Farming

The main stay of the farming business is arable crop production of winter wheat, winter barley, and winter oilseed rape being grown. The wheat is sold either to local feed mills or to the bioethanol plant on Teesside (when in operation). The barley is also sold to local feed mills whilst the oil seed rape is crushed to extract a high-quality oil which has many end uses including being sold as vegetable oils.

Longhorn cattle have been at Raby Estate since the earliest 1970’s where a small pedigree herd was established By Peter Boylett (the farm manager at the time) and grew over the years to its current size. The herd can be seen grazing around Raby Castle during the summer months along with the red and fallow deer.

The herd is run commercially with the cows calving in the spring before being turned out to grass between April and May. The calves are retained until they are around 2½ to 3 years of age where they are sold either for breeding or for meat production. The aim is to produce our own meat which will be used by the catering outlets elsewhere on the Estate when it is available.

The current stock bull is known as Raby Kaiserchief who was born on the Estate before being sold along with his mother to a fellow longhorn breeder. He returned to the Estate in Spring 2017 and any of the younger calves you see in the park are likely to be his.

Raby Estate takes an active role in managing the land for the benefit of the environment. Raby Farms has just entered into a Mid-Tier Countryside Stewardship Scheme, working alongside Natural England to provide habitats that benefit all types of wildlife within the area from insects to wading birds, hedges, to wildflower meadows.

Significant time and cost will be put into establishing these new habitats across the farmed area which will lead to enhanced environmental benefits to the area over time.

Historically the in-hand farming operation has established crops using s plough-based system. This is both slow, expensive, and detrimental to soil health overtime.

In recent years, the farm has moved over to a none inversion system, which is quicker, cheaper, and marginally less damaging to soil health. The most recent development is the establishment of a no-till trial on one of the farms near Piercebridge, where the crop has been established by drilling into the previous stubble and hardly moving any soil at all. Should this trial prove successful it is possible that this technique will be rolled out over a larger area of the farming operation.

Raby Farms have a range of modern farming equipment and, where appropriate to do so, use the latest technology to help in managing the crops as efficiently as possible. The most recent introduction is a new fertiliser spreader which allows fertiliser to be applied at varying rates depending on the needs of the crops within an individual field.

The farm business employs 3 fulltime staff along with additional help being taking on during harvest. All 3 staff have been employed by Raby for many years and have a wealth of experience and knowledge of the land and environment in which they work. Their hard work, dedication, and attention to detail, is one of the main reasons the farm business is the success it is today.