Farm of the Week: On the farm with Great Yorkshire Show director Charles Mills

But it was the show’s cancellation through torrential rain, after just one day, when he was joint Chief Cattle Steward that Charles says showed him just how much the show means.

“What really brought it home to me was when we lost two days of the show in 2012. It was suggested that I ask Bill if we could finish the cattle classes on the second day with no general public around.

“I stood on a big bale in the commercial cattle marquee and thought I’d be lynched, but it was so emotional. Exhibitors hugged and kissed me. We all cried together. That’s when I really realised what the show meant. It’s a feeling I will never lose and I will be forever grateful to the exhibitors that come and the preparation they put into their livestock whether cattle, sheep, pigs, equine or any other, and also those who put so much effort into their tradestands. It’s such a fine example of what farming and Yorkshire is all about.

Charles farms 550 acres, mainly at the family home at Woolas Grange in partnership with his wife Jill. Their son James is now also involved. In recent years they have diversified with a wedding venue. The diversification largely saw an end to the farm’s livestock enterprise.

“We used to have a lot,” says Charles. “But a wedding venue and smells don’t go too well together so sadly the cattle and pigs disappeared. We do still have a small flock of either store lambs bought in the autumn to graze stubble turnips or gimmer lambs to run through summer, selling as shearlings in autumn.

“We produce combinable crops across 450-460 acres with the rest grass, some of which is rented. Our land includes a block of 50 acres to the north of the A64, and another block at Bishopthorpe. It’s all within 4-5 miles.

“My father, Henry, came here in 1949 when it was just over 300 acres. My mother, Connie, is still with us at 99 and a half years old. We have always been very much a family farm and our two daughters Anna and Sarah, although now living away, have always played their part, while my dear wife Jill has been my rock. Everything I have done in my life I could not have done without her.

“I came back to the farm after college and working away because we bought next door’s farm and because I’d met Jill. We met at a function at the Royal Hall in Harrogate, so the town has played an important part in my life.

Charles has a straightforward approach to farming and believes a great deal of what is talked about as regenerative farming is another political label, another soundbite.

“I’m not ashamed to say we are in the job to make money. We go for maximum yield. We spend the money. I believe regenerative farming is very much a word for politicians and gives them something to throw back and make them look good.

“I’m a very big believer that farmers understand their land better than anybody and that what is right for one farmer is not necessarily right for another. I’m not quite sure what the term regenerative farming means. I’d like to think it’s about caring and loving your soil, understanding what you do and trying to keep structures and everything else perfect and most farmers, if they’re worth their salt, have been doing that for a long time. We certainly have.

Charles’ cropping this year is 200 acres of winter wheat varieties Skyscraper and Diego; 120 acres of spring malting barley variety Laureate, 80 acres of spring oats and 60 acres of winter beans. Charles also grows stubble turnips for the sheep. He’s been ahead of the curve on cultivation for some time.

“We’re in a min-till, no plough situation. We’ve had land here that hasn’t seen a plough for 35-40 years. That is purely because it’s very heavy and also very good land, especially in a time when it’s dry.

“We don’t have a strict rotation. We do whatever is right for that particular block of land. If we’ve a grassweed problem we go into spring barley or spring oats. There may well be a cover crop goes into that, although we’re careful of cover crops due to the cost of establishment.

“The major problem we have is grass weeds, particularly ryegrass. We’ve spent the last month rogueing our fresh land for blackgrass and ryegrass. It’s pretty clean. The biggest way of us fighting it is with spring cropping. Having said that we have brought back winter beans this time and the crop looks extremely well, nearly as tall as me, and its ability to smother weeds is very good.

“All our spring crops were drilled before the end of February. We’ve never done that before. We drilled spring oats on 2 February and spring barley soon after. I didn’t sleep very well for a while thinking we might get frost kill but soil conditions were perfect and I think that is the answer, drilling when it’s ready not when you want to drill it. Our oats are conventional oats this year rather than naked oats and their ability to smother grass weeds has also helped.

Charles’ love of the Great Yorkshire Show started as a young boy and has remained undimmed.

“I used to go in short corduroy trousers with my mum and dad and as I sat in the grandstand I’d see all these very smart stewards out in the cattle parade with bowler hats and thought that it must be nice to do that job. Through John Pearcy a farming neighbour I became a North Yorkshire representative on the society council.

“I began to realise what the Yorkshire Agricultural Society stood for, doing good, supporting the industry, and now educationally even more so.

“When Bill (Cowling) became show director I asked whether there was any way I could get involved in the cattle side. Bill helped me become chief steward for the Ayrshires. I knew nothing about showing but Michael Warren looked after me like I was his son, and the wonderful Margaret Chapman too. I really enjoyed the company of all the exhibitors in my time with the cattle. You only see everyone once a year, but it’s like a meeting of the whole family.

“Being show director is not a job, it’s an honour – and it’s an honour also to work with our office team and everyone on the showground.