The Farmers Mart Oct/Nov 2015 - Issue 42 | Page 44

High Bracken Hill Farm

It’s a family affair for the
Forts at High Bracken Hill
»»On a fresh Friday
afternoon back in September,
Ian Wilkinson met father and
daughter, Edward and Georgina
Fort of High Bracken Hill Farm
in Silsden in West Yorkshire.
They have 260 acres, 220
owned with 40 rented for
grass. They are traditional dairy
farmers with 130 Holsteins
along with 150 sheep consisting
of mules, Texel’s and Beltex’s
which are ideal to graze on the
further away land.

Edward is second generation
- his father Jack before him
took the farm on in 1967 having
a 60 cow operation right up
to Edward taking over the
business in 1992. As soon
as Edward took over he set
about increasing the herd but
then the appalling foot and
mouth crisis presented a real
challenge as overnight the herd
was reduced from 188 to 30.
Not to be deterred, they set
about the task of rebuilding

44 Oct/Nov 2015 www.farmers-mart.co.uk

which in hindsight was a bit of
a blessing as they have bred
and restocked the herd from
famous cow families including
Belle’s, Lulu’s, Corrie’s, Marq’s.
Since then they have continued
to purchase top cow families
including Anna’s, Marie’s,
Rhapsody - to mention but a
few. They have now built up to
250 head again with a hundred
young stock breeding from their
own and of course choosing
the best bulls.

They breed cows with a hard
top, large frames, excellent legs
and feet, as Edward says: “If
they can’t walk well they can’t
milk”. This has been rewarded
recently when one of their
pedigrees, Silmoor Cut Peach
was runner up at Gargrave
show and went on to claim
Dairy Breed and Interbreed
Champion at Kilnsey show.
They have good pasture to
graze on coupled with the right
feed supplements from Carrs