Lessons to teach the next generation

Bransdale is home to one of Yorkshire’s most remote rural communities. You don’t see this dale, set in the heart of the North York Moors, mentioned on many signposts. When you do, unnervingly, there is never an indication as to the distance you must travel to get to the loop that runs around the dale in front of Bransdale Woods.

Bathed in sunshine and blue skies earlier this week it is idyllic, but less so if you are here in the depths of winter – or perhaps even next week if the forecasts are correct.

When you’re in the main populated part of Bransdale (about 50 people at most) you are seven miles from Fadmoor and eight miles from the nearest town of Kirkbymoorside. There’s no shop, pub or filling station for miles.

Farming and shooting are the main sources of income here but finding a future for your offspring is tricky.

Rob and Julie Myers have farmed at the 165-acre Toad Hole Farm since 2003 and came to Bransdale back in 1995 as tenants on the smaller Low South House Farm. In addition to their tenanted acreage they also rent a further 120 acres elsewhere in Ryedale.

They have both never wanted to do anything else, even when BSE broke out just six months after they took on their first tenancy; Foot and Mouth disease restrictions in 2001 set them back even more but the move to Toad Hole was their salvation.

“When it was bad Julie ran the farm and looked after the boys while I worked away pretty much 24/7. We needed the money so I worked with an agricultural contractor from early morning until late at night every day to keep us afloat. There were many weeks I never saw the children but that’s what myself and others have to do in difficult times. Coming here made all the difference, there’s no comparison between here and Low South House.

“This year has been another bad time because of the weather early in the year but fortunately we’ve had a few more years of experience and better times to fall back on. The freezing conditions led to nothing growing and meant we couldn’t turn out the cows until June 18. We normally feed concentrates to the sheep until the second week of April, but we were still feeding them right up until the end of May, at £150 per day.

“Breeding stock prices were back in a lump last year and we did particularly well with our Mule gimmers. This year, despite a recent blip, they are still faring well. We took a wagon load of cattle to Ruswarp Suckler Sale last week and had one of the best prices we’ve ever received so it’s not all bad.”

Sons Sam and Dan are both keen young farmers but the current family farm won’t be enough to sustain their future families. It’s a problem that Rob and his fellow members of the North York Moors Quality Sheep Association are seeking to address and just last week saw the start-up of the first North Yorkshire Fresh Start Uplands Academy course. It’s designed to help nurture the next generation of upland farmers, shepherds, herdsmen and land managers by showing them the reality of running a hill farm.

“Ideally we could do with a 600-1,000 acre farm where the whole family could work together but you don’t see many of those coming on the market. The course is aimed at showing all of those who attend how they should go about tendering for a farm, how they would farm it and what diversification interests they would have to look at. Those attending will meet with accountants and bank managers and will work on budgets and cash flows that will give them a better understanding of the complexities and problems.

“I am Thorgill born and bred. My brother still farms there with my father on the only dairy farm left in Rosedale. I set up my own agricultural contracting business from my father’s farm. When Julie and I got together we knew that we’d like a farm of our own and we came to Bransdale. Julie’s dad was a farm worker and she had stock from being three years old. We’re passionate about sheep and beef cattle. Our diversification businesses here are running the estate shoot and working as fencing contractors for the National Trust, that owns all the land in Bransdale, and the Forestry Commission. Our son Sam has already taken on one diversification enterprise as he assists Tim Dunn, also from the dale, with sheep scanning.”

“The Fresh Start Uplands Academy is seen as a vital part of farming’s future up here and we all want this to work. We could have had as many as 20 on the course but we only have 14. I’m a bit surprised that we didn’t have more applications but that perhaps gives you an inkling that young people don’t want the 24/7 nature of hill farming and how hard it can be at times.

“Most are farmer’s sons as you might expect but there is also a couple from South Yorkshire who run a restaurant. They have farming in their blood.

“It might all look pretty on a day like today but when you can just about see your backside because you’re that deep in snow and you haven’t seen a wagon in the dale for two months you realise why only those who have been born to it actually want to be here.”

LIVESTOCK AT TOAD HOLE FARM

The farm keeps 450 to 550 breeding ewes. Half the flock are Swaledales breeding North of England Mules; the other half are Mules breeding Texels for either the fat lamb or stores markets.

It has a pedigree flock of Blue Faced Leicesters and a pedigree flock of Swaledales, both for breeding tups, a pedigree flock of Texels and an Aberdeen Angus suckler herd bulled to Limousin and sold as strong stores.

Sam took a Reserve Champion title at the 
Great Yorkshire Show this year with a Swaledale and Daniel has had a particularly successful show season with his Texels.