Farm of the Week: Milk woes will not dampen show joy for Kepwick couple

Showing is what puts a smile on their faces, something that’s needed right now as they have just received notification that their milk price is dropping again, to 20.12 pence per litre from tomorrow.

Craig Bentley and Rachel Mudd farm at The Gables in Kepwick on the western edge of the North York Moors and have been regulars in the commercial beef cattle classes all around the county since the 90s.

“People think we’re beef farmers because of the stock we show,” says Craig. “But this has always been a dairy farm and with the other family farm at Laskill we are actually a dairy and sheep farm.

“Rachel and I have a team of three we’re preparing for this season. We buy in stock each year from either Carlisle, Middleton in Teesdale or Hexham and breed some of our own. This year we’ve a Limousin X bullock and heifer, plus a Belgian Blue X bullock. We may yet have a fourth.

“Our first show is at the Northern Limousin Extravaganza at Skipton on Tuesday, May 10. Normally we would go to the first show of the summer season at Newark but TB restrictions have put paid to that as the number of days you are stopped from travelling would rule out other shows such as the Great Yorkshire.”

Craig and Rachel met through showing livestock. Rachel showed sheep and cattle that her father Trevor, a butcher in Knaresborough at the time, would later sell in his shops.

“Before provenance became fashionable dad would always tell every customer where every piece of meat had come from, either because it had been on our smallholding or he’d bought locally. He would also tell them the shows I had gone to with what was by then cuts of beef.”

Craig’s showing career started as a 13-year-old alongside Diane Whiteley and Jim Courts of Scawton. Craig and Rachel started showing as Mudd & Bentley in 2003.

“It’s our kicks,” says Craig. “We don’t take it over-seriously and we don’t spend thousands on beasts. For us it’s a social thing meeting up with friends.

“We bring in Dawn Croft of Croft Feeds and the feed she recommends really does work. She can change a beast into a great show animal. We also have help at shows from Emily Wilson of Arkendale whose father is Limousin steward at the Great Yorkshire Show.”

The couple’s biggest achievement in the show ring came at the English Winter Fair in Birmingham in 2014 when they had champion bullock.

“The daft thing was that same bullock went to Harrogate twice that year for both the Great Yorkshire Show and Countryside Live and was stood second last both times. As they say, one man’s meat is another man’s poison.”

Craig is the third generation to farm at 165-acre The Gables tenanted from Kepwick Estate. The other farm Carr Cote at Laskill, bought in the 80s, runs to 160-owned acres and including other parcels of land the farm runs to around 350 acres.

It was Craig’s grandparents Noel and Nancy who came to Kepwick from Hawnby. Craig’s parents Colin and Mary live at the farm at Laskill. Craig came back to run The Gables just five years ago having previously worked on Chris Iveson’s well-respected dairy farm and for Ian Woodhead, part owner of Thirsk Mart.

“I learned so much about how to run a dairy farm from Chris and I’ve stood by the principle that if we didn’t do something at his farm then we’re not doing it here either. I don’t farm to his standard by a long way but that’s what I am for.”

While the milk price is a nightmare it hasn’t altered Craig’s unwavering commitment to farming. He and Rachel have a son Matthew, aged eight, and daughter Isla, two.

“It’s for them. Farming’s a generation thing and my dad plowed through thick and thin to hand this place over to me. Matthew has been grafting his socks off lambing for the past two weeks on the other farm and he’s only just turned eight-years-old. You’re driven to do it. It’s what you are.

“How much longer we can keep going on with milk production I don’t know but I’m here to stay. I’ve spent a fortune out there to enjoy my job.”

Craig’s herd runs to 160 predominantly black and white Holsteins and he’s milking around 130, that with followers runs to approximately 250 head of stock. His herd average has shifted up to nearly 9,000 litres per cow in recent times, which he puts down to a combination of robotic milking and excellent nutrition.

“We now have three Lely Astronaut robotic milkers having started with a couple four years ago. We’ve bought them all second-hand from other dairy farmers who have gone out of milk production.

“Whoever thinks robots are easy needs to know differently but I have to admit they have really helped here and made life much more flexible. Along with mattresses and new cubicles it is now cow heaven for them and we suffer far less lameness and mastitis. The cows visit the robot on average around 3.4 times a day. There are also some very clever people behind me from Varley Feeds in Darlington and they have contributed to our improving herd performance.”

The other recent change to the herd has been the introduction of Fleckveih and Norwegian Red breeds. When I mention the reason being hybrid vigour Craig puts it the way only a Yorkshireman can.

“That’s the technical term, but the main reason was that I got sick of Holsteins being a pain in the bum and I’m now aiming for a cow that is much lower maintenance.”

Craig uses AI on his cows but also has two bulls.

“We have an Angus from the Turnbull family thanks to Peter, Alan and Ann in Coxwold and we have a homebred Limousin.”

Rachel is a primary school teacher. She works three days a week in Leeds and Craig is the first to admit that without her income the farm would be under far greater pressure.

“It’s Rachel’s income that puts food on the table and the farm just about pays the rent. I went to a meeting of dairy farmers where someone said that diversification wasn’t about your wife going to work. I couldn’t believe it. Without Rachel’s income we would be in real trouble. And there’s no sign of our milk price going up any time soon.

“When it’s mentioned at the back end people will say that it might start going up in spring and then vice versa. The sheep are helping but lamb prices are so changeable, it sometimes seems as though it’s a matter of which way the wind is blowing.

“We have 380 breeding ewes half being Mules and half Continentals put to Suffolk, Charollais and Texel tups. All our lambs go to Thirsk Mart. Matthew has his own small flock of Zwartbles and has also led beasts around the ring at many shows.”