48 MOLESCROFT FARM OCT / NOV 2020 • farmers-mart . co . uk
ARABLE ESTATE THAT
OFFERS THE MAGIC OF THE COUNTRYSIDE FOR ALL
Chris Berry talks with Tamara Hall and Camilla Parsonage of Molescroft Farm
‘ SOMETIMES the things you choose are not as good as you expect them to be , whereas for me falling into farming was a lot more interesting than I ever thought ,’ that ’ s how Tamara Hall describes how her seventeen-year long career at the helm of Molescroft Farm , near Beverley that has transformed what was once just somewhere visited occasionally by a man in a dodgy white van looking for scrap , to a community encompassing children , dog walkers , businesses and allotments .
‘ This wasn ’ t really a career choice ,’ says Tamara , who has had more than her fair share of injury and health concerns and previously had her own separate career in fashion tailoring having studied engineering at Leeds University and fashion at Leeds College of Art .
‘ My business in making tailored suits to slinky dresses , clubbing stuff , was taking off when I suffered a riding accident and also became ill . I came back home to the East Riding and dad said that I should study at Bishop Burton College to learn about farming so that I could oversee the farm as he had done . I was able to go through most of the work from home and as this is an arable farm studied agronomy .’
It was a watershed moment for Tamara who has taken the 1600-acre farming enterprise , of which around
1200 acres is arable cropping and brought it to a new generation .
‘ I couldn ’ t believe how positive farming was and how as an outsider my perception had been so much more negative . Dad had overseen the farm here , but my sister Camilla and I lived on a smallholding with mum and dad in Lockington where we had sheep and hens .’
Tamara ’ s exuberance and enthusiasm for telling the world about farming initially fell on deaf ears .
‘ One of the first things I tried when I joined the farm was to have an open day . We arranged a few events and virtually no-one came ! It was a real eye opener . It ’ s different today with social media , people are more engaged . When we moved to higher tier stewardship in 2006 I started arranging school visits . We went on to have about 50 a year , and then we became involved in Open Farm Schools Week . It was a great way of educating children about farming and wildlife , how they work hand in hand .’
Today ’ s farming operation at Molescroft Farm and at land five miles away at Walkington sees Tamara growing predominantly wheat , but also barley , oilseed rape , beans , vining peas , miscanthus and cover crops .
‘ Normally half of our overall acreage is down to winter wheat . That wasn ’ t the case this past year on account of the weather conditions last autumn . We would have had 500 acres of winter wheat but this year we had only 50 acres of Lili winter wheat . Fortunately , we had some Belepi left in the shed and so we drilled 275 acres of it as spring wheat . We also drilled 300 acres of spring barley .
‘ We are usually a winter wheat , winter barley and oilseed rape , beans and peas farm , although we are reducing our rape . We grow wheat and oilseed rape because that is what makes us the money . We ’ re a little more flexible with our rotation now , allowing us to react better to the prevailing weather conditions and soil structure . We are also now growing milling oats and will probably include linseed in future . Our wheat generally averages around 4 tonnes per acre and in a good year between 4.5 to 5 tonnes . At Molescroft , the land is mostly grade 3 , some is pretty wet , only 1m meter above sea level with various types of clay and lovely chalky free draining land at Walkington .’
‘ The crops we drilled in spring were better than I expected and the spring malting barley all went on a premium .’
Tamara is extremely conscious of the need to protect , maintain and increase soil quality and organic matter .
Continued on page 50
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Proud to be working with Tamara Hall and Molescroft Farm , wishing her continued success Contact us on : Tel : 01430 872159 | Mob : 07796 325090 | enquiries @ pandmkendra . co . uk
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