The Farmers Mart Apr-May 2018 - Issue 56 | Page 34

34 PRIORY FARM APR / MAY 2018 • farmers-mart . co . uk
34 PRIORY FARM APR / MAY 2018 • farmers-mart . co . uk

Are you looking for a new Agribuggy ?

WE NEVER LIKE TO BE BEATEN ON PRICE
With our wide range of high quality Agirbuggies and new / used crop sprayers available , you can be sure that we have one to suit your budget or your farming needs .
WE STOCK PARTS FOR ALL TYPES OF -
• Crop sprayers
• Frazier Agribuggies
• Kellands Agribuggies
• AgriBuggy
• Melo Axles
• Fpw Axles
• 2.8 TGV Engines
• Landrover Engines
• Ford Engines
Proud to be suppliers to David Rawlings of Priory Farm
Tel : 01430 860 033 | Email : davebuggy @ live . com Mobile : 07966 112 629 | www . agribuggy-yorkshire . co . uk
Arglam Farm , Arglam Lane , East Yorkshire , YO43 4HG

Contract Farming & Potato Land Rental

Contact us on Tel . 01347 878400 www . fridlingtonfarms . co . uk
Fridlington Farms Ltd , Su�on on the Forest , York , YO61 1EE

FOR SIMPLY BETTER PROPERTY ADVICE

PROUD TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH PRIORY FARM , WIGHILL
York 01904 558230 york @ carterjonas . co . uk carterjonas . co . uk
attract blue chip companies for corporate events including conferences and team building .’
David ’ s arable enterprise makes up around 450 of the 500 acres that is all owned . He grows wheat , barley , oilseed rape , beans and potatoes .
‘ Our land is mainly medium loam with just a bit of body . We ’ re currently growing Croft biscuit wheat and yield wise we are normally around 4 tonnes per acre . We ’ re putting in 60 acres of spring barley variety Propino this year . We only generally grow spring barley where we can ’ t get wheat in after potatoes , which we couldn ’ t this year . We undertake all our own combining and use baling contractors .’
Livestock was once the mainstay of David ’ s father Harold ’ s farming business and David ’ s grandfather Horace Burniston . David went towards arable but has just started bringing cattle back in a small way alongside a sheep flock that has always been part of the farm business .
‘ I erred towards farm machinery and where the financial benefits appeared to be at the time . I felt we should specialise more , so I moved to more arable cropping , but I also had 1000 pigs on B & B for a number of years , coming out of them just prior to going into the wedding venue business .’
‘ I ’ ve just started developing a small herd of pedigree Hereford cattle – my grandfather had Herefords . We bought our first batch last year and have now had two batches . We ’ re buying them from the Coley herd near Halifax at around six months old and will either sell them as strong stores or fat . We have 11 at present .’
‘ Our Mule ewe flock runs to just 26 lambing in late spring . We put the Texel tup to them . We sell lambs as fat or stores later in the year at Selby livestock market .’
For those who have ever played cricket in the Wetherby League there will be more than a passing interest in David ’ s acquisition of Wighill Park ’ s cricket ground . Sadly , the club is no longer but the ground is still there .
‘ We will always keep it as a recognised field , keeping its character . It still has the grass and the fence all around . The hall at Wighill Park was once home to Lord Hawke the legendary ex-Yorkshire and England cricketer . I ’ m looking at using what were once the pavilion and dressing rooms as a utility block for a proposed glamping site near the woods there .’
David ’ s wife Vanessa is a full time occupational therapist and their other daughter Alicia is involved in marketing running the Foot Locker account for Adidas . David runs regularly but doesn ’ t give away where he gets his running shoes ! Their son James is presently in Australia .
Priory Farm takes its name from Syningthwaite Priory , which was a Cistercian convent of St Mary built in 1163 . It was suppressed in 1535 at which time it had nine nuns and a prioress .