News/Events

Leaving no stone unturned in the pursuit of enterprise at Crakehall

WHEN an electrical fire destroyed the main hub of a farm in North Yorkshire four years ago livestock had to be moved sharpish and it was to signal a wholesale change of direction for a man who had made his name through dairy farming, robotic milking and all things dairy. Tim Gibson of Hunters Hill Farm, Crakehall near Bedale has moved on from that dark day and now operates a variety of agricultural and non-agricultural enter-prises from his 300-acre farm including a beef suckler herd, growing cereals and specialist haylage, a more streamlined dairy equipment business, self-storage units, a soon to be established rural office complex and a new business involving stone. You could say he’s leaving no stone unturned. ‘I’d made the decision to come out of having my own dairy herd of 200 cows earlier that same year,’ says Tim. ‘They’d all gone to Glastonbury in the spring, but I had been running the Brymor herd of 100 Guernseys side by side with my herd on a contract milking basis and we were focusing our efforts on doing well with them.’ ‘The fire had started through the wiring on a brand new machine that was still under warranty and the generator, which was there for backup, was also consumed in the flames. We lost all our mains electric power, the generator, telephones, internet, everything was wiped out and it took Northern Power Grid 18 months to reconnect us.’‘That night the more pressing jobs than worry about that was to make everything safe and get the cows away. They had been miked by robots and needed milking urgently because the power had been off since 9pm and the first trucks arrived to pick up the cows at around 5am.’ ‘Fortunately, a neighbour about 4 miles away put them all through his milking parlour while we sorted out what was to happen. Cows still need miking no matter what.’ Tim’s days of being a dairy farmer of any kind were finally over. ‘I’d kept the last heifers out of my black and white cows that had been bred to the Belgian Blue and they had become the starter of my suckler herd I have today. I now have 20 Belgian Blue X cows that I put to a British Blonde bull and their beef calves are taken through to finishing at around 15-18 months and sold at Darlington livestock market.’ ‘Our original intention had been to sell as stores in the autumn but 2 years ago
we went into a TB1zone, not through anything I had done, and I felt that if I sold as stores that buyers would have to do a post movement test and that would knock the price.’ ‘I’m totally spring calving which allows me to turn them out as they calve and the calves come in during autumn when they are fed on a beef ration. If we can, we try and run the cows fairly extensively by keeping
them out on root crops in winter. I’m using homegrown cereals to finish the calves.’ Tim grows cereals for both the open market and for the cattle, as well as potatoes and his newest contract is to supply haylage for Wensleybale. ‘I’ve 100 acres of winter wheat this year, 70 acres of winter barley, plus a bit of spring barley this year because of the way the rotation works. I rotate 30-40 acres of potatoes. What we’ve tended to do in more recent times is two years grass ley for haylage then two years wheat, one year barley, followed by stubble turnips. We take in around 400 store lambs for the stubble turnips. When they go it is then potatoes in spring, then wheat for two years and back to grass.’ ‘I buy a specialist seed and grow haylage that a contractor ensiles. 100 acres of haylage goes to Wensleybale for racehorse feed. They supply the major stables in Middleham and Newmarket.’ Stone has become Tim’s latest crop and he realised the opportunity through his own farm.
‘Our land type is very sandy, gravelly, stony dry land and it has been a constant problem to us, but there is a solution that I have found really helps many other farmers – and provides a new crop.
‘Stones, as any farmer knows, can cause untold damage to machinery and I now have a machine that alleviates the need to go and hand pick stones, while at the same time providing a new income.
I’m using the stone to build new tracks and roads to the farm for access.’ ‘I started contracting with a stone harvester. It’s a Finnish machine that rakes and harvests and the market value of the stone has made it viable for us to go on to farms conducting stone clearance at a really competitive price. We are now harvesting stone as far away as Newcastle and Harewood.’ Tim was involved with a major robotic milking machine manufacturer for some years but has been totally independent for the past eight years. ‘We still look after robots on farms and I have a couple of engineers. We take out old robots and break for spare parts or sell as whole. We trade all around the world exporting to the likes of Canada, America and Europe. I’ve even got a dealer in Korea who supplies my robot add-ons and upgrades like liners to the Korean market.’ Utilisation of redundant and obsolete farm buildings has brought a new storage business and will soon see a new rural office complex.

‘We have our Yorestore which opened in March 2020 at the beginning of the first lockdown and now offers 40 self storage units. During that time many people who were furloughed moved back to live with their rural families and needed some where to store their belongings. There were all sorts of other reasons too and our stores are constantly busy.’ ‘The new rural office complex is using
the redundant dairy buildings and one of the planning conditions was that new access was built, which meant a 250 yard access road. That’s where the stone comes in very useful.’ If you need your stone harvesting Tim goes under the name Gibson Groundworks. He really is leaving no stone unturned.

Farm of the Week: The farmer whose most lucrative crop is stones and who is turning his dairy into rural offices

Beef cattle, racehorse haylage, cereals and root crops make up the mix for one North Yorkshire farmer, but it is an unlikely crop that has been paying dividends more recently.

By Chris Berry
Saturday, 12th February 2022

Tim Gibson farms across around 300 acres at Hunters Hill Farm in Crakehall where he has found that his land type has brought about another unique aspect to his farming enterprise.
Tim said that such has been his success in harvesting stones that he has bought a stone harvester and he is now being sought out by other farmers.

“Stone has been our most profitable crop on average over the last three years. Our land is very sandy and gravelly and it has proven a constant problem. Stones cause untold damage to farm machinery, getting stuck in your drill, breaking power harrows.
We invested in a Finnish machine that rakes and harvests the stone. It alleviates the need to pick up the stones manually and because many other farmers suffer similar problems we are picking up contracting work.”
“The market value of the stone makes it viable for us to offer this service to other farmers. We need to put in a new access road to the farm for rural offices that we are shortly going to be launching. The stone that we have harvested would have cost us thousands if we’d had to buy it.
“The other benefit is our fields are much better. It’s making a big difference to our productivity as well as saving on machinery costs.”
Tim said his regular cropping is of winter wheat, barley, potatoes and racehorse haylage.
I buy a specialist mix of grass for racehorse haylage and this year I have 100 acres of it. It goes to a company called Wensleybale, which has a tremendous record in being fed to successful racehorses. They supply the major racehorse stables in the UK.
“Our rotation is usually two years of grass leys for the haylage followed by two years of wheat, then barley followed by stubble turnips which are followed by potatoes in the spring. After that it is two more years of wheat and then back to grass for two years.
“This year I have 100 acres of winter wheat, 70 acres of winter barley and will grow 40 acres of potatoes, some spring barley and the rest will be down to grass for racehorse haylage.”

Tim came out of dairying in 2017 after a lifetime’s involvement in the sector. He had let go of his 200 Holstein cows six months earlier, but still had around 100 Guernsey cows that he was milking on contract for Brymor Ice Cream at Jervaulx.
An electrical fire that wiped out his power for all mains electric, his generator, phone lines and internet saw an immediate end to any dairying at Hunters Hill.
Tim said it was not how he’d anticipated leaving the milk world.
“We had a decent contract with Brymor, but dairy cows have to be milked and we no longer had the resources. They had been milked by robots here, which meant that some would have milked overnight normally and were ready to milk.
“The fire brigade, having dealt with the fire, left the farm at 2am and the cows began leaving at 4.50am, initially to a dairy farmer four miles away, who put them through his parlour.”
Tim’s Holstein dairy cows had been sold before the fire, but he had kept some of his dairy heifers that had been bred to a Belgian Blue bull and he said those heifers now form part of his suckler herd.
“I now have a herd of 20 Belgian Blue-cross-Holstein suckler cows that I’m currently putting to a British Blonde bull. It’s all spring calving and I’m turning them out as they calve.
“If we can, we run them fairly extensively keeping the cows out on root crops in the winter. The spring-born calves and their mothers come in at autumn while the calves are weaned but then if the weather is right the cows are back out again.
“Our original intention was to sell as stores but we went into a TB1 zone through no fault of our own nor our neighbours and I just felt that stores buyers having to undertake a post-movement test would knock the price.”
Tim said he is still on a learning curve having left the milking sector for beef, but he knows what he’s looking for in his herd.
“I want cows that are easily manageable and when it comes to replacements I will probably purchase what I’m looking for out of others’ dairy herd crosses. I’m looking at bull calves going to market at around 15 months and the heifer calves at more like 18 months.”
Tim has always turned his hand to diversifying his farm enterprise utilising what he has at his disposal. His knowledge of the dairy farming world saw him as one of the first to enter the robotic milking sector and dairy sundries.
Tim said it is a sector that he’s still involved in today even though he is no longer a dairy farmer.
“we trade in exporting robotic milking systems all around the world. Recently that has included Canada, America, Cyprus, Poland and throughout mainland Europe. We have developed robotic milking add-ons and upgrades such as liners. There is even a dealer in Korea who supplies my products to Korean dairy farmers.”

Tim started a new business of self-storage in redundant farm buildings and is currently also working on a new rural office development in what were the old dairy buildings.
He said, rather like his recently most lucrative crop, he is leaving absolutely no stone unturned.

“We opened the self-storage units as an offshoot to the farm in March 2020 just before the first lockdown. It took off and hasn’t let up. We have 40 units.

“The new rural office development that will open later this year was a no-brainer. People are now looking to either work from home or closer to home. We had the buildings and are furbishing them as office space in a fantastic part of the world.”