We have 80 cows which, for the major­i­ty of the year, are out­side graz­ing in the pastures.

Most dairy farms milk the cows and then store the milk in a tank for a milk proces­sor like ARLA to col­lect but on our farm we process the milk our­selves pro­duce cream, churn but­ter and make our own ice-cream. We have an ice-cream par­lour too so there’s a lot to see. 

We have tak­en part in LEAF Open Farm Sun­day for years, start­ing with just a few vis­i­tors. We now see in excess of 2000 through­out the day. As the event has grown, we have involved more and more folk to come and help. Our McCormick Trac­tor came from Barlow’s in Mac­cles­field and our rep came and spent the day explain­ing to the vis­i­tors all about a mod­ern tractor. 

We also link up with Pro­fes­sor Dun­can Cameron’s P3 plant sci­ence depart­ment from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Sheffield who spend the day teach­ing all about soil sci­ence with a fab­u­lous twist for the younger vis­i­tors — ​‘Soil Secret Agents’! — bring­ing lots of props with them. 

By invit­ing lots of folk we do busi­ness with, and all linked with farm­ing to come and help, it takes the pres­sure off us. We can focus on doing the farm tours which, for us, is my dad Gra­ham with the milk­ing par­lour, broth­er Dan with milk pro­cess­ing dairy and a behind-the-scenes look at how we make ice-cream with Scott. 

When it comes to food and drink, we again invite our local farm­ing friends to help out. Moss Val­ley Fine Meats do the BBQ and Brad­field Brew­ery pro­vide a great pint of Farmer’s Ale. 

There are plen­ty of mate­ri­als to help run your event on the LEAF Open Farm Sun­day web­site includ­ing a free ban­ner for your farm gate. There are also some amaz­ing spon­sors who sup­port the event and can help with eas­ing any costs like a por­taloo or print­ing flyers.

For me it’s miss­ing a 4×4 spon­sor so if any­one from Lan­drover is read­ing this, it would be great to have an icon­ic farm machine like yours sup­port­ing the events. 

There are lots of folk usu­al­ly will­ing to come and help out so ask your vet, your trac­tor deal­er, your Lan­dover deal­er, your feed mer­chant, your agron­o­mist or the local Young Farm­ers Club. 

Open Farm Sun­day is eas­i­ly the best day we have on our farm. Your vis­i­tors come because they are inter­est­ed in what goes on and by the end of the day you’ll feel like a food-pro­duc­ing celebri­ty and def­i­nite­ly some love from folk for the work you do. 

As farm­ers we need to recon­nect the pub­lic with their food, help them under­stand what we do and to real­ly val­ue it. I would urge oth­er farm­ers to get involved, not only because it’s a great day but also because it’s an oppor­tu­ni­ty to reach more peo­ple with our bril­liant farm­ing story. 

If we can get more farms open­ing in York­shire this June, it also gives the pub­lic the chance to vis­it more than one farm in a day. 

If you’re not sure about being a host your­self, go along to your near­est farm and help out. We are always grate­ful for the help at ours.