Farm of the Week: Former naval officers and first-time farmers rearing Highland cows in Yorkshire

“Australia is where our farming thing really started for us,” says Becks. “We spent two years there, a year on the east coast before moving over to the west coast where we did harvest, and then back over to the east coast.

“We worked on several different farms and saw farmers doing all sorts of things, the most inspiring of which was a regenerative farmer who we worked with for six months near Armidale in New South Wales. He was regenerative before it was a thing.

“Australians have such long dry periods that they perhaps see the benefits of improving their soil much more quickly than we do in the UK.

“Being with the farmer near Armidale ignited a bit of a passion within me. I can’t stop reading about regenerative farming and going to festivals like Groundswell. The eco system in the soil is absolutely fascinating and we know incredibly little about it, but there is a way to use the microbes and the fungal networks in the soil to make nutrients available to the plants and therefore to the animals.

“It’s a completely different way of farming to the idea that you have to, at great cost, put nutrients that you want on to the soil and yet you can do that without the cost through regenerative principles. I’ve always wanted to put those ideas into practice and it’s really exciting that we’re finally at the stage now where we are starting to do this on rented land at Bishop Wilton. It’s been quite a slow burn really.

Becks and Gav returned to the UK from Australia in 2015 and Gav says it was his return to his homeland that brought about his passion for livestock.

“We did couples jobs when in Australia so we looked for something like that in the UK and that throws you towards estates and big houses. We got jobs on a small estate over in Lancashire not far from where I grew up.

“I went in as a groundsman and Becks a housekeeper. Our employer got six Castlemilk Moorit sheep for his birthday and asked if I would mind looking after them for him. I went down the road, spoke to a local sheep farmer to ask a few questions about what I should do with them.

“Over the period we were on the estate we got the breeding flock up to 100 and produced starter flocks for others, then the boss said he fancied some Highland cows.

“That’s where the livestock management element and being a farmer came in for me. Having bought some Highlands, I found I enjoyed them and asked a neighbour if he fancied buying some Highland cows with me.

“That’s how Becks and I got into them. The cows were kept on our neighbours’ land. He supplied the land and I supplied a bit of cattle experience.

“When we moved over to Yorkshire in 2021 to work at Garrowby, for Lord Irwin, I came over as head groundskeeper and three months later Becks got the job as my boss.

“We mentioned that we had this small fold of Highland cows and were looking for some land for them and 31 acres came up. We’ve just taken on another six acres and we’ve also agreed to take 35 acres from a neighbouring farmer as conservation grazing over summer as part of his stewardship scheme.

Everything seems to be rather neatly falling in to place for the couple to explore their passions and Becks says it is allowing them build a small business of supplying tasty Highland beef.

“We’re quite a good team in that I’m really interested in the land, soil and grazing management and Gav’s very good at the animal husbandry side of livestock handling and their welfare.

“We’ve had four cows in-calf this spring, that already had three calves at foot that are just about weaned. We’ve six heifers and steers following. It’s not a massive amount of cattle by any means but we’re happy that we’re growing quite slowly.

Becks says the beef quality produced by their cows is the key to their future growth of the fold.

“We have been butchering one beast per year so far. This year we’re going to be butchering three. That allows us to grow our customer base gently and locally as we don’t have an overwhelming amount of beef to move. We don’t push them for growth and all they ever eat is grass. The last two we processed went at 28 months.

“Their slow growth allows a long time to develop what is absolutely flavoursome beef. People love Highlanders and our brand and marketing is based around them staying as Highland cows.

Gav says the foundation stock for the fold came from renowned Highland cattle farmer Robert Phillip of Hellifield.

“Ours have all come from Robert and we also hired a bull off him once again, but this time the bull came to us. Previously we had sent everything to Hellifield. I’d love to get the fold up to 20 breeding cows. For us it is about finding that balance of renting enough land and numbers of animals. The land is all typical rough dale grazing on steep sided banks, which is good for Highlands but not much else. Having Highlands has allowed us to get into farming because there are not massive overheads with them. They don’t need housing, they’re out all year and they are wonderfully docile.

“I’m enjoying life as a farmer, and not just the livestock element, but such as fencing, being around the local livestock mart, it’s all a massive learning experience and we were particularly fortunate to have a lot of help from our neighbouring farmers when we started over in Burrow near Kirkby Lonsdale. Where we would have been without their help I really don’t know.

Becks and Gavin are the first to admit they are a work in progress as first time farmers, but they are also excited about their future.

“We haven’t the set-up I would dream of just yet in terms of multi paddock grazing,” says Becks. “But the more land we take on the more we’ll have that flexibility. The biological networks in the soil are there and we know it is important to keep giving the land really long rest periods. We’re building a reputation for our Lonsdale Highland beef and looking forward to raising this year’s new born calves, one of which was born yesterday.