Farm Of The Week: Teamwork’s the key to dairy success

Those dairy farmers who were close to conurbations or at very least served a mass market were generally well placed to carry on and grow their milking herds. Those who were farming a distance from major towns and cities seemed in most danger of having to leave an industry and way of life some had been used to for generations.

The Oversby family came to Grassington in 1938. William Oversby ran the farm and started a milk retailing business in the small market town and surrounding area. He passed on the reins to his son John in 1963 and he in turn passed the business on to his son David in 2003.

Town Head Farm and Dales Dairies, which sees milk brought from 17 other farms within a 15-mile radius, are run very much together by the family and non-family members in a strong management team.

“We’re now one of the major employers around here,” says David. “Quite a number of our staff of 50 live within a mile of the dairy and we’re extremely proud that is the case. We’re now processing between 45-50,000 litres of milk a day, but volume isn’t our primary consideration.

“Where we are situated in the heart of the beautiful Yorkshire Dales is a privilege and we never forget that. We are also very conscious of our role in Grassington and as we have expanded we have taken great care with our own forward planning.”

The investment in a new access road so that lorries can get in and out of town without disrupting its iconic main street is a clear indication of Dales Dairies’ approach.

Townhead Farm has a herd of 140 milkers and David watches its progress carefully even though the lion’s share of his time now has to be devoted to the dairy enterprise.

Cow numbers have increased in recent years and a herdsman is employed along with another full-timer whilst David’s partner Fiona takes a strong interest.

The herd is all Holstein, but as David is keen to point out they are not extreme Holsteins. They produce an average of around 9,000 litres fed on silage, maize silage, rolled wheat, soya, sugar beet, millers distillers and molasses. There was a time when Friesians and Shorthorns were more the order of the day and the concern over the Holsteins is for their hardiness.

Holstein expert Sarah Liddle of Northallerton is consulted regularly over bulls and types when discussing future herd replacements and fertility.

Greater use of sexed semen in the past three years has increased productivity and the balance of the bull/heifer ratio has also improved. Townhead Farm recently invested in 30 new cows to expand the herd that little more quickly.

The parlour was originally a 16/16 herringbone Fullwood and has had several upgrades including a Vaccar pulsation system and equipment from Westfalia over the years.

“We started taking milk from other dairy farmers back in 1995 when the Milk Marketing Board was disbanded. Its successor Milk Marque wasn’t working and we took on the milk being produced by Bill Foster of Kilnsey. It soon came to light that collecting milk from dairy farmers 20 miles down a country lane wasn’t stacking up for dairies in the big towns. That’s when other dairy farmers started looking at us as an option.

“One or two came to us, then a few more as they weren’t getting the returns they had been promised initially.

“When Dairy Farmers of Britain went bust around three and a half years ago we took on another five farmers’ milk. At the time it gave us a lot more surplus than we really wanted but they were between a rock and a hard place. We have been able to help keep dairy farmers in business and that is another source of pride. No-one wants to see anyone go to the wall but everyone needs to look closely at whether their business is viable. There tends to be a lot of romancing about yesteryear but I’m afraid we have to live for today, because if we don’t we are all vulnerable.”

Dales Dairies is as much about finding buyers and giving them great service as it is about looking after other producers. David and his team have grown the business that exists today on the back of an increased customer base and developing relationships with largely local businesses.

“We supply what is called in the trade as ‘middle ground’ markets such as corner shop convenience stores, cafés, catering trade wholesalers, food manufacturers, local schools and hospitals, and independent doorstep roundsmen.”

The last of those is where the business started by grandfather William was founded, on milk production and retailing.

“Grandfather would go out with what was called a back-can. It was a bit like a rucksack but with a churn on your back. He would deliver by horse and cart and people would bring out their jugs and milk cans to have them filled up.”

Milk processing began at Townhead Farm when John bought a small local dairy owned by a Mr Parker in Grassington and all of the equipment was transferred to the farm. Another dairy, Tinklers of Nesfield was also acquired several years later with almost identical equipment enabling processing capacity to be doubled.

David is one of five siblings who all ran their own milk rounds in the area and a number of the family either were or still are involved in the business.

“My eldest sister Susan works with us on the Customer Services side. She’s married to a farmer and has a milk round of her own. My next eldest sister Linda worked on the farm here at Townhead as well as working with my father at another farm he had at Gisburn.

“She now works for a homeopathic company in Settle. James my elder brother is a mechanic and works with us on the maintenance side having had a successful career as a builder; and my younger sister Jenny worked here for a while before she married and moved to Harrogate. One of my three sons, Michael, also works with me.

“Whatever we do here is a real team effort. There’s no way we could run all of what we have built together without everyone else from the shop floor, working on the farm and the management.

“We’re now a thriving business within a small community selling ourselves on supplying local milk and we’re all trying very hard to make sure things stay that way.”

Dales Dairies became the new trading name of Townhead Farm Products Ltd in 2011.