'Every day is a school day' - the Spanish teacher who's turned her hand to farming

Millie left behind her love affair with the Spanish language, studying at Sunderland University, spending a year in Catalonia as part of her studies, four years in Spain as a nanny, 15 months as nanny to three Spanish children in Ascot, and a career as a teacher of Spanish in Leeds, Huddersfield and Oldham, for the tranquil pastures of Grewelthorpe and Gatenby.

Millie’s move to farming came through a conversation with her uncle, Mark Exelby of The Hutts Farm in Grewelthorpe.

“I’d become a bit disillusioned,” says Millie. “I was thinking about going back into nannying, maybe internationally using Spanish, when Mark got wind of the fact that I’d handed my notice in.

“I’d often spend weekends with Mark and his wife Lynne. I’d help out. I loved the fresh air and The Hutts is such a beautiful farm. It had been a little retreat, a relaxing change of scenery even if I had ended up covered in sheep poo.

“It started off them inviting me, but I started inviting myself. They were always happy for help. Their daughter, my cousin Ellie, is the same age as me, we’re very close so I got to see her as well.

“When Mark found out I was leaving teaching he asked why don’t you come and work on the farm?”

Millie says she couldn’t believe it.

“I burst out laughing. I’d never driven a tractor before. I didn’t know anything about farming, but Mark said it didn’t matter because I was really keen and that was way more important.

“At that point I hadn’t taken him really seriously, but when I mentioned it to one of my teacher friends she was like, yeah, but you love being there. I said, I did but I’d thought that maybe it was because of the novelty. Then I couldn’t get it out of my head. When Mark texted me, asking if I’d thought about it and that he was being serious, he said we should have a proper chat it if I was up for it, but if not, to just say not.

“I was worried about our relationship because we’d got on so well when I was just popping over for weekends. I didn’t want to spoil it but it’s just got better than ever.

Millie currently lives over at Gatenby, near RAF Leeming where all young stock of cattle and sheep are fattened.

“Mark owns land at Gatenby and tenants at The Hutts where he and Lynne live. He farms about 480 acres between them, all organic. It’s 17 miles between the two, so we have to be very organised about machinery.

“I’m over here because wagons can come at 6 am to pick up livestock so it’s handy to have somebody here and looking after the stock. Mark and I both move between the two operations for whatever is needed.

“I’ve learned so much since I came here full-time in August last year. Every day is a school day, even now. I just get to a point where I feel comfortable and a new piece of machinery turns up.

“This August Mark set me on a tractor with a bale wrapper on the back, put me in the field and said keep trying to reverse between that telegraph pole and that fence. It was about 40 metres apart. I spent the whole afternoon going backwards and forwards trying to line it up.

It’s clearly an environment that Millie is enjoying.

“Mark really encourages me. We have straw spreaders, so I spend all winter reversing in and out of sheds. Every month I feel more confident. I can hook trailers up to tractors, I can lead bales, I’ve mowed, made silage.

“Mark is always trying to get me to do things by myself, but I now know how much money each of these machines costs and so I don’t want to make an expensive mistake.

Millie says that while she’d enjoyed such as ploughing at sunset Mark’s farming is a lot more livestock-based than arable.

“The only crops other than grass are spring oats and this year stubble turnips. We have just cut the breeding ewe flock from 340 ewes to 250 as less sheep and more cattle is the long-term plan.

“We have mainly Mules, a few Logies and bought 30 Shetland-crossed ewes last year which have small lambs but grow and finish fast. We also have tups of various breeds each year as we provide data for Ram Compare weighing all lambs at birth and every 4 weeks. Lambing is all at The Hutts.

“Our suckler herd currently runs to 55 sucklers and is a mixed bag. We have Angus and Hereford bulls and Mark has done quite a bit of AI in the last 10 years.

“We get quite a good premium on our cattle for organic, with everything going direct to abattoir and nothing sold at market.

Milly has her own ideas for the farm’s future, discussed with Mark, including agroforestry, school visits and giving Mark and Lynne more time to get away.

“We’re trying to simplify things and are looking at new revenue streams such as renting out workshop space or going into storage units.

“We’re in the new SFI scheme and currently plant herbal and clover leys, but we’re also in early stages of looking at agroforestry at Gatenby and looking at grants we can access. We’re looking at trees to work as fences, with existing electric fences.

“I’d like to do educational things on the farm and I’d really like to do school visits; and Mark and Lynne have managed to go on holiday a few times in the past year because I’m around, which I’m really happy about for them.

“One time they came back and admittedly there was a hole in the shed roof but fortunately that was nothing to do with me.

“I’m earning less than I was as a teacher, but my life is now totally different and I feel great about working in the countryside.

Millie spoke about her journey at the latest Women in Farming event held by Yorkshire Agricultural Society at Hornington Manor, Bolton Percy recently having been invited to do so as a beneficiary of the Society’s Goodall Agri-Development Pathway, fully-funded training programme to support development of farming’s next generation. Applications to join the 2025 year-long programme are open until 30th November.

https://yas.co.uk/goodall-agri-development-pathway/