Lawns Farm
Connecting with the public
through milk, meat and music
Chris Berry visits ‘Oscar’ winners the Ross family in Morthen.
» » WINNING A ‘RURAL OSCAR’
doesn’t necessarily mean
everything in the English
country garden (or farm) is
rosy but it is another tick in the
box under the ‘must be doing
something right’ column.
The Ross family of Lawns
Farm in the hamlet of Morthen,
near Thurcroft in South Yorkshire
has taken two significant strides
in recent times that have led to
them receiving the title of Best
Local Food & Drink in the latest
Countryside Alliance’s major
awards.
Morthen Milk, their own
branded milk from their dairy
herd, is sold direct from the
farm and they are building
up doorstep delivery too. It
has a long way to go but the
start they have made has
been impressive and they
clearly have the guts and
determination to grow it further.
The other major strand that saw
them carry off the title is Lawns
Farm Shop that, during the dark
days of the previous two years’
milk prices, has carried them
through - including their own
beef.
The farm, which is owned by
the family, runs to just under
200 acres and is predominantly
dairy along with finishing
Longhorn X Dairy cattle for the
farm shop. The dairy herd runs
to 65 milkers with around 30
followers and they have 50
beef cattle on at any one time.
T hey also have rare breed
Gloucester Old Spot and British
Lop pigs and have just started
with the Mangalitsa breed.
David is head of the family
and has four sons – George,
Laurence, Christopher and
Anthony. David’s father Alfred
Edwin Ross, known to many
simply as Jimmy, came from
66 Summer 2017 www.farmers-mart.co.uk
Glasgow to Morthen in 1940.
Jimmy’s spinster auntie was
companion to the lady resident
at Morthen Hall and when
Jimmy’s father died he was
sent to South Yorkshire to be
looked after by her. Jimmy was
sent to the Bayston family at
Swinefleet, near Howden to
learn about farming, came back
to look after the pigs at the hall,
subsequently met the farmer’s
daughter next door, took on
Lawns Farm with dairy cattle
and pigs in 1942 and David was
born in 1946.
‘I left college in 1967,’ says
David. ‘I’d studied for my NDA
at Shuttleworth College had
taken my exams there and
another in Leeds. My plan had
been to work around the world
a couple of years but father
was getting tired and said that
I should either stay at home
and have the farm or go around
the world and he would sell
it so I stayed, as you can see.
Dad and I worked together
non-stop for the next 11 years,
we increased the herd, put a
new parlour in and if we went
to the Great Yorkshire Show
it was only after milking in the
morning and back for evening
milking.’
David’s wanderlust was not to
be assuaged completely. Spain
led to more than just travel!
‘My sister’s best friend was
married to a Spanish man. I
met Pilar, my wife-to-be, when
his sister came over in August.
I went to Spain for a week in
October that same year and we
got married.’
Pilar became known as Pili.
She tragically passed away
of brain cancer when just 55.
Three of David’s sons are
involved with the farm today.
‘George went off to be a