60 BENNINGHOLME GRANGE FARM JUN / JUL 2024 • farmers-mart . co . uk
60 BENNINGHOLME GRANGE FARM JUN / JUL 2024 • farmers-mart . co . uk
another Crown property , and we took on Benningholme Hall about six years ago . Me , my brother and my dad now have the tenancy on both holdings . Dave rents some grassland at Withernwick . We have some grassland at home but the sheep are off-farm . We ’ ve always had pigs ; and then there are now the Beef Shorthorns . We have 45 cows in the suckler herd .
“ Dave is more livestock and will work on the arable if need be , and vice versa . He does the sheep , pigs , cattle . I do the arable and contracting .
“ Dad had done contracting with potatoes in Nottingham . I ’ ve always been a contractor . I started contract shearing sheep with my uncle Simon , mum ’ s brother , when I was 14 . I took on his shearing rounds and he ’ d help . Until 30 I was shearing every summer . In 2006 when I was 22 , I did three seasons shearing in New Zealand and working for contractors , driving foragers , balers , mowers . It was there I got the contracting bug on the machinery side .
“ When I came back I wanted to go more into contracting as well as running the arable at home .
“ Our crop growing arable land runs to 1200-1300 acres and in a normal year we ’ d have wheat , barley , oilseed rape , beans , peas but this hasn ’ t been a normal year . If it had been normal we would have been at around 50-60 per cent of our acreage as winter wheat , and 20-30 per cent oilseed rape .
“ Our land type is mostly fairly heavy land but we don ’ t rely on the plough massively , I try to use the plough in the rotation . I don ’ t like to plough more than 1 in 5-6 , but it still has a place . We undertake quite a bit of direct drilling and mintill .
“ Our Winter Wheat is way down on what we wanted to sow . We are generally feed wheats and this year ’ s varieties are Graham , Dawsum and Tapestry . The oilseed rape was just a nightmare , as every time we went to drill it , it literally got washed out of the field , because it rained that hard .
FRANK HILL & SON
( Auctioneers and Valuers ) Ltd • Post and Rail • Stock Netting
• Rabbit Netting • Poultry Fencing
• Deer Fencing • Gate Hanging
CHARTERED SURVEYORS ∙ AUCTIONEERS ∙ VALUERS ∙ LAND & ESTATE AGENTS
Frank Hill & Son are proud to work with the Shelby Family within our multi-faceted rural of�ice and to market sheep and cattle through Hull Livestock Market , Hull , HU6 0AW .
Office - 18 MARKET PLACE , PATRINGTON , HULL , HU12 0RB 01964 630531 · · www . frankhillandson . co . uk
GARY ATKINSON & SONS FENCING SERVICES
Call Gary on 07732 793991
Wishing Guy Shelby and Benningholme Grange Farm continued success .