Apley farming news

24 April, Spring spraying

3 April, oil seed rape coming into flower

3 April, Soil preparation, pre-planting

Recently, I read this detail about Apley farming in a press release by the AHDB, the Agricultural & Horticultural Development Board, for which Apley farms are now a monitor farm. I felt it was worth sharing here as it gives a brief but official description of our current farming operations at Apley. I believe tack sheep belong to farmers renting grazing (as we don’t have any sheep of our own).

There are a few other aspects of Apley’s farming to add:

1. our 3 other very valued members of the farm team – Bill, Mike & Ian
2. our 13 tenant farmers who look after 3/4 of the estate’s farm land
3. the 1000 acres of woodland – we have some magnificent trees & the woods are home to many wild flowers & wildlife – now managed by 1 woodman & contractors
4. Apley beef is sold through Apley Farm Shop’s butcher & used in our Creamery Cafe.

“Adrian Joynt has been the farm manager for the Apley Estate since 2011. He is responsible for 650ha of arable cropping, running a five-year rotation on medium soils, which includes wheat, barley, oilseed rape, oats and potatoes.

A policy of minimal cultivation with rotational ploughing is employed and the majority of the labour and machinery required is operated in-house. Grain storage and marketing is done on the farm and Adrian uses an independent agronomist. In addition to the arable land, the farm includes 300ha of grassland which services a suckler cow herd and a beef finishing unit. Tack sheep graze the grassland and stubble turnips during the winter.

During the Monitor Farm programme, Adrian particularly hopes to scrutinise the effectiveness and cost of his herbicide strategy, investigate variable rate nitrogen techniques & cover crops, as well as potentially introducing alternative break crops.”

My photos are usually taking when out riding &/or from a distance, so I usually have a millisecond to take them, so I know they aren’t the best, but better than nothing.