Farm of the Week: Twites fly in as a useful supplement to sucklers

Conservation and water quality have come to play crucial parts in their business at Beeston Hall, Ripponden, based on suckler beef production, using mainly Salers cattle, and a lamb business using mainly Blackface sheep.

They admit to some scepticism when it was suggested the way forward for their business lay in partnership with the RSPB and related interests.

They had less choice over involvement in water quality because much of their land lies along the banks of two reservoirs and they are tenants of Yorkshire Water.

Stephen's parents came to the farm in 1966, running 20 hectares (50 acres) as a small dairy producer/retailer business.

In 1992, the family added the tenancy of the adjoining Batings Farm, also owned by Yorkshire Water, and with other rented land, Rachel and Stephen now farm a total of about 809 ha (2,000 acres).

The Batings tenancy was taken for its limited amount of 'green' land for the dairy herd, the bulk of the farm being rough moorland. "The moorland became increasingly wet, inaccessible and neglected.

"It is also exposed to every westerly wind that blows. All our moorland is now designated as an SSSI, with grazing only allowed for three months of the year as part of a heather regeneration project," says Stephen, 48.

"Also, much of it is in the water catchment area for the reservoirs. This means we cannot have calves on the moor because of the risks of cryptosporidia. And over the farm as a whole, we have to be careful to meet Yorkshire Water's requirements when applying manure.

"The milk retail business started to decline in the early 1990s and when Rachel and I took over the farm in 2000, it was clear things had to change. We either invested heavily in the dairying or we got out and started with suckler beef and sheep.

"Even then the figures did not add up. Then it was suggested we talked to the RSPB, though other farmers warned us against becoming involved with conservation bodies, saying they would take over.

"The RSPB did a survey and found it was a habitat for a small bird, the twite, and advised us to apply for a stewardship agreement. The agreement was closely tied to the retention and enhancement of ancient hay meadows.

"The additional income has made the difference between having a viable farm business and not having one. Since then, we have also become involved in a heather regeneration programme supported by the RSPB, Natural England and Yorkshire Water."

Rachel, 39, says: "The dairy cows were sold as they calved and we started looking at suckler cows. We needed a hardy beef cow that was easy to manage. It also had to fulfil our prescription under the stewardship agreement.

"We came across Salers purely by accident and liked them, partly because of their beautiful dark red colouring. We bought six in-calf females, five with calves at foot, from Rigel Pedigree, which happened to come with pedigree paperwork, though we were buying them as purely commercial breeding animals.

"From then on we built up the Salers herd, buying in stock with the money from the dairy cattle sales and retaining all our Salers heifer calves. We now have about 80 suckler cows of which about two thirds are pure Salers. During the transition, we also reared and finished dairy bull calves for beef, which worked well with the slaughter premiums payable at that time.

"We decided to learn to be sheep farmers too and established a flock of Hill Cheviots, put to Texel tups. But it soon became apparent they were unsuited to this farm, although they are now doing well on a relative's. Knowing this farm once had a Blackface flock, we replaced the Cheviots with Blackface and the tups with Lonks, which are also well-proven locally. Now we have 300 ewes breeding well. It was a lesson in the importance of matching stock to the farm."

All the cows calve outside, mainly in April and May. Until recently, the couple retained all heifers, but have lately been able to start culling out those which produce the weakest-performing calves and selling some better performers as breeding stock.

Some bull calves are selected out for breeding stock too. Salers are increasingly popular as sucklers, says Rachel, because they are easy calvers and milky mothers, and a lot of commercial farmers are now breeding their own heifer replacements and wanting their own bulls. At Beeston Hall Farm, the animals to go for beef are weaned in autumn, housed and reared using bought-in feed and sold at 10-11 months of age and 400-450kg. Recently these have made 600-800 per head.

Finishing stock on the farm is not practical, says Stephen. They have to buy in all their straw, plus haylage in big bales to supplement their own silage. All young stock is housed over the winter months but about 55 breeding cows are out-wintered.

Rachel says: "We have two Salers bulls, a stocky beef bull, and a more traditional large-framed type of bull. We use the two alternately – the taller bull to give a large frame and the stockier animal to put the meat on that frame."

Stephen adds: "We are great believers in the live auction system. When you are at home, you just see part of the market, which makes it difficult to put a value on stock. At the livestock market, you see how the whole market is working. Our commercial stock is mainly sold through Skipton and pedigree stock through Salers Cattle Society sales.

"For the first time this year, we took bulls up to the February Perth pedigree sales at Stirling and took the third-highest price in the breed, selling a bull at 3,000 gns to an Orkney buyer. A second went at 2,500gns. We have also started showing at some of the shows – Newark and Notts, Great Yorkshire, Royal Highland and some smaller ones – as a shop window."

The couple's 13-year-old son, Sam, brought home several awards as a young handler last summer. They also have a daughter, Anna, aged 10.