THERE are not many dairy farmers left in the East Riding , but there ’ s one family that is set to be around for a long while yet . The Gowthorpes of Favin Farm in Laytham , between Howden and Holmeon-Spalding Moor have been dairying since Graham Gowthorpe ’ s grandfather John became a tenant at the then 220-acre farm in the 1960s , which he subsequently managed to buy .

Graham ’ s father , Raymond , took over in 1970 and Graham followed on from him in 1996 when Raymond passed away . Today , the fourth generation , Graham ’ s daughter Katie handles the day-to-day management of the dairy herd that now runs to 200 cows , as well as getting involved in much more besides .

‘ We now farm 550-600 acres ,’ says Graham . ‘ We own around 400 acres . It ’ s an arable , dairy and beef farm with the aim of growing as much feed as we can , including wheat , barley , maize and adding beans to the cropping this year as a protein . We are intending to grow 150 acres of wheat , 50 of barley and 30 acres of maize and beans .

We are growing Gleam and Graham wheat varieties and Buzuka barley .’

‘ Our land here is Foggathorpe Series clay . We have good grassland and our first wheats will usually make around 4 tonnes per acre if they are established well , with second wheats around three and a half tonnes .’

‘ It was when the drainage board dykes were deepened in the late 70s that we were able to start growing crops on what had been , until then , mainly grassland . It allowed us to underdrain it , so that we could plough .’

While the Gowthorpes have agricultural contractors Chris Liversedge and David Mitchell responsible for their silage making , baling and harvesting , Graham handles all of the spraying and drilling .

‘ Katie also gets involved with a lot of the land work too ,’ says Graham . ‘ She handles such as cultivation , power harrowing , and slurry and muck spreading .’ ‘ I love tractors and cows ,’ says Katie . ‘ I ’ ve always enjoyed jumping on a tractor as much as I ’ ve enjoyed being in the milking parlour and working with the

cattle . I love my cows . That ’ s calving , milking and everything that goes with it . I always take advice from dad . I ’ m following in his footsteps .’

‘ My own vision for the future is that I ’ d like to keep increasing our dairy herd . We had 40 cows when my granddad passed away , and now we have 200 . I ’ d love to increase by the same number again . I ’ d be prepared to pull back a bit on the beef side to increase the dairy herd if that ’ s what was required .’

‘ We expanded the dairy herd four years ago , putting up a new shed and we ’ ve gradually increased . We are using a 12-unit swingover Westfalia parlour where we are milking twice a day . Our high yielders are in all year round . The lower yielding group go out to grass in

the summer . We have Holstein Friesians and it is a closed herd . We look for yield and milk quality , keeping butterfat and protein high . I like a nice , strong , all round cow with a good udder . Our milk goes to Paynes Dairies in Boroughbridge .’

‘ I ’ m really looking for something that will convert feed into milk well . Sometimes you can get a massive cow , but then maintaining condition can prove a problem . Our herd average is around 9000 litres . I prefer to have them back in-calf quicker rather than over-pushing on production . Five or six lactations is about the herd average . We have one cow that has given us 13 calves , including two sets of twins !’

Continued on page 30