'A big honour': Woodmans throw open their farm to NSA North Sheep

The Woodman family is delighted to be hosting the event and is looking forward to welcoming all sectors of the sheep industry to their Bradford House Farm in June this year.

As an integral part of this major sheep sector showcase, Willie Woodman, who farms with his wife Christine, mother Kathleen and son Martin under the umbrella of the long-established J E Woodman & Son farm business name, will guide visitors on a tour of their traditional mixed farm in Northumberland.

The Woodmans farm is a total of 2,150 acres located at two bases 30 miles apart with 1,200 acres at Great Chesters in the shadow of Hadrian’s Wall, and 950 acres at Bradford House, their North Sheep host farm near Belsay in south Northumberland.

The family has run Great Chesters as a livestock farm since Willie’s father, Ted, took the tenancy in 1969. They bought Great Chesters in 1993 and purchased Bradford Farm in 2002 as a base to grow wheat, barley, oilseed rape, and beans, and in recent years have added more acres to the Bradford holding.

Willie Woodman, who is a director of Hexham and Northern Marts, is proud of his heritage and of the way he and the farming community has moved ahead of the changes required by changing demands and Government policies.

He says: “We are traditional Northumberland farmers, but I hope we can showcase not only our own approach here at Bradford, but also the progressive approach farmers are taking in the surrounding area. This is a very big honour for us to be asked to host North Sheep. It’s an opportunity to share our lifetime’s work and a traditional Northumberland livestock enterprise with other dedicated farmers.”

Mr and Mrs Woodman of Bradford House Farm in Northumberland

The Woodmans have 270 suckler cows, mainly Limousin crosses with a few Belgian crosses and 40 to 50 bulling heifers. They sell their suckler calves as stores between the age of 18 to months old at the Hexham Store sales.

During the Bradford House Farm tour, visitors will see some cattle that are ready for market, including older stores at 20 months, yearlings just taken off their mothers, and cows with calves at foot.

At North Sheep, the focus will be on the Woodman's sheep operation. The two farms carry 1,150 sheep made up of 700 Blackfaces and 450 Mule and Texel crosses, all home-bred and predominantly grazed at both Great Chester and Bradford House. During the tours, visitors will see the Woodman’s full range of sheep, mules and lambs, Texels and lambs, Mule hoggs, Texel hoggs, Blackface ewes with Mule lambs, Blackface ewes with Blackface lambs, and Blackface hoggs.

“Our sheep flock is in the main self-sufficient,” says Willie. “We breed all replacements and only buy in Blackface and Texel tups from Hexham Mart. We occasionally purchase a Bluefaced Leicester tup to put to the small number of Blue-faced Leicester ewes which we have, specifically to breed Bluefaced Leicester tups to use on some of our Blackface ewes.”

The Woodman's sheep operation carries 1,150 sheep, made up of 700 Blackfaces and 450 Mule and Texel crosses – Picture: Robert Smith Photography

Where possible, all lambing takes place indoors with the sheep being housed approximately a month before lambing starts. Finished lambs are sold fat through the live auction at Hexham Mart. The Woodmans start selling lambs at the end of July through until the end of March, aiming to sell at weights of between 46 and 50 kilos.

“Visitors to North Sheep will not see show sheep or cattle at Bradford House,” says Willie Woodman. We focus on breeding and producing quality commercial animals, with the aim of getting a good sized carcase that will be in demand in the main UK markets.”

Bradford House Farm, sitting at almost 500 feet above sea level, is a typical Northumberland mixed farm, half permanent pasture and half temporary grassland and arable. The arable enterprise is extensive, growing wheat, barley, oil seed rape and beans. Soil testing is undertaken regularly and variable rate fertiliser is applied as and when needed.

The Woodmans grow all their own silage and hay. The whole crop beans are crimped for silage and fed to the cattle, along with most of their barley, wheat, and oilseed rape which are sold through Tyne Grains. Lambs graze at Great Chesters until the end of October and are then brought down onto the lower land at Bradford to feed on stubble turnips throughout the winter.

The Woodmans have 270 suckler cows, which are mainly Limousin crosses

In addition to the family, the two farms provide employment for a shepherd and two stockman. They work together across both holdings as a team, helping with the silage, harvesting and other areas to meet the needs of the annual farming calendar and challenges of the Northumberland weather.

“We have a fantastic team," says Willie, "and we couldn’t manage without them, their support makes our faming life so much easier.

“Farming at two locations, 30 miles apart, inevitably creates additional challenges and costs. We have machinery costs to deal with at both farms, which is more expensive than one independent unit.”

But it is coping with the red tape and regulations, which seem to be increasing all the time, and the Government’s post-Brexit policies and this year’s huge rise in costs that present the biggest problems for the Woodman’s farming business, and their fellow farmers.

Willie says: “The lack of direction from the Government at the moment makes planning for the future almost impossible. It is going to be very useful indeed to have these issues discussed at North Sheep. But rising costs are not in anyone’s control, and that’s a major problem in running a commercial farming enterprise and trying to maximise your return.”

Their two farms are managed under a system that aims to make the business as self-sufficient as possible. Along with silage and hay, the Woodmans produce all their own straw and most of the feed their cattle and sheep need. This has been of huge benefit in minimising input costs – apart from the extraordinary extra cost of fertiliser this year.

In every way they can, the Woodmans are also taking maximum advantage of the existing and new schemes. The land at Great Chesters at Hadrian’s Wall is in a Higher-Level Stewardship scheme and at all times the business has adapted to ensure it remains a viable enterprise for future generations.

At North Sheep in June, visitors will be able to see a presentation of the results of the Carbon Audit of Bradford House, undertaken with Carbon Partners, Virgin Money.

Willie Woodman will be the first to appreciate its value in planning a sustainable future.

He says: “We’re already very conscious of our carbon usage, and if the Carbon Audit identifies opportunities for us to reduce our carbon footprint, as I am sure it will, then I know that it will help save costs and improve our financial efficiency.

"We are already looking at planting trees in some of the less productive corners of our land which will help reduce carbon, and I am expecting the Carbon Audit to show that we might also improve our carbon and commercial performance by reducing our livestock numbers.”

An NSA member of many years’ standing, Willie Woodman sees the North Sheep event as a vital forum for sheep farmers at a critically important time for the industry.

He says: “Organisations like the NSA give grassroots farmers like myself a voice and a platform to share problems and solutions. I hope when visitors come to Bradford House at NSA North Sheep, they’ll get a good insight into our costs and margins, and how we have tried to improve efficiency. I hope very much the whole event will stimulate debate about how we can make sheep farming fit for whatever the future brings, for the benefit of the next generation and beyond.”

The NSA represents the views and interests of sheep producers throughout the UK, receiving support from everyone connected with the industry. It is funded by the membership of its sheep farmers. Together with the many industry related activities it is involved with, it aims to ensure that it plays a key part in every aspect of the sheep farming sector.

For more information, see www.northsheep.org.uk.