Going direct to public reaps rewards for diversified livestock farming enterprise

“We bought 65 acres that we subsequently named The Baggins in 2005,” says Steve. “It was simply a bare field and we have developed everything from that. I’d had an uncle who farmed. Christine and I had little farming experience but we’d always wanted to go into something in the countryside.

“This place had no gateway, no track, no buildings but we have grown it into a productive, bustling farm producing and selling our own pork from our Large White pig herd and lamb from our Wensleydale flock, as well as hundreds of other lines through the farm shop and online sales.

Steve and Christine’s journey has seen its highs and lows like every other farm business and Steve says the decision he and Christine made to scale back on livestock production and concentrate on selling direct to the public, initially through farmers markets, pop-up shops and home deliveries, majoring on provenance, high animal welfare and sustainability is paying dividends.

“When we started here we converted to organic and we went into outdoor organic pigs contracted through a major processor in Yorkshire. At one time we had a breeding herd of 380 sows, all outdoors. We kept the herd that way for a few years but you could never get the premium for the organic pigs and the cost of the feed just outweighed anything you could get.

“We decided to come out of organic and moved into free range in about 2014-15, but although we are no longer registered as organic our ethos is the same, that we don’t use any pesticides.

“By taking things back to basics we reduced our sow numbers and at present we have about a dozen producing just over two litters per year, so we breed and rear and sell ourselves. I don’t tend to follow what the big commercial processors would do, because we are now specifically about pork products for our customers.

“We’ve kept with Large Whites throughout our time here, The Yorkshire Pig. I’m currently on the lookout for a new pedigree Large White boar, as we use all natural service now, rather than AI. So, if anyone has one let me know.

Steve says that he and Christine no longer have poultry on the farm, although they do stock chicken and of course turkey, especially coming up to Christmas, in their Farm Gate shop.

“We had chicken when we started but not anymore because with such as avian flu it can cause movement restrictions.

“Our other main livestock on the farm is our breeding ewe flock of around 70 Wensleydale crosses that are still predominantly Wensleydales starting from the six we bought initially, from an organic farmer near Bishop Auckland about 16 years ago.

“They lamb very well and very easily and, like the pigs, they all live outdoors. They lamb outside from April to May and the tups are in with them at the minute. They’re all grass fed. The Wensleydale can be a very bizarre sheep for numbers of lambs. It is not uncommon for them to spit out four. Last year they all pretty much had singles but this year they had more twins than we’ve ever had.

“Everything produced by our pigs and sheep now goes into our Farm Gate Farm Shop or out on delivery.

“We tend to look at what we’ve got stock-wise and what we need for the shop in order to make our decisions on numbers. It’s very different to when we had so many sows. It now makes me smile when I get up in the morning knowing that we are more in control of our own destiny.

“There are certain times of the year when we need more and as it is coming up to Christmas we need more of the hams that people look for.

Steve says the move towards dealing direct with the public and not chasing big numbers with large processors has proved the right move.

“We started off doing farmers markets in 2017. We did pop-up shops too, in villages where there was no longer a local shop and that led to doing local deliveries which still makes up a fair amount of what we do.

“The logical next step was then a farm shop, so we converted the old pig loading coral. We were planning to open just as Covid struck and we then focused wholly on deliveries all the way through the lockdowns.

“We opened the shop two years ago last July and it has been amazing. We sell everything. We sell all our own meat, we’ve a full range of 50+ British cheeses; lots of organic produce such as fruit and veg that we do; lots of gluten free ingredients. Like different flours, like chestnut flour, maize flour. People travel quite a way as quite a bit of it is organic. We also have all of the Yorkshire wines including Dunesforde, of which we are currently their only retailer, and all Yorkshire beers and ciders.

“We also aim to keep our single-use plastics to a minimum by selling all of our meat, cheese, and dried goods in plastic free packaging, and all our organic milk and cream in glass bottles. All our dried goods, toiletries, and eco-cleaning products are available for refill, again, reducing single-use plastics.

It's a three-person team at The Baggins as Steve and Christine’s daughter Rhiannon helps on farm when she can, in between studying English at university, and has designed and runs Farm Gate’s online and social media presence.

“Rhiannon does a fantastic job and we launched our all-new website just last month,” says Steve. “It is already making a massive difference to our business.

Sustainability is one of the Parker-Nicholls’ watchwords and Steve is proud of what they have done so far with plans for the future.

“We’re now 100 per cent off-grid for our power source. Since 2024, Farm Gate and The Baggins are now powered by renewable energy from solar and wind power on our agricultural sheds. We have plans for water too, watch this space.

In the meantime, early next year, Steve is looking forward to another aspect of The Baggins coming on stream.

“We have our magnificent new holiday accommodation, set into the hillside, with south-facing views to York Minster. It’s very high class accommodation that we have been developing over the past three years – and the first of three will be opening in the New Year.

You’ll certainly not be a Hobbit in Steve and Christine’s new accommodation but the farm name Baggins is a reference to Tolkien.

“One of my son’s friends is a Tolkien. His best man at his wedding was James Tolkien. JRR Tolkien’s brother’s grandson.