Farm of the Week: Mobile milling bolsters the income of the Rhodes family

They now have a fleet of nine mobile feed mills each visiting at least three or four farms a day operating all year round in addition to their expanding cattle enterprise.

Peter was the fourth generation of his family to farm at Healaugh near Tadcaster before moving east to Melbourne where he and wife Theresa had a pig unit prior to making the three-mile hop to what started out as just half a dozen acres in 1981.

The farm now runs to around 300 owned acres and a further 200 acres are rented in the hamlet of Storwood near Pocklington Canal and the River Derwent, but it is Peter Rhodes Feed Services that forms the lion’s share of their income.

“We had about 100 sows at Melbourne and I’d always been very much sold on the idea of home mixing. Since we had invested in mixing equipment for our own use we began processing animal feed for others’ pigs, sheep and cattle in 1974. Our first machine was a Gutteridge Grinder Mix made by Gutteridge in Spalding, Lincolnshire and what we had then seems quite primitive to the latest technology now used in our own machines and those we purchase from Germany and Austria.

“Our mobile feed mill business is much bigger than the farm and we’ve embraced modern technology in the Buschhoff and Tropper machines we operate and what we have come up with ourselves. We’ve another all-new Buschhoff coming in spring. The weighing has improved considerably and the on-board computer tells when the machine has the appropriate amount of each ingredient.

“Computerisation has taken guesswork out of the equation and holds thousands of diets for thousands of customers. It’s fantastically accurate in ensuring the mix animals receive is spot on whether beef cattle, pigs or poultry.”

While Peter has always had livestock of some form, it is only more recently, as further land has been acquired that his cattle numbers have increased substantially.

“I could see the potential in this farm as it had plenty of space for us to expand our feed mill operation and since we came here we’ve also gradually added to our acreage and now run a 200-strong suckler herd producing organic and conventional Aberdeen Angus X Limousin cattle that have a fairly fast growth rate. It’s the rate you get with continentals allowing us to finish them at 16-18 months, but where it differs is that they also provide much better eating quality.

“The cattle go to Waitrose through Dovecote Park or are sold at York Livestock Centre. I believe in supporting the live market as it gives a good yardstick for the trade. We have our own Limousin and Aberdeen Angus bulls and we concentrate on producing purely commercial cattle and herd replacements.”

“Our land here is generally heavy and not ideal for cereals so most of it is down to grass, but we grow enough cereals to fatten the cattle we produce.”

Peter and Theresa’s two sons James and Michael are both involved.

“Michael has managed the feed business for the past 10 years and knows the industry inside out. James is very experienced in mechanical engineering and started his own engineering business after he left York College. Together we invented a self-loading bale trailer that won a best new farm machinery award and we built around 40 that are still in use on farms, but we needed a production line investment to go any further.

“He has more recently designed and built two of our own feed mills that are now part of our fleet. They both work amazingly hard.”

Manufacturing machines is nothing new to the Rhodes family. In the late 1980s they were improving and building on the Gutteridge machines they had at the time, which led to the manufacture of mills destined for Finland.

“The feed mill and mix world is all about trying to keep ahead of the game. Whatever is best for the customer is always going to be best for us so we have to keep moving with technology and the times and in doing so become even more efficient.

“We go on to farms, suck up all of what has been grown on the farm that is to be used in the mill and mix adding anything the farmer doesn’t have in order to complete the diet. We adhere to all quality control standards and are accredited FEMAS (Feed Materials Assurance Scheme) operators as well as all other major accreditations. Melanie Clark, who grew up with our children and has extensive experience in the animal feed industry joined us seven years ago and she ensures our quality control and that all of us are kept in line.

“Our main trade is with small to medium sized beef farmers but we also have a big number of poultry and pig units, mixing creep feed to finishers’ diets for pig farmers and appropriate mixes for broilers and layers.”

Peter was probably unaware in the 1960s, when he and Theresa started dating, that his future would lay more in machines than purely farming, but he’s more than happy.

“I love the connection we have with so many farms whether a little one in the Dales or a large intensive pig unit. We go right up to the Scottish border and down to Leicestershire. I’m particularly looking forward to seeing many of our customers who will come to our stand at YAMS (Yorkshire Agricultural Machinery Show) on February 8. We will be taking James’ new machine and our exhibition truck and like to support the local and appropriate national shows.”