
Nick. ‘It needed doing as a goodly
proportion is reclaimed open cast
blue clay of grades 4 to 5. Turning
it all over and starting again was
the best way.’
Nick tenants the 200-acre
Nether Haugh Farm in the
hamlet of Nether Haugh that
his great-grandfather came to
in 1929 and that his father had
taken on in 1989. Nick took over
the farm when his father passed
away seven years ago. He and
his wife Carys have plans way
beyond their aspiring boxed meat
enterprise.
‘We are keen on regenerational
agriculture, including rotational
grazing and direct drilling, particularly
having read American farmer
Gabe Brown’s book ‘Dirt to Soil’
and in an attempt to get the soil as
right as we can. Carys and I also
believe in education of food and
farming. We have recently paired
up with LEAF through an inner city
primary school in Liverpool. We
are sending them videos to share
what is happening here. One of
our other ideas is to start an inner
city farm shop, taking the farm
and produce to the people.’
And that’s not all. With an eye
on their pork produce Nick and
Carys recently purchased a hog
roast business called ‘Getting
Piggy With It’. And they’re also
bringing on the next generation at
Nether Haugh with sons Arthur (2)
and William (9 months).
And for Christmas trade they
also bring in 120 turkeys in
September which they grow on
and pluck by hand.