Produce and customers
Our farm is always run with the end customer in mind we have strong working relationships with well-respected food processers and marketers both nationally as well as locally to supply high quality, high welfare and desirable produce.
High quality processing potatoes for the chipping and crisping markets
High welfare outdoor bred pork
Top quality cereals, beans and oilseeds for milling, brewing and oil processing
W.B. Daw and Son have a long and successful history of potato production with immense knowledge of growing, handling, storing and supplying potatoes on the scale now required by large processors. We work alongside processors to provide the produce they require in a sustainable, assured and efficient manner.
Straw and muck
We are already handling circa 10,000tons of manure every year to maintain and improve the soils on our farm. However, we are always on the lookout for more and have an experienced team for loading, carting and spreading. The straw we do not use in our own livestock operations and biomass requirements is available for sale or in exchange for farm yard manures or returned back to land to maintain soil organic matter levels. We can also offer contract baling services during the summer months. Contact us if you have muck available or require straw or baling.
We provide a high-quality contract finishing service. Producing barn raised outdoor reared pork to the high welfare standards which are required by consumers. This enterprise is an integral part of the farm and provides a use for a large quantity of the straw we produce and also supplies manure which is of great value especially to soil health.
Beef and lamb
As part of our mixed farming business, we utilize our higher-level stewardship grassland for grazing our suckler herd and sheep flock. All of the beef cattle and lamb are finished on the farm using low input grass and home-grown cereals. This extensive system complements our environmental schemes and busy arable enterprise.
As well as the growing of potatoes the arable side of the farm is producing, milling wheat, milling oats, malting barley, oilseed rape and beans. We are using the latest machinery for precise and efficient establishment, application and harvesting. Combined with our state-of-the-art biomass fuelled drying and processing plant to allow us to meet the highest specifications with the crops we grow.
Biomass heating, woodchip and commercial drying
To primarily supply renewable heat to our grain drying plant we run a 1.5Mw straw boiler, this is fuelled with our own straw all grown within 2 miles of the site. The boiler is also providing heat to an on-site wedding venue and allows us to provide commercial drying services for woodchip, straw and a range of other products.
Environment
All of our owned and long term farmed land is in higher and mid tier environmental schemes. These have helped protect and establish species rich grasslands and wild flower meadows. Take areas of historic and scientific interest out of production. Supported the upkeep of native breeds. The schemes help support our balanced approach to farming.
Precision farming
Our modern machinery fleet supports the latest technologies and applications available. Telematics, yield mapping, guidance systems and variable rate application are all managed in-house. All cereals are established with variable rate technology and each crop including potatoes can be yield mapped. Paperless recording systems send all recorded work back to the office for up-to-date management of field records and costings. See more examples of our in-house field mapping capabilities here
Farming practices
We operate a broad rotation which encourages bio-diversity and aims to improve and maintain soil health. Cover crop mixes are prepared on farm and sown in autumn across circa 600acres each year. Organic manures are spread before the majority of spring crops and analysed for their nutrient properties to accurately reduce our use of inorganic fertilisers. A wide range of establishment techniques can be used to achieve the best results for any given situation.