After taking on the running of the family farm, Josh Gay has a vision for the future of the business. Emily Scaife finds out more.
A young farmer is reaping the rewards of an approach that combines lessons from the past with modern ways of thinking.Josh Gay is the fourth generation to farm at Newton St Loe, Bath, as tenants of the Duchy of Cornwall.
Aged 27, he has gradually taken over the day-to-day running of Newton Farm from his father, Hugh.
Originally a beef and arable farm, the 200-hectare (500-acre) site has expanded over the generations to take on more land, open new enterprises and, most recently, run an award-winning farm shop and cafe.
Josh says: My dad took over the farm when he was 27 after his father died very suddenly.
Hes worked hard all his life the farm had a dairy herd until 2000, so he was running that and the rest of the farm while also raising four young children.
A lot of farmers dont let their children take the reins for a long time, but dad is happy to take a back seat now, let me make decisions and hope I dont mess it up too much.
Josh believes current farmers can learn a great deal by listening to the words of their forefathers.
Historically, there was a saying: you never leave sheep in a field to hear the church bells three times, he says.
He thinks a lot of modern farming has lost touch with the lessons of those who worked on the land previously and current farmers could stand to learn a lot by considering the approaches of old.
As an industry, weve turned to chemicals as the answer, rather than looking at biology, he says.
Chemicals are great, but they should be a last resort. We wouldnt have got to where we are without them, but its important to use them sparingly. Overusing them will only lead to them being banned.
None of Joshs farm is organic, but he is determined to work towards a style of farming which eradicates the need for most chemicals.
Weve been in Higher Level Stewardship for around 13 years, Josh says.
Most of our grassland is free from pesticides and fertilisers and Im hoping to eventually make the arable herbicide-free or get as close as we can by using inter-row hoes.
If you farm organically then you have to plough, but I think there is more merit in keeping the soil covered and intact.
Growth
The Duchy offered the family the opportunity to take on an additional 120ha (300 acres) from another neighbouring farm 12 years ago, increasing their grass area significantly.
We doubled our cattle herd and today we keep on average 350 of beef cows, sucklers, half of which are pedigree South Devons and the other half are Aberdeen-Angus commercials, Josh says.
Were going to prioritise the South Devons going forward as we have a number of footpaths here and theyre particularly docile.
The farm has also changed their calving system, switching to block calving four years ago.
Calving in autumn and spring allows us to manage the animals slightly better and it means we get animals finishing at two ends of the year, which provides a regular supply of beef for the farm shop.
A pig enterprise began 10 years ago and today the farm is home to 17 sows, with the team finishing a few hundred pigs every year.
Josh is also lambing 220 sheep, which are predominantly New Zealand Suffolks, Lleyns, Cheviots and Charolais, in two blocks 80 in January and 140 in April.
The cows and sheep are on mob grazing rotation, ensuring there is 30-80 days before they return to the same paddock, depending on the season.
They co-graze together; the lambs and sheep usually enter a field first so the lambs can eat the nice clover and then the cows come in and clear up all the stuff the sheep didnt want, Josh says.
They work together and then the field gets a 60-day rest where everything is allowed to flower, set seed and really put down roots, ensuring nothing is overgrazed.
Last year was the first year we implemented this system and I got an extra 45 days grazing in one year.
Josh hopes to introduce laying hens to the grazing rotation this year too.
They will come after the sheep and cows the idea is they will scratch though the dung of the previous animals, pull out all the parasites and reduce my worm burden.
The cereals are grazed over winter by the sheep, which, says Josh, negates growth regulators and hopefully at least one fungicide, depending on how well grazed it is.
Josh says: The next step in the future will be to go in with an inter-row hoe and eliminate herbicides. This will also protect me against rising input costs.
Grazing winter cereals will also reduce disease over winter while encouraging plants to get down deeper into the soil, hopefully resulting in higher yields in the long run.
I did one field last year and I got six tonnes of straw/ha which was 10-15 per cent higher than the rest. And 9t/ha of grain, he says.
There were no negatives. It means I can save on chemicals while fattening up some lambs or feeding some sheep while Im at it.
Changes
Newton Farm also switched to direct drilling its cereal crops around four years ago and they havent looked back since.
We made the change for moisture and carbon conservation and cost. We reduced our diesel bill by 8,000 in the first year, says Josh.
After quitting dairy farming in 2000, Joshs dad bought a butchery trailer in 2003 followed by converting a barn in 2006, supplying schools and the council for a few years.
Gradually there was more demand for our meat and we ended up growing organically into a farm shop, Josh says.
Weve been properly trading since 2010. The cafe opened in 2014 and we extended it in 2019, shortly before the pandemic began.
Today the farm shop and cafe employs almost 50 staff. All the farms beef, pork and lamb are sold through the shop, with anything left over sent to market or sold to a local buyer.
We also started growing vegetables last year to supply the farm shop. This will be our second year - last year we grew courgettes, squash, butternut squash, sweetcorn and some sunflowers as well.
A pick your own pumpkin patch has also attracted a huge number of people to the farm for the past two years.
Last year we had roughly 700 cars arrive each dry day we were open, Josh says.
Most of the pumpkins were bought and some leftover ones were given to food charities as part of affordable food projects or put on the app Too Good To Go.
Following regenerative agricultural practices is already making a tangible difference to the farms soil and the wider environment. Going forwards, he is determined to continue working towards reducing chemical use as much as possible.
This is only the second year of adopting this rotation but were already seeing more hares and birds, such as skylarks, who particularly love our triticale crop, says Josh.
We are trialling growing crops together we undersowed some maize last year with peas and this year Im going to undersow with white clover. That will hopefully help my soil structure while fixing some nitrogen.
He is also passionate about reducing wormer use and his efforts so far have been successful, with only two cows needing worming last year.
Historically we were routine worming. But we realised that we didnt need to were getting better results by vaccinating calves for lungworm and paddock rotation.
We do a lot of faecal egg count sampling to ensure we only worm when we need to.
As well as preserving his own land for future generations, Joshs business decisions reflect his considered approach to the farms footprint on the wider world.
All our farm is soya free, he says.
It may cost me a bit extra, but soya production encourages deforestation and environmental damage in other countries, so to me the cost is worth it.
farm facts
Farm facts
- Tenants of the Duchy of Cornwall, which extends to 200 hectares (500 acres)
- Opened their now award-winning farm shop in 2010
- All the beef for the shop comes from their 350-cow suckler herd, made up of South Devons and
- Aberdeen-Angus commercials
- Lambing 220 sheep this year in total, including New Zealand Suffolks, Lleyns, Cheviots and Charolais
- Pig enterprise established 10 years ago they now keep 17 sows
- The farm has been in Higher Level Stewardship for 13 years
British Farming Awards
- In 2016, Josh and his family won Family Farming Business of the Year at The British Farming Awards. The awards are now open for entries and nominations. For more information, visit britishfarmingawards.co.uk
