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‘ Timber production is a business and it is all part of what we do on the farm . We ’ ve been growing cricket bat willow for a number of years and have just started harvesting those . It is natural to the environment , so when we replant we tend to put that in even though there is now a lot of talk about bamboo cricket bat production .’
Alder , sycamore and willow are the predominant varieties with a mix of ash , oak and beech .
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John says he has 17 acres of wildbird mixes spread across the farm with 7 varieties of seed in them .
‘ We try to encourage as many species of bird as we can . We go from kingfishers to buzzards , chaffinches , small farmland birds , larks , migratory birds , geese and sandpipers . As well as the river which has SSSI grassland all around we also have large open expanses of water .’
‘ Wildlife also includes roe deer , foxes , badgers and the river has brown trout
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that breed well on the gravel beds .’
John originally brought in four young Highland heifers to graze the SSSI chalk grassland and now has a fold of 28 breeding cows and followers .
‘ Before we started , I took the decision to find quality bloodlines from further afield than Yorkshire for our core stock and our maiden sire , who was champion at the Great Yorkshire Show and reserve champion at the Royal Highland Show , came from Mull . We have had a number of cattle from Lewis and we have a new bull coming from the Outer Hebrides this autumn .’
‘ Other than purchasing a new bull occasionally we are a closed herd with high health status keeping us free of bovine TB . Our initial driver with the Highland cattle was the conservation aspect but we are now selling breeding stock .’
John believes that education of young children is integral to a better understanding of farming in the future .
Ten years ago he converted a redundant farm building into a classroom . In 2019 he hosted 58 school days in the year .
‘ It is fundamental that schoolchildren understand where food comes from and how it is produced from crops and livestock and how conservation is vital too , through wildlife , fauna , woodlands , ponds , rivers . I ’ ve been told by one school that visits , that records the words
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their children use , that we have been responsible for some farming and wildlife vocabulary coming back into use .’
John ’ s team on the farm includes his right hand man Shane Cooper who John says designed and built a safe lifting device for sprayers called Sprayer Jacks . It is now a successful enterprise in its own right for Shane . John also employs a young man Harry Walker who he says couldn ’ t have a batter teacher than Shane .
John is married to Henrietta and they have three children who are now adults and working away from the farm . It was Henrietta ’ s grandmother who bought Springwell House , Elmswell in 1939 .
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