Brookfield Beef of Tickhill, Doncaster, South Yorkshire

The Brookfields have been farming their small 180 acre farm in Tickhill for many generations. Over the years there have been many changes and developments, not only on this farm but in agriculture generally.

Derrick Brookfield (71) remembers trying to persuade his father that they should buy a tractor instead of using horses all the time - it was a big step to take. These days he finds himself cruising around in a 4 wheel drive computer controlled tractor with more switches and dials than he could ever have dreamed of!

Right up until the early 80's, despite the changes in technology, the farm remained much as it always had done with a few sheep, cows for milking, the odd pig and a variety of crops including corn and vegetables. This was to satisfy the old adage "don't keep all your eggs in one basket".

By the 80's, however, things where starting to change. Traffic on the roads was getting heavier and it was becoming increasingly difficult to walk the cows along the roads to the farm twice a day for milking. Also, as everything started to get bigger - machinery etc. doing "a little bit of everything" was not very cost effective. Therefore, the decision was taken to stop milking and concentrate on rearing bull beef cattle. Eventually the farm became purely arable and beef.
Around this time Derrick's son, David became the new "Brookfield on the Block".

In 1998 we decided to join a scheme called FABBL (Farm Assured British Beef and Lamb).
FABBL is able to offer a guarantee to consumers, that the farms in the scheme are maintaining the highest standards of husbandry, welfare and environmental protection, and giving an assurance that the product is safe. FABBL inspectors regularly inspect every aspect of the farm from record keeping to when we last wormed our dogs!

The Future of the Farm:
After the Second World War the demand for home produced food was very high. To meet the demand farmers had to plough up grassland and grow corn and vegetables instead.

Things have changed a great deal since then as the plight for ever cheaper food and the development of a global market has seen more and more food being imported from abroad. Consequently, less land is needed in this country to grow crops.
There are several answers to this situation, many political, others more environmentally based. We have found the environment easier to deal with than the politicians!
As such, we have entered into the Countryside Stewardship Scheme. There are many aspects to this scheme. On our farm we are turning some arable land back into traditional hay meadows and re-instating many of the hedgerows. By introducing sympathetic management techniques such as allowing the hedgerows to grow into tall, bushy boundaries, the landscape will be enhanced and hopefully nesting birds will be encouraged to use the hedgerows. Access is allowed around the fields allowing quiet enjoyment of the countryside.

Many different people have been involved in this project. Tickhill Countryside Group have been hugely supportive and given us an awful lot of help. Tickhill Cubs and Scouts have also been keen to join in. During National Tree Planting week they all planted a tree in one of the meadows and labelled it with their name. They will be able to watch their trees grow and the meadow develop for many years to come.
If you would like to visit the area, you will be able to find it clearly labelled at the end of Water Lane in Tickhill.

As well as these changes in the way we farm the arable side of the business, it has also been necessary to change the way we operate the beef part.
Due to the drop in consumer confidence and the fall of the export market in the late 90's
(I won't mention the dreaded 3 letters) the price of beef plummeted.
David felt that the only way we stood a chance of staying in business was to sell the beef direct to the consumer but would anyone want to buy it? We thought that there may be at least a few people out there who would like to eat beef if only they knew exactly where it had come from and what it had been fed on. So, at the end of 1998, Brookfield Beef was born.

After consultations with the local Environmental Health Department we built a cold store and meat preparation room. We enlisted the help of our friend and master butcher Mr Philip DeRoeck and produced a few leaflets. The orders tended to come from people who knew us, first of all, but word spread quickly and recommendation is still our main way of getting new customers. Here we are, moving into our 4th year, very happy that we decided to give it a go!

You can find out more about our beef and how we sell it on the BEEF page.