The Farmers Mart Oct-Nov 2017 - Issue 53 | Page 40

Low Thorgill Farm
Ayrshires best
for uplands
in North
York Moors
Chris Berry talks with Sean
Myers in Rosedale
» » ROSEDALE IS WITHOUT
question one of the North
York Moors’ most beautiful,
historic and popular dales.
The remnants of the iron
ore industry with the likes of
Chimney Bank and Rosedale
East; the chocolate box village
of Rosedale Abbey; and the
winding stream of River Seven
have long captured the hearts
of visitors.
Ayrshire cows have also
been as much a part of
the landscape for the past
50 years since Alan Myers
and his father, Sydney
switched from Northern
Dairy Shorthorns. Today, Low
Thorgill Farm, which you find
by turning off towards Thorgill
half way down Chimney Bank,
opposite the 16th century
White Horse Farm Inn, is the
home of Alan’s son, Sean, his
wife, Steph and sons, Mark
(12) and John (5).
‘Dad bought this farm after
having tenanted Hill Farm on
the other side of the river,’
‘We’ve stuck with
Ayrshires because
they are the best
type of dairy
cow to handle
the upland dairy
farming system
we have here.’
says Sean. ‘The livestock
was all flitted across the river
rather than coming around
by road. He just took a fence
down and pushed them
through. This was very run
down. It had no electricity, no
running water and just stone
barns. He developed it into a
dairy unit and we’ve carried
on developing it.’
While the Myers’ Rosedale
Ayrshires have been well
known in showing circles
and Alan was a prominent
dairy showman, their farming
enterprise includes both
sheep and dairy. The
farm business also
includes a further
farm at Hutton
le Hole taken
on in 2001.
‘We own
190 acres
and rent 135,’
says Sean.
‘The owned
acreage is all here
at Low Thorgill along
with another 35 rented
in Rosedale. It’s a three-way
partnership between my
parents and I. The farm at
Hutton le Hole, Wheat Ends,
is tenanted and is where
my parents, Alan and Joan,
have lived since Steph and I
were married in 2001 when
we came here. We also have
grazing rights for just short
of 500 ewes on Spaunton
40 Oct/Nov 2017 www.farmers-mart.co.uk
Common.’
Sean currently
milks 80 cows and with
followers and calves the herd
runs to around 130-150 at any
one time. Calving is all year
round with beef calves all
leaving the farm by 12 weeks
old sold to two rearing units.
‘We’ve stuck with Ayrshires
because they are the best
type of dairy cow to handle
the upland dairy farming
system we have here. They
can handle wet, stormy days
on the hills and do well on
our low management, easy
care system. They graze in
the hills all summer and from
mid-August they get buffer
fed silage and concentrate.
They’re inside from mid to
late October dependent
on weather and we feed a
supplementary protein blend
at the feed barrier according
to yield.