Farm of the Week: Spread betting is no mug's game at Decoy

In more recent decades some have specialised in arable or concentrated on other sectors, but spreading what is produced has protected many from the vagaries of the one sector route.

The mixed farm principle is alive and well at the 400-acre Decoy Farm in Scorborough four miles north of Beverley where Richard Bloom has arable, pigs and poultry, and the pedigree Limousin herd his father Jim started and still runs today. The farm is tenanted from Hotham Estate in South Dalton and includes around 300 acres of arable land plus grassland and woodland.

“All sectors of farming are never flying at the same time,” says Richard. “Having a spread means you take out the highs and lows. That’s always been the case.

“Our arable cropping always was the main earner and in a good year it still is. The pigs and our small poultry enterprise are sectors where we provide the facilities, our management and husbandry. We receive fees for doing that rather than having to market them ourselves. That works well and we have a good working relationship with the pig company Cranswick.”

Wheat, barley, oilseed rape and spring beans are all part of Richard’s current cropping. He’s moved from winter to spring barley and has brought in beans to meet the ‘greening’ regulations.

“We are a long narrow farm running east to west and go down to the River Hull. Our land is grade 3-4 that is basically clay tops going to black carr land. Nothing is free draining so we are very reliant on the Environment Agency looking after the River Hull that does flood.

“Our wheat yields can get to 4.5 tonnes per acre in a good year. I like to see it get to around 3.8 tonnes per acre each year. This year we have 100 acres of winter wheat. We look for barn filling varieties that are disease resistant and in the ground now are Relay, Grafton and Skyfall all grown as feed wheat. I’ve stopped growing winter barley because of blackgrass and have switched instead to spring barley. I’ll be putting in between 75-95 acres of Propino. It’s a good bold variety and can reach the malting quality required by Muntons at Flamborough. We will use some barley for cattle feed. Spring beans are working well as a break crop but are not really a help to the blackgrass problem, spring barley is about the best for that, but it will take some time before we have it completely under control.

“Oilseed rape is getting expensive to grow but at least with Brexit and oil production having been cut the price has recovered. It would be great if we had some to sell but cash flow being what it is we can’t hold on to everything. We can and do store grain. I try to use as little chemical as I can and our independent crop consultant Andrew Beeney helps. Most of the grain is sold through Mortimer’s in Driffield.”

The B&B pig operation has space for 1,000 weaners and 1,000 fattening pigs at any one time.

“It’s a 12-week cycle. We get weaners at 7kg. They transfer from one building to another at 35kg to finish between 100-110kg. Dad went into pigs in 1960-61 and tells of it being the best farming move he ever made. At one time we had 300 breeding sows but then we came out when the pig price went sour in the 1990s. We went into B&B pigs, then into ducks for a while before coming back to B&B pigs and now also B&B poultry.”

Limousin cattle are what Jim is known for today. He has won at major shows such as the Royal, was chairman of the Limousin Society, has travelled the world with the breed and currently has 36 breeding cows.

“I chose them by accident. I’d had a commercial suckler herd of around 60-65 cows. I wanted to get some heifers in-calf and had gone to Carlisle to buy a bull. I saw all these Limousins and fell in love with them. I decided that by going pedigree I could add value so I sold the commercials and went into Limousins. My only regret is I should have spent more on really good stock. It took me a long time to get up the ladder.

“I’ve half shares with a Welsh breeder Aled Edwards in a French bull we bought together, Fenomen. We got our first calves from him in spring 2016 and I’m very excited about him. His semen has just become available.

“Everything in breeding comes down to the families especially on the cows side. About 40-50 per cent of the current cow herd will be directly related to Roughley Ellebell that I bought from Walter Smith in Staffordshire. The next big sale we’ll be at with our stock is at Newark in April.”

Showing has been in Jim’s blood from the days when he competed around the Christmas primestock shows and sales at local livestock markets, but he had his own self regulation over showing.

“I always said that I must never farm to show, but I’ve always loved it. When I won the junior male championship at the Royal it was a very special moment.”

Richard has his own show interest. He has Shire horses and teams up with Francis and Mark Richardson of Bewholme.

“I’m a willing groom for them and Mark is a willing plaiter for me. He’s one of the best in the country. I fell into Shire horses when dad came back with this Shire gelding as well as a Shetland pony for one of his grandchildren.

“Dad used to harrow and seed with Shires, our family had a milk round using them and granddad on my mum’s side (Elvidge) won cups with them at Cottingham Show. I’m now a member of the Northern Heavy Horse Society and compete at a number of shows. I have won the turnout class at the Great Yorkshire Show with one of our wagons and currently have two geldings, two mares and a two-year-old.”