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

56 WALTON LODGE FARM APR/MAY 2018 • farmers-mart.co.uk MILK, BEEF AND NOW SHEEP LEAD THE WAY AT WALTON Chris Berry talks with the Danforths at Walton Lodge. 72073 - Barnard Castle Auction Mart - 16TH.pdf 1 10/04/2018 16:13:54 72141 - RiponFarmServices - 8TH.pdf 1 11/04/2018 PRIDE in producing great livestock and being recognised for it among your peers has brought on generations of farmers and farming families whether standing in line at agricultural shows or gaining good prices and the Danforths of Walton Lodge Farms near the historic Roman road of Rudgate on the edge of Walton, near Wetherby are no exception. Success in dairy herd competitions for milk production or with cows at the Great Yorkshire Show; development of a new suckler herd; and a passion for Charollais sheep has seen Richard and sons Ben and James make their mark in several ways in recent years. ‘Our main core business is the dairy cows,’ says Richard. ‘We farm across 553 acres with 526 owned and roughly half is down to grass. We have 160 cows of which 130 are milking. One-third of the dairy herd is Ayrshires and the rest are Holsteins with a few Friesians. We’ve been building up the Ayrshires as I feel they suit the farm 15:06:38 C C C M M M Y Y CM CM MY MY CY CY Y CM MY ARE PLEASED TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH THE DANFORTH FAMILY OF WALTON LODGE FARM. CY CMY Please visit our website: www.barnardcastleauctionmart.co.uk CMY K K Tel. [phone] Auction Mart Office, Vere Road, Barnard Castle, Co.Durham, DL12 8AD better as they are more robust and give less problems.’ ‘We split record the Ayrshires and Hol- steins so that I can enter the Ayrshire herd competitions. The Holsteins give a better average with 9000 litres per cow per year but the Ayrshires at 8000 litres are more productive overall because they will give on average between 5-6 lactations where- as the Holsteins only give around three lactations. We’ve been working on them to try for better conformation and longevity and we might get closer to four lactations. We are gradually moving forward with both breeds. All our Ayrshires are AI’d us- ing British and Canadian lines. We will run our own stock bull every now and again on the black and whites.’ ‘We started showing the Ayrshires about six years ago and we had Supreme Ayrshire at Stokesley Show in 2015. We have started this season well picking up two third places at Dairy Expo in Carlisle. All the top breeders go there, and we also picked up a reserve Premier Breed- 72126 - Brockhills Of Yorkshire - 16TH.pdf 1 24/04/2018 Brockhills of Yorkshire Ltd, Dalton Lane, Dalton, Thirsk, North Yorkshire YO7 3HR. CMY Proud suppliers to Richard Danforth of Walton Lodge Farm Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] K Email: [email protected] Web: www.brockhills.co.uk 12:02:37