Skirlaugh YFC: The 75-year-old Young Farmers Club set up in a Yorkshire kitchen

Hatches, matches and dispatches were once a regular feature of young farmers club meetings, announcements of YFC members’ special events, but Guy, who farms at Park Farm in Rise, in partnership with Katie and her parents Jane and Charlie Buckton, now has another big day in mind for what he hopes will be the club’s biggest event ever, due to be held later this year.

“I’m chairing the organising committee for our 75th anniversary,” says the farmer who combines his love of farming with man of the match appearances for Aldbrough United FC.

“Our goal is to hit the jackpot in attracting a full house of 500 for our anniversary dinner dance at Bridlington Spa in October. We usually hold our annual event in February but we’ve gone for around the date when the club was formed in 1950.

"One of Jane and Charlie’s friends, Claire Brabiner recalls it being set up in her mum’s kitchen. We’re hoping Claire will be coming, along with many other former and current members.”

Skirlaugh YFC has a proud history and Guy says that such is the strength of the club, in terms of speakers, often through Young Farmers public speaking competitions, that they’re not looking to bring in any big names.

“We’re looking to celebrate Skirlaugh YFC Through The Years by having people talk about their era, like our long-standing ex-president John Whitehead.

"The club is still going strong today with over 30 members and has always been one of the strongest in the East Riding, always near the top at the county rally, and two years ago we took the rally title, in my last year as a member.”

Guy says despite his farming background he wasn’t a shoe-in to become a YFC member at the start.

“I didn’t want to go. It was my sister Hayley, who’s now a field officer for East Riding County YFC who dragged me along when I was 13-14. I ended up taking on nearly all the roles in my time, including chairman, and Katie took on even more because she was secretary.”

Guy very nearly didn’t end up farming, as his mum and dad came out of pig farming in Thirtleby, taking on a local garage, Coniston Bills, where Guy worked initially after leaving college.

“I studied engineering at Bishop Burton. I always wanted to be involved in farming but I’m very handy and wanted to be an agricultural engineer. It was just as I left college that dad bought the garage, so I worked for him first, but I missed farming.

“I’ve been best friends with Katie’s brother James for years. He works for Frank Hill & Son at Hull Livestock Market. My golden opportunity to get back into farming came to work for Katie’s mum and dad. I’ve been here nine years full-time now and I did three harvests before that. Katie and I are now equal partners in the farm with Jane and Charlie.”

Park Farm runs to 550 acres and is a mixed farm tenanted from Rise Estate with arable cropping, cattle, sheep, pigs and laying hens.

“Our arable acreage is around 400 acres,” says Guy. “Land type varies but it is largely heavy clay and we grow winter wheat, winter and spring barley and beans. The wheat is all feed wheat across 200 acres and varieties this year are Dawsum, Gleam, Graham and a little bit of Beowulf, a new variety.

“We have 60 acres of winter barley variety Tardis, which we mill for the sheep and cattle; and 35-40 acres of Laureate spring barley which goes for malting if possible; and 40 acres of beans, with the rest either temporary grass or lucerne for silage.

"We sell all the wheat and keep most of the barley and the beans for feed. We buy in calves from Hull Livestock Market and run them through to fat cattle. We have around 100 on at any time.

"I’ll buy anything, but I prefer Limmies and Blues because they’re a better shape. Their finishing average is at around 18-19 months when they go to Dunbia at Carnaby.”

Guy says they’ve recently moved more towards breeding replacements for their flock of 1,000 breeding ewes.

“We are largely Texel-crosses and Suffolk-crosses. We run Charollais tups on them, bought from either Wombleton Sheep Sale or Tom Hunter of Hunmanby, to get a bit of shape, but I also have some Texel tups.

"Two years ago we started breeding our own replacements putting a Suffolk tup or Texel tup across a Mule, instead of buying in. We do prefer the Suffolks. We get those from Bulmers.

“Our lambing is right through from the end of December to the end of May due to lambing space as we lamb everything inside. Our January lambs don’t go outside, as it’s too cold for them and we want them right for Easter when we attract a bigger premium.”

Pigs have always been part of Guy’s farming DNA.

“I grew up among pigs and have always been among them. Dad always said if you keep ticking over with them, they’ll keep you there in future. He’s always done bed and breakfast for pigs.

“Katie and I brought our 2,000 bed and breakfast pigs, that we run for Yorkshire Farmers in sheds I rent from mum and dad, into the farming partnership when we became equal partners.

“They come in as stores at 25-30 kilos and we take them right through to going to Malton Bacon Factory. We also have a small breeding herd of our own on a purpose- built pig unit that’s part of Rise Estate.”

Park Farm is also home to 24,000 laying free-range hens.

“They come at point of lay at 16 weeks and we take them through to 13 months.

“They come from East Riding business Wot-a-Pullet, so they don’t have to travel far.”

Guy says the team at Park Farm includes himself, Katie, her mum, who also does a little bookkeeping, and her dad, Guy’s brother James, and two more, including recently a young girl from Aldbrough on an apprenticeship.

“It’s a strong team. We all work well together and we’re doing okay.”

Skirlaugh YFC 75th Anniversary Dinner Dance is to be held at Bridlington Spa, Saturday, October 11. Contact Guy on 07398 789503.