NEXT year will mark 100 years of the Alderson family at Scorton Road Farm and Will Alderson and his parents David and Anne are gearing up for being around a long time yet .

Recently they have put up three new cattle sheds , built a new slurry lagoon , took on a further 45 acres last Christmas taking them to 220 acres and now milk 90 cows whereas before , up until five years ago they had just 50 .

It has all happened since Will , who is now 28 , came back to the farm from his studies at Harper Adams where he gained his BSc Hons in agriculture . It is all looking good presently . The milk price is holding up better than a few years ago , they have added a raw milk dispenser that is proving popular and Will has developed a Halloween sideline in pumpkins .

But it wasn ’ t looking all quite so clever when the milk price crashed while Will was at college , which altered Will ’ s course for a while .

‘ The milk price went down to 8-10 pence per litre and that meant I had to work away from here for a few years ,’ says Will . ‘ I went hedgelaying and milling for other farmers , sorting pigs , I was doing anything to create an income .’

Leyburn Livestock Auction Mart

Richmond Road , Leyburn , North Yorkshire , DL8 5DP T : ( 01969 ) 623167 | E : info @ leyburnauctions . com Auctioneer / Manager : Stephen Walker 07866 358130

Leyburn Mart also sell on Friday ’ s : -

Weekly

100-150 Rearing Calves & Stirks

Fortnightly

100-400 Store & Breeding Cattle Store Lamb Sales

Autumn / Spring

Breeding Sheep

Wednesdays ( Primestock day ) Prime Cattle , Cast Cows , Sheep & Lambs

Leyburn Auction Mart are pleased to have Will & David Alderson , Scorton Road Farm , as valued customers who are good supporters of our monthly dairy sales held on the first Friday each month .

‘ Thankfully the milk price came back and four years ago we put in a vending machine to create a little more income on the farm by selling raw milk .’

‘ It always sounds the most off-putting of names when you put ‘ raw ’ in front of something that is food or drink , but it is what you have to call it to be allowed to sell it .’

‘ It has been a gradual build for us . It only takes up a small fraction of our daily milk production , but we have realised now how important it is to some people , those who are lactose intolerant or who suffer from such as osteoperosis , skin conditions like eczema , psoriasis and those who prefer it when they have Crohns Disease .’

Will says that he has learned so much from their customers , some of whom come every day or every week and some completing a 40-mile round trip because they reckon the Aldersons ’ raw milk is tastier than others .

‘ Some customers have a far greater understanding of raw milk than I do . I ’ m more than happy to learn from everyone . We now sell 50-60 litres a day . We are not in a village so we have to rely on passing trade , but that is now regular visiting trade from local workmen just wanting any milk for their cuppa to those who want raw milk especially .’

‘ What I find is that people like our ethos . They like that we are a family dairy farm that looks after its animals . They don ’ t generally want to purchase from an intensive farm . They want to see the cows out in the field .’

Scorton Road Farm is home to two prize winning pedigree dairy herds - Tinehill Holsteins and Atley Hill Ayrshires .

Will says his father David has always been keen on pedigree cows and hasn ’ t lost his love of them .

‘ Father went on to Holsteins quite early on in the 1970s having been

Friesians originally . He will sit for hours going through pedigree family lines . We have a lot of Roxy and Shower cows in our herd and many of our cows can be traced back up to 14 generations on the farm .’

The Aldersons use mainly AI but have a dairy bull to sweep and use very little bull semen . They sell surplus dairy calves at Leyburn and at Carlisle .

‘ We go to the pedigree sales at Carlisle and although we have been a closed herd for two years father still likes to look at any particular cows that take his eye . His saying is ‘ you rear what you get , you buy what you want ’.

The family has always shown both their pedigree breeds and with some success .

‘ We only have 10 Ayrshire cows and they usually win the milk classes at the Great Yorkshire Show . Ayrshires are known for producing the most palatable drinking milk that is creamy without

being cloying . In 2018 we won Best Tasting Milk at Harrogate .’

‘ Father used to show Clydesdales . We like showing our dairy cows and won at Stokesley three consecutive years before Covid restrictions stopped it the past two years . We will go to North Yorkshire County Show , Great Yorkshire Show and Wensleydale .’

‘ At the one day shows we just take the Holsteins because others don ’ t have individual classes for Ayrshires . If you ’ re going to show you want something good . We will be supportive of the local shows but at Great Yorkshire you want to know you ’ ve a chance .’

The cows are milked from 5.30am and done by 7am and again at 4pm and done by 5.30pm in an 8 / 16 herringbone parlour . Herd average is 11,000 litres and the milk has been going to Payne ’ s Dairies since 1998 . The cows are usually out until the end of October and back out in March dependent on the weather . They are housed in cubicle based sheds on mattresses and sawdust bedding . It is an all-year round calving system although Will says they avoid the peak milk period in spring .