North Grimston farming family doing it for themselves

‘We had been farming while we both had our separate jobs, me with a landscaping forestry business and Katy as a veterinary nurse,’ says Glenn. ‘We had our stock on bits of land we’d rented and in farm buildings on both our parents’ farms. We’d tried buying bits of land but prices are through the roof, we couldn’t afford them.

‘What changed everything from my point of view, was when we had Arthur (8) and Daisy (5),’ says Katy. ‘We’d got to the point where we were getting bigger and bigger with sheep and cattle and when Glenn got the option of redundancy we thought, with the time we were both putting into our animals that it was time for a rethink, plus we wanted to try and give our ‘littlies’ what we were lucky enough to have when we were younger, and so we tried to get somewhere of our own.

‘Maybe we seemed quite attractive for the tenancy here on Birdsall Estate because we’d already got the family, we were ready to get straight into work and having always helped out on our families’ farms we had a bit of experience behind us.

Glenn and Katy are so pleased with where they have made their new home.

‘Michael Willoughby, who owns Birdsall Estate, has been great with us. We’ve spoken with him quite a lot, he’s really decent to get on with and is so helpful,’ says Glenn.

‘It’s a really nice community, we felt accepted from day one, all the other farmers are great and our neighbouring farmer has been amazing, the kids got straight on at All Saints School in Settrington,’ says Katy. ‘We’ve received so much love and support from our families and friends too.’

‘This was somewhere we’d never come to, even though it’s not that far from where we come from – Little Ouseburn and Nun Monkton. It’s a lovely part of the world, near the Wolds Way.

Hilltop Farm is just shy of 300 acres and is all down to grass. It’s a little different to what Glenn and Katy were used to and they have worked hard since they arrived.

‘We’re all uphill and down dale here,’ says Katy. ‘It’s on low input schemes, which means you can’t put huge quantities of muck on it. Our cattle and sheep and have really made a difference to the grass.

‘The first year we hard-grazed it with all the sheep, and the cattle have come on to it since. It’s getting better and looking greener.

‘We’ve been finding the right balance of stock,’ says Glenn. ‘We have 40 suckler cows and we do calf rearing, which sees us with around 400 head of cattle pretty much all year round with all calves from the suckler herd, plus calves bought and reared-on from dairy herds, going through to fat at 14-16 months if bull calves and heifer calves 16-18 months. All sold at Northallerton Mart. As well as grazing them from April to October we’ve also got some good big sheds.

‘We have a Limousin stock bull for the sucklers that all calve outside from the start of April. The calves from dairy herds usually come at a rate of about 20 a month, all between 2-7 weeks old. We like them in batches and vaccinate them all within 24 hrs of arriving.

‘When we first came, we needed to sell a few as stores to help with cash flow. We’re now taking everything through to finishing. It doesn’t mean we’ll always do that, because you never know what’s around the corner.

The sheep flock runs to around 330 breeding ewes with 220 Mules, all put to the Texel tup, and 110 Texel crossed Mules.

‘Every other year we select the best gimmer lambs from those Mules by the Texel and keep them as replacements,’ says Glenn. ‘For this year’s lambing, which starts the first week of April, we bought three Charollais tups all from local people – Cyril Dougherty, Deborah Whitcher and Andrew Hodgson, as I didn’t want to get the Texels too pure.

‘We had a better scanning percentage than last year, so we’re hopeful of more on the ground in April.

‘We wean them in mid-July, select our own gimmer lambs and sell the rest in Thirsk Mart.

Glenn and Katy are both really pleased with the way things are going, assisted by decent prices in the market for both cattle and sheep, and Katy found the Yorkshire Agricultural Society’s Goodall Agri Development Pathway are a real help, but she’s dumbfounded as to the lack of incentives available for young people going into farming.

‘I was one of the first on the Goodall meetings. After every one of them we were able to implement something learned back at home. The meetings genuinely really helped all of us. It has provided a lifeline over any worries and issues. All of us on it talk regularly on a Whatsapp group.

‘Starting your own farm takes so much investment. I cannot understand why we haven’t been able to qualify for any government help as new entrants.

‘On one hand, we’re both really proud we’ve managed to do it ourselves, which has been down to a bit of luck with good prices at the moment, but we’re young, keen people, trying our best to get going. I’ve found it baffling and frustrating that there’s been nothing to help us.

Glenn says they’ve been careful over purchases.

‘When you’re on your brother’s and father-in-law’s farm you can easily borrow a tool or a tractor. When you’re on your own, you need your own tools, your own machinery. We’ve added a 12-year old Merlo telehandler from a farm sale and a livestock trailer from an online auction. We’re pretty thrifty, we’re not daft spenders.

The previous tenant at Hilltop had a couple of non-farming incomes from caravans but Katy says they’d far prefer it if they can make the farm work purely with their cattle and sheep.

‘We want to be able to concentrate on the farm,’ says Glenn. ‘The one thing we are interested in doing, is to hopefully get to the point where we sell our own beef and lamb and get a bit more for our stock, like at my mum’s farm, and complete the circle of growing and selling our produce.

In the meantime, the Browns are enjoying life at North Grimston and so are their children.

‘Arthur isn’t too bothered about farming right now,’ says Katy. ‘He loves splashing in puddles and playing football; but Daisy’s mad for it, she’s a force to be reckoned with!