On their County Durham livestock and arable farm, the Medd family have taken market volatility into their own hands. Rather than bemoan the erratic prices received for their cattle and the wide swings in input costs the industry has endured, they have done their best to avoid them. This strategy has transformed their business at West Whorley Hill Farm, funding substantial investment and setting it up for long-term survival.

Farming 613 acres (248ha) in the Tees Valley between Darlington and Barnard Castle, the family – first great grandfather, Norman, then grandfather, Brian, followed by father, Alan and now Luke, fresh out of university – had originally developed the business through fairly traditional routes.

A herd of 200 continental suckler cows was run alongside 600 commercial ewes, and store cattle and fat lambs were sold at market. Some 200 black-and-white bull calves were also bought in and finished each year.

Like so many producers selling at the whim of the market, Luke admits: “The farm was not exactly in a good position. We were treading water and not really getting anywhere.

“One week we sent 10-15 stores which made £1,000 a head; two weeks later a similar group made £600 apiece. Where do we find the shortfall?”

In 2018, the family took the decision to introduce dairy-cross-Wagyu, initially buying 50 head from Warrendale Wagyu, and running these alongside other stock. Such was the success of the system – the placid nature of the stock and the appeal of the assured outlet for the finished cattle which were contracted to sell back to Warrendale at an agreed price – that it wasn’t long before the whole cattle business was switched.

Today, the suckler herd and the black and white calves have gone and around 360 Wagyu cross cattle come on to the farm each year, arriving aged 4-5 months, having been tested for BVD and DNA, the latter as an assurance of their breed.

Value of home-grown feeds
Since the switch, an appreciation has grown of the value of home-grown feeds – in terms of animal performance and profitability – and a concerted effort has been made to produce the Wagyu ration almost entirely at home.

“Dad went to the 2023 Wagyu Conference where he met Michael Carpenter [Kelvin Cave’s technical director], who subsequently came out to the farm to discuss ways in which we could increase the quality of our forage and produce more feed at home,” says Luke.

Early focus on grass
Beginning with the quality of grass silage – which had previously been made using a heterofermentative bacterial inoculant – Michael explained how dry matter losses could be substantially cut and more of the grass quality retained.

“He explained the benefits of switching to the preservative, Safesil Pro, and how the product had been scientifically proven,” says Luke, referring to the preservative’s well-proven action in killing off undesirable bacteria and achieving a fast and efficient lactic acid fermentation.

“We instantly saw the benefits compared with what we were using before,” says Luke. “There was no waste, obviously far less dry matter loss and our silage was much more stable at feedout. It was always stone cold.”

Further improvements have been made by moving from one or two cuts to a minimum of three and preferably four cuts a year, while all grass leys are reseeded every four or five years and nutrient-matched fertilisers are used, based on soil and leaf tissue samples.

“The quality of our silage throughout the season is absolutely phenomenal now,” says Luke. “Last year, our third cut was as good if not better than the rest and had a metabolisable energy of 11.08MJ/kg DM, crude protein of 19.12% and dry matter of 32.47%,” he says.

“Sometimes making improvements means spending a little bit more, but it often pays you back, especially when it’s backed up by science – and this time it certainly has.

“Forage is the foundation of everything we do and since we found Safesil, we have used it ever since. It works and we won’t be changing it,” he says.

Home-grown proteins
Buoyed by the success of his grass silage, Luke was also keen to experiment with home-grown proteins and was encouraged by Michael to bi-crop peas and beans.

“We compacted it really tight in the clamp and used Safesil Pro again, at four litres per tonne, and it fermented really well. We put third-cut grass silage, cut on the same day, on top and it cuts out really nicely, has no mould and it smells beautiful,” he says. “Again, it’s stone cold which I put purely down to Safesil.”

Exceptionally pleased with the fermentation quality of the crop ensiled with Safesil (see table at end of article), Luke was keen to grow more.

“We have doubled our acreage this year – it was sown much earlier, on 12 April 2025, and we have moved to a different 20-acre field,” he says, observing the five-year rule for its rotation.

Mixing the beans at 500kg to 250kg of peas and drilling this mix at 300kg/ha, he has repeated the seed rate used last year and hopes for similar success.

“Everything is one big experiment,” he says. “We could potentially get even more growth than last year or an earlier harvest or we may find 2024 was actually optimal.”

Broader 16-crop rotation
The bi-cropped peas and beans are part of a diverse rotation on West Whorley Hill Farm where 16 different crops are grown, above all to improve soil health.

“The soil is our livelihood,” says Luke. “We want to give back more, or at least as much as we take out.

“The rotation also gives us a wide spectrum of chemicals to use; it reduces weeds and the different rooting structures and residues – as well as plenty of cattle manure – all improve soil health.”

Alongside the grass and legumes, the rotation includes maize (grown under film), forage rye (drilled after maize for winter soil cover and harvested in April – again, preserved with Safesil Pro), winter and spring wheat, barley, spring oats, oilseed rape, cereal rye, and triticale.

“We try to avoid second wheats given their higher nitrogen and fungicide requirement,” he says.

Using most of these crops to feed the cattle and oilseed rape as a cash flow boost, he says wheat has been crimped with CrimpSafe 300, although usually grain is preserved with non-corrosive (NC) Propcorn.

“There’s no real market for the sale of triticale but the grain feeds really well and it’s much more cost effective than a second wheat to grow. It also gives us plenty of straw for bedding, which works for us,” he says.

“We also liked the crimped wheat and put it in most of the rations,” he adds. “We think we got more out of the grain than if it’s dry and it’s something we want to develop going forward, although currently clamp space for crimping is limited.”

“We are also trying to get planning permission for another building,” says Luke, who will further increase the number of livestock if they can go ahead.

“The security has given us the confidence to invest,” he explains. “The Wagyu system has eliminated the volatility of what we are selling and – apart from spey syrup, minerals and the small amount of cake we use to transition or supplement youngstock at grass – we have not had to buy in feeds.

“For the first time, we can fix costs and plan and do good by ourselves and the environment. Having a home-grown ration is fundamental to this business and means we are no longer relying on volatile feed prices or varying supply or settling for alternative feeds at times of unavailability. Provided we can grow good crops, we can cost-effectively supply the diet ourselves and the animals will give us a return on that investment. Whatever we are doing must be working as there’s something in the pot,” he admits. “This all means so much in terms of security.”

The system in brief

Wagyu x dairy cattle arrive at 4-5 months (180-200kg) and transition from their purchased 18% protein calf rearer nut over the following 3-4 weeks and on to either grazed grass in summer or the farm’s forage-based youngstock ration in winter.

This total mixed ration comprises grass silage, pea/bean wholecrop, rolled wheat, barley or triticale, minerals and spey syrup. Every animal has a summer at grass, supplemented with a 16% protein nut through an Advantage feeder to restrict intakes to 1-2kg/day and maximise pasture utilisation.

From 12-15 months cattle move on to the growing ration which contains similar ingredients but a higher proportion of cereal. At around 18 months they will move on to the finishing ration. The starch is pushed up in this ration with more grain and the addition of maize silage. They are finished at 22-24 months.

Cattle are weighed regularly and their average daily liveweight gain is 0.95kg from arrival on the farm to their departure.

Contracted to be sold to Warrendale Wagyu, payment comprises a base price per kg and a bonus for marbling on a 0-10 scale. The farm normally achieves 6-7. High starch in the growing and finishing rations is considered important for marbling although Luke believes there are wider, more holistic influences too.

The Medd family participated in a trial with their bi-cropped peas and beans as part of the NCS Project* through their involvement with Kelvin Cave Ltd, partners in the project.

Using Silage Solutions’ independent services and internationally agreed-upon protocols, the harvested crop was ensiled using one of four additives or an untreated control. The pre-ensiled forage contained 34% dry matter, 16% protein, and 16% starch.

Three replicates of each treatment were ensiled and the silos were maintained at a constant 20°C for 90 days before being emptied, mixed and analysed for their pH and fermentation profiles. These provide a helpful guide, as the main effect of any additive is in the fermentation profile and pH.

pH and fermentation profiles of pea/bean silage with different treatments

The results indicate that with a difficult to ensile, high protein, stemmy crop such as wholecrop peas and beans, the chemical additive achieved the best preservation with the lowest pH, the highest levels of lactic acid and the lowest levels of undesirable end products including acetic acid, ethanol and propanol. These factors all help to drive intake. In contrast, acetic acid and propanol have both been shown to reduce intake significantly.

The better lactic to acetic and lactic to acetic + ethanol ratios with the chemical additive show improved preservation quality and intake potential.

*NCS Project = Nitrogen Efficient Plants for Climate Smart Arable Cropping Systems

(sometimes also referred to as Nitrogen Climate Smart)