Farm of the Week: Bed and breakfast piggery and horse hay growing on the Burton Constable Hall estate

Sheep also play their part at Smithy Briggs Farm in East Yorkshire, through a unique operation between two good friends that are 40 miles apart, and pigs have their place in the operation too.

It’s quite a different farm to many others in the area that are largely arable concerns, and Peter Caley and his father John are happy that is the case.

“Dad and I have always been interested in doing things differently,” says Peter. “Some of the events that have influenced where we are today is that when dad first started farming with his father it was a bigger family farming partnership involving cousins.

“In 1989 dad ended up farming with my grandfather Cedric on the 120 acres we still tenant and which was a fairly small farm even back then, let alone today.

“They were one of the first in area, if not the whole country, to have pigs on a bed and breakfast agreement, already going down the route of collaborating with others to make the farm pay.

“The farm was arable and pigs at that time. Then we started making hay on land at Burton Constable Hall where there was a riding school. There hasn’t been one there for quite a long while now, but that was the reason we got under way, making it specifically for them.

Fast forward to 2008 when Peter returned to Smithy Briggs after having studied at university and having had five years as a farm business consultant.

“We had lost my grandfather in the 90s but had been making more and more hay and I came back focused on our future.

“In the first five years we went from still being an arable and hay enterprise to specialising in making a quality horse hay product and growing our customer base, which is still growing today.

“We make it all ourselves, there is no buying-in, and we retail as Smithy Briggs Horse Hay. Our customer base has evolved over the years with largely customers with just one or two horses and we sell in a 50-mile radius of base, almost as far as York, just north of Bridlington and a little over the Humber into Lincolnshire. Our two unique selling points are that we produce a quality, clean, consistent product; and we have our own delivery round. Week in- week out we are out on circuit delivering hay.

Peter says the beauty of running a horse hay enterprise as opposed to cereals and other arable crops, on what would be regarded as a very small arable farm, is in the risk factor.

“I always say that with growing grass we don’t have a lot of risk until we take the mower out into the field and cut the hay. Then we have a huge amount of risk for seven days until we get it in the shed.

“Of the 250 acres we farm 200 are now down to grass which equates to 4000 square bales of horse hay that we need to satisfy current demand. We yield somewhere between 3-4 tonnes per acre and need around 600 tonnes per year. If yield is amazing we can keep stock on site, which will cope for when yield may not be quite so good the next year.

“We renew grass leys every three to four years and where we used to take additional lands in small blocks we have now concentrated on taking land from a neighbouring arable farmer each year, which works far better for both of us, as we benefit from the share of each other’s farm machinery and labour.

Peter stresses that making horse hay is an art in itself.

“Our horse hay mixture is multi-species, but the thing that really makes it horse hay is the date when you cut it. We wouldn’t cut in June, no matter how sunny it has been, as it is still, too high, too rich in energy. We let it die, so that it is not spoilt but fairly well dead, so that when we cut it, it is easier to make the hay, and we generally cut in mid-July.

“In the last five years we’ve noticed more traditional weeds like thistles and docks from grass fields coming in, and that is one of the reasons why we have, maybe here and there, put a wheat crop in as a break. We also grow peas as a break for Bird’s Eye.

“Dad is the one who has the real eye for the grass and everything we grow. He’s head tractor driver and quality control on the tedder.

The pig enterprise runs to 2000 bed and breakfast pigs taking weaners to bacon on contract with Yorkwold Pigpro.

“The pigs provide the muck so that we are not reliant upon bought-in fertiliser. It’s a circular system on a small scale. We put up a specialist pig building ten years ago and we also invested in precision farming technology for spreading muck on the land. We’re farming in an environmentally friendly way.

Six Valley Lamb, an operation started by Peter and his good friend Adam Palmer at Breckenholme, Thixendale on the Yorkshire Wolds, these days known more for Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil, has proved a success in joining up sheep production between hill and lowland.

“Dad and I really wanted sheep on Smithy Briggs to manage the grass, and Adam was interested in finishing lambs elsewhere than on the Wolds,” says Peter.

“We found another farm at Eastburn near Driffield and the enterprise has continued extending mainly in East Yorkshire and we now have 3000 sheep at this time of year. The Six Valley Lamb operation has 1500 breeding ewes and we have a contract to supply Tesco.

“We currently have over 1000 finishing lambs here, with the breeding stock more on the Wolds. Lambs finish well here on what is fairly fit land.

Peter and Adam have changed their preferred breeds from when they first started.

“We currently have Easycare and Romney breeds. We started with North of England Mules and Lleyn-crosses but have been phasing them out. As of next year we will be purely outdoor lambing with Easycares and Romneys.

“We have a batch of Easycares on land at Burton Constable Hall. Easycares are lower output but also a lot lower inputs. They live outdoors, have great maternal instincts and need little human input. The Romneys are also very good, although we may eventually go wholly Easycare.

Peter and his wife Clare work together in the farm office and have two teenage daughters.

“It’s a family operation. We have a great team including Mark who works with the pigs, sheep and delivers hay; a young lad Bradley; and Bryony who works in the office. Six Valley Lamb is also a team effort even though Adam and I farm 40 miles apart.