Free-range layers, beef cattle and arable cropping are the three enterprises juggled daily by the Maughan family at Morton Tinmouth West farm near Bolam. Reporter Wendy Short went to meet William Maughan.
MORTON Tinmouth is a typical “blink and you’ll miss it” hamlet, tucked away on a quiet lane and with only a handful of residents. It forms the base for the three farm sites run by David and Lorna Maughan and their son, William, along with David’s brother, Peter.
The tenancy of Morton Tinmouth West, which belongs to Raby Estates, was signed in 1971 by David Maughan. Meanwhile, his late grandfather, Jack, was a Raby tenant at Denton Grange, near Piercebridge, where William and his family now live.
When William returned to the family business after studying agriculture at Bishop Burton college near Beverley, the partners had beef cattle and arable crops across 500 acres and they began to explore the possible addition of a third enterprise.
Free-range eggs were becoming more popular and it was thought that hens would fit in well, so the family took delivery of 6,000 layers in 2000.
Since then, the flock has been expanded to 14,000, with all of the produce sold on a tracker contract to the Happy Egg Company, owned by Noble Foods.
“We have been with the Happy Egg Co since its launch and the payment we receive is related to feed costs,” explains William, who is the chairman of the Darlington NFU branch and a member of the NFU’s regional combinable crops board.
“Production contracts may not always return the best prices, but in the over-supply situation that we are experiencing at present, they do offer some protection against the vagaries of the market.
“Free-range is no longer a minor element of egg sales and bird performance has improved dramatically, as we grow in our understanding of their management,” he says.
“Producers also receive very good technical support from within the industry. Compared to our experience of other sectors, poultry producers tend to be more open and willing to share ideas.”
One member of staff is employed to tend to the Bovan Brown hens, although he will also pack the eggs and work elsewhere on the farm, when necessary. The systems are traditional flat-decks with automated feeders and drinkers and the housing is shut down manually at night, with a standard conveyor used for egg transportation.
William and his family were delighted when it was announced that the poultry enterprise had won this year’s national British Free-Range Egg Producers’ Association Producer of the Year award, in the category for flocks with fewer than 16,000 birds.
It was the second time the business has received this recognition, as the unit also won the award in 2009.
The judges commented that the birds ranged well, with a high level of biosecurity in place.
Good shell quality, bird longevity and control of egg size were among the other positive features noted, along with an age-at-depletion figure of 72 weeks and production averaging 320 eggs per bird.
Disease is a major threat to free-range poultry and the Maughans make every effort to preserve the good health of their birds at Morton Tinmouth West. The site has separate access from the rest of the farm and boots are changed, when entering and leaving the unit.
Encouraging free-range birds to fully explore their external environment can be challenging, but the farm’s range improvement programme has proved to be a huge success.
A wide variety of shrubs and trees have been planted and the Maughans have been surprised at how much the increased cover has led the hens to venture outside.
“Range management can be difficult, especially in wet weather,” admits William.
“There is inevitably some poaching close to the sheds and we take the opportunity to re-seed the paddocks between flocks.
“A heavy-duty ride-on lawn mower is used to keep the vegetation down between the trees; otherwise it will become a barrier to the birds’ ranging pattern.
“I would imagine that looking after free-range birds is reasonably straightforward on a farm with only one enterprise, but it is not always easy on a mixed holding, when the crops and the beef cattle are requiring urgent attention, for example,” he adds.
“We have found that the birds are calmer when they are checked at the same times every day, but that is not always practical.”
He adds: “Technological advances have given us access to information about daily production, but it has to be monitored closely in order to get the best out of it.
“Among the most useful is the data on water consumption and the egg number figures and bodyweights. These can alert the flock manager to a disease outbreak and allow action to be taken quickly.”
When the first birds arrived on the farm, free-range made up about 13 per cent of supermarket egg sales. It now stands at more than 50 per cent.
“The growth in sales has been very exciting. Some of the larger retailers have said they will not stock eggs from caged birds by 2025, but whether free-range will be able to fill the void is uncertain.
“I believe there will still be some consumers on a tight budget who are simply looking for cheap food and that sales of free-range will never reach 100 per cent. In addition, supermarkets are not the only retailers selling eggs. The prospect of significant expansion is of concern to us because it could have a negative effect on prices.”
Beef
THE beef enterprise is well established and some 150 bull and heifer calves are purchased for the farm each year by local supplier, John Robson of Greta Bridge.
The dairy crossbreds arrive at two-to-four weeks old and are kept in individual pens for bucket feeding, before moving on to straw in the group housing. Finished at 18-19 months, the bulls go through Darlington auction mart weighing 620-650kgs, with heifers taken to 600-620kgs and sold deadweight.
“We are planning to phase out the bulls and switch to all heifers,” says William.
“The aim is to make better use of our permanent grassland and it will also improve safety. Margins are tight on beef at present, but they are good for cash flow and the farmyard manure is valuable for our arable land.”
Arable Cropping
THE 400 acres of arable crops are grown on a principle rotation of wheat; wheat; barley and oilseed rape, with many of the operations carried out in-house.
The soil is mainly a medium loam, with some areas of heavy clay, and with so many other activities taking place, the family does not aim to achieve a bread-making premium for wheat.
Feed varieties grown this year include Grafton (KWS); Revelation (LG Seeds); KWS Lili; KWS Siskin and KWS Kerrin.
Yields last season averaged just under 10 tonnes/ha across firsts and seconds. Meanwhile, a percentage of the home-grown barley is treated with Propcorn or crimped and fed to the cattle. The barleys grown for 2017 included Cassia (KWS) and Sunningdale (Syngenta).
The two oilseed rape varieties currently in the ground are DK Extrovert (Dekalb) and Anastasia (LG Seeds). The latter performs well on the farm, with the average yield across the two types at slightly less than 4.4 tonnes/ha. Most of the grain and all of the oilseed rape is sold on the GrainCo pools, with the harvest spread across both the forward and spot markets. Thankfully, oilseed rape prices have picked up over the last 18 months, remarks William, who regards the crop highly for its ability to present a good entry for a following cereal.
“We are relatively lucky in this region, because the most serious levels of flea-beetle damage in oilseed rape is suffered by growers further south,” he says.
“The announcement of a permanent ban on neonicotinoid pesticides is a serious issue, because it will significantly decrease UK production. Fortunately, our oilseed rape was monitored and we only had to treat one field for the pest.”
Spring Beans
SPRING beans have been grown since 20014 and have replaced a bought-in protein balancer for the cattle ration, with their contribution historically enhanced due to their eligibility for Ecological Focus Area status.
Recent changes to the rules mean that some plant protection products can no longer be applied, which will potentially lead to a reduction in yield, currently 6.3 tonnes/ha.
“We would no longer be able to control chocolate spot or the bruchid beetle in our crop, or use a herbicide or a desiccant.
“Nevertheless, we will continue to grow beans, as they keep feed costs down and we have other options for fulfilling our EFA obligations on the farm,” says William.
“Our beans are usually harvested early and crimped, and then followed by a first wheat. They are particularly useful in their capacity to enhance soil nitrogen. Winter beans are a less attractive option, because of their vulnerability to bird damage.”
Land designated for spring beans at Morton Tinmouth is treated with a pre-emergence herbicide and the crop usually receives both a fungicide treatment and a desiccant. The beans, which are always crimped, are harvested at about 25 per cent moisture and treated with Propcorn for improved storage and to enhance the available feed protein.
British Grassland Society Event
WILLIAM, who is married to Sarah and has two children – Ruth, aged seven and Jack, five – is keen to issue an early alert to readers for an event which is being held later this year by the British Grassland Society.
“The Durham Grassland Society is hosting the annual national summer meeting, which will take place on July 1-4,” says William.
“Delegates will come from all over the country and we have several excellent farms lined up for visits.
“It will be the first time that Durham has played host for two decades years, so we are determined to make a good impression on our guests.”
