The Farmers Mart Oct/Nov 2013 - Issue 30 | Page 16

Phil Walmsley

Bedding is the way
forward in Thorner
Chris Berry talks with Philip Walmsley of Manor Farm.
Mixed farming was once
the way most farmers
conducted their agricultural
enterprises. It was a case
of not putting all your eggs
in the same basket.
Philip Walmsley farms at
Manor Farm in Thorner just
a couple of miles out of the
Leeds city boundary and keeps
very much to that traditional
maxim – including the eggs!
The farm runs to 430 acres
with three-quarters of the
land tenanted from Lord
Mexborough and the rest
on short-term leases. Arable
crops include winter wheat,
winter barley and winter oil
seed rape along with spring
barley periodically. Wheat

varieties this harvest included
Invicta and Torch. This autumn,
Philip has sown Maris Otter
barley for the first time across
36 acres.
“We were taken on a brewery
tour last year,” he explained,
“and our buyer Isaac Poads,
told us this was what the real
ale people wanted. It has been
grown in the UK for 40 years
so has a good pedigree and
we get a percentage over
wheat price for growing it.”
Philip uses John Deere
tractors and a combine and
looks to complete harvest by
the end of August each year.
He also works on behalf of
neighbouring farmers either
combining or baling. Case

square balers are his current
preference.
The livestock operation
includes cattle, sheep and
poultry. Back in the 70s
Philip’s father Roy, and mother
Bridget, also had a herd of
dairy cows but they came out
of milking in 1977.
“Our suckler herd runs
to around 35. We have
a Limousin bull and our
replacements come from an
ex-dairy farm in Shadwell,”
Philip told me. “The Belgian
Blue in them creates a nice
milky heifer that we then
put back to the Limousin
for enhanced meat quality.
We take most of them to
Wharfedale Market in Otley but

we have taken some across
to York.
“We also send butchers’
lambs to Wharfedale Market.
I usually favour the Suffolk

Cardboard Animal
Bedding
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07939 077313 ? 01132 892053

16

Oct/Nov 2013 FarmersMart

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