Chris Berry lives at Higher Thornton Farm with wife Sarah and their 2 sons George and Henry. He farms in partnership alongside his parents Michael and Michele managing 450 acres. 830 breeding ewes and 60 suckler beef cows make up the farming enterprises. In the last 5 years they have implemented a number of changes in their business to improve their resilience to extreme weather events and reduce their reliance on purchased fertiliser and feed. This has enabled them to increase profit whilst improving lifestyle and enhancing their environment, an achievement which was recognised by Chris winning Devon Farmer of the Year 2022.

What does the future hold for farming? Increasingly I find myself turning to the past for answers.

The ultimate answer is, as they say, ‘as old as dirt’ and the fact our entire existence is down to the top 6 inches of soil beneath our feet and the fact that it occasionally rains (too much when we don’t want it and not enough when we do). My opinion would be that a successful and sustainable farming future has to be one that prioritises that, our greatest asset - soil.

It appears to me, more often than not, that in an attempt to push on to produce and achieve more I am fighting an uphill battle against nature.Am I any better off for it? There are good examples when the answer has sometimes been yes, visibly yes on a yearly profit and loss sheet at least, and we will gladly take the little wins when we get them. However, I consider too much of the profit OR loss is down to factors out of our control - the prices we receive for our produce and the prices we pay for the inputs that go into producing them, that’s before I have even considered what impact those inputs have on the greater health/wealth of our farming businesses and even more importantly our own health.

Over the past few years I’ve tried to focus much more on things I do have control over. Our biggest input arguably is our time and how we choose to use it. I want a system that I enjoy, one that gives me time for family and friends and time to monitor the farms overall performance.

During my time in Devon Young Farmers I was lucky enough to gain a scholarship to travel to New Zealand to study parasite control in sheep - an exciting subject I know! It was a great opportunity to work on some great farms in incredible surroundings. It gave me a different perspective on livestock enterprises. With farming subsidies removed, their livestock systems had to be efficient and work harder for them rather them work harder for it. With a similar prospect over here I felt there was a lot I could take from their past experiences and adopt here to ensure we could be less reliant on government support and introduce more resilience into our business.

With all of this in mind, I’ve set about creating a more forage based system introducing sheep and beef genetics to suit using NZ Highlander rams and Aberdeen Angus bulls to breed up from our existing livestock. Calving and lambing dates match as best as we can to the natural grass growth curve of our farm so they can calve and lamb outside and milk well off forage.

The skill/knowledge set I was missing was how to make best use of the forage or the lack of a very summer dry farm looking to finish stock without the use of concentrate feed. As with changing anything you always come across new challenges and questions that need answering, most of those answers for me came from joining the Precision Grazing discussion group and hiring its founder and director, James Daniel as a consultant.

The discussion group gets like minded farmers together sharing their experiences and learning from one another’s mistakes, knowledge transfer in groups like these are invaluable and very underutilised in our industry, as is working with specialist consultants such as Precision Grazing.It cost me money but I saw it as an opportunity to get a cheap degree in grassland management whilst gaining a valuable mentor to keep me on track. I got all that and more, one input that has delivered as an investment 10 fold!

What we have today is a measured rotational grazing system adhering to good rest periods, set up to produce quality forage in reasonable quantities. Herbal leys have been a great addition to the grazing platform, their high legume content reduces the need for artificial fertiliser, its deep rooting components maintaining quality feed through the summer, finishing stock quicker than before whilst also delivering for the soil health and wider environmental benefits. The system is heading ever closer to its optimal sustainable output, producing as much if not more than ever before whilst relying on very little bought in supplements, chemicals, anti-biotics and fuel to name a few, although it has the ability to pick these up at times when required or prices look feasible to do so. Having much more control over our input costs lately has paid dividends with the recent levels of ag-inflation we have seen across the board.

None of this is terribly new when you look back in time, evolution made sure any animals not fit for purpose weren’t bred from. Smaller fields created natural shelter for the animals whilst giving the perfect paddock sizes for good grazing, diversity in those paddocks is way better than our ryegrass dominated swards that are highly reliant on our inputs. It’s still relatively recently that we have introduced chemistry to try and improve a biological system! You cannot deny their ability to lift short term yields, the trouble is you have to keep adding to them at a cost of your soil and your pocket.

I certainly wouldn’t want to farm without all the new developments and technologies we have seen over the years and am not an advocate to zero inputs, its all a fine balancing act that comes with compromise but the future for me at least is one that seeks out that ‘Optimal Sustainable Output’! It might not be massively ground breaking but I see it working for the People, Planet and Profit scenario, perfectly placed to complement future environmental schemes, potential Carbon credits and Biodiversity Net gain opportunities. Remaining low cost enough that it could be easily/financially expanded over a greater area if potential land parcels came available - especially if our 2 wild boys are mad enough to want to have a crack at it! Ultimately, I want to be growing a successful business that builds and improves its greatest asset… to be increasingly naturally fertile fuller in organic matter making it much more resilient to extreme weather pressures and those I throw at it at times. That in itself is money in the bank even the good accountants can’t find!

Chris Berry

Sheep and Beef Farmer – Higher Thornton Farm, Devon