The Farmers Mart Apr-May 2019 - Issue 62 | Page 52

52 SLEDMERE ESTATE
APR/MAY 2019 • farmers-mart.co.uk
HAPPY TIMES AT SLEDMERE ESTATE
Chris Berry talks with
estate farm manager
James Fenwick.
SLEDMERE House is one of the jewels in
the East Riding’s crown, a beautiful Grade
I listed Georgian country house visited
by thousands every year either to look
around, hire as a wedding venue, attend
special events and festivals, and see the
animals. It is also home to a fabulous estate
that runs to around 9000 acres with just
short of 2500 acres farmed in-hand with
estate farm manager of the past seven
years James Fenwick responsible for the
farmland, parkland, arable cropping and
livestock.
‘ This is the most
amazing place to work
and the team on both
the estate and the
farming operation
is fabulous from the
owner Sir Tatton Sykes
through to everyone
’
‘Here at Sledmere we are a true farm-
ing estate as well as having our own ten-
ants. I’m very lucky to be in the position
I now am as this was always my dream
job. I took the estate farm manager’s role
in 2012 having drilled oilseed rape here
in 2010 and then subsequently having
been asked to come and give a hand on
the farm in early 2012. I’d made it clear to
Stephen (Greenfield) the resident agent
that I would drop everything to come
here permanently if the opportunity
arose and by the end of the year I was
officially the estate farm manager.’
‘This is the most amazing place to
work and the team on both the estate
and the farming operation is fabulous
from the owner Sir Tatton Sykes through
to everyone.’
The arable cropping acreage runs to 2000
acres with winter wheat, winter and spring
barley, oilseed rape and peas. Winter wheat
varieties grown for feed and biscuit include
Revelation, Costello and Sundance, which
James reports having done well in the last
couple of years as a second wheat, plus Sky-
fall that he has as a new variety this year.
‘We have no drying facilities so everything
has to go on the basis of harvest movement.
We have three dump stores that allow us to
split the crops between those above and
below 17 per cent moisture. We can store
around 1000-1500 tonnes and we load wag-
ons daily, selling everything on a claim that
means we don’t incur additional costs. I
constantly watch the market all year round
to forward sell the grain.’
‘We used to grow feed winter barley and
spring malting barley, but since we found
that we can grow good malting barley with