Greystones Farm
‘I still see oilseed rape as
a good break crop as it then
allows us to get a first wheat in
early. It remains expensive to
grow but with a price that has
been around £350/tonne I can’t
see anything that stacks up as
well. The beans are to fulfil our
greening measures and are an
ecological focus area for us. They
go in containers to York and from
there to Egypt for their morning
meals.’
Blackgrass problems persist
throughout Yorkshire and the
Bainbridges have their own
attitude towards it, hence James’
feelings about Roundup.
‘It is creeping up and with little
bits here and there we have a
zero tolerance approach. We will
go straight into the field with a
knapsack or sprayer and burn
it off when we see it. We use
Roundup to keep on top of the
job. As contractors we are always
conscious that everything on the
farm is kept clean too.’
Having the right machinery
and the confidence that comes
from good support and backup
from local agricultural machinery
outlets is vital to James’ and
Greystones’ on-going success.
‘We have four John Deere
tractors from Ripon Farm
Services. They’re a really good
dealership and we also hire
another in at harvest. We also run
a John Deere combine harvester.
We took on a JCB pivot steer
loader from Paxtons. It was a big
step up from a front end loader
on a tractor but it has proved its
worth.’
Baling, spraying and spreading
make up three of the other main
roles taken up by the Bainbridge
team’s agricultural contracting
business as well as across their
managed acreage. James is keen
to increase their workload further
and they have the kit too.
‘We already undertake a lot
of baling and wrapping and
have two Welger round balers
and a square baler. We hire a
MF square baler from Big Bale
North which does around 10,000
bales a year and we’re currently
pushing out to get more square
baling for the expanding haylage
market. Jonathan looks after the
square baling and I go around
with the wrapper. We use a
McHale 998 wrapper. We’ve
just bought a new round bale
wrapper with two dispensers,
which means bales can be
wrapped twice as fast.’
‘Our self propelled Chafer
sprayer is close to my heart. We
bought it second-hand and this
will have been only its second
season, but I enjoy spraying
and was looking for additional
contract work. The Chafer offers
me the high clearance and
decent capacity I was after.’
John M Walker
(Farm Buildings) Ltd
Holly Farm, Kirby Sigston, Northallerton, North Yorkshire, DL6 3TB
Tel: 01609 883447 » Email: [email protected]
• Simple agricultural extensions • Large agricultural buildings • Whole farms • Industrial units
John has been building Agricultural buildings since 1994
following many years in Agriculture on the family farm.
His wealth of experience means he can design, plan and build from
the ground up any size or type of agricultural building you require.
86 Summer 2017 www.farmers-mart.co.uk
“Pleased to be a supplier to
Andrew Bainbridge of Greystones
Farm and wish them all the
best for the future”