“On the edge of Exmoor, on land both sides of the River Mole valley, we have two generations of the Bedford family running two businesses: timber and sheep. There have been big changes in both businesses now that our son Tom and his wife Polly have the timber yard, and Jo, my wife, and myself, Steven, have the sheep.”
“For the sheep, I was frustrated at problems with other breeds I’d tried. We’ve changed breed to Exlana, developed by six West Country farmers who together decided through meticulous data collection to choose all the characteristics they would most like in sheep and select genetics for them all: good lambing, shed their wool, resistance to worms, and fly strike, thrive on available fodder on each farm etc. Now I’ve a breeding flock of 600 Exlana.
"Early on, we wanted to reduce the carbon we emitted from the timber yard, so when the feed-in tariff came in, we put in solar panels ourselves."
“Our son Tom and his wife Polly have taken over the timber business, UK Hardwoods. They are a terrific team. They decided early on to just go with English trees from mainly the south of England. Here, the timber is sawn into boards then dried to produce mainly flooring.
“Tom is always planning the next investment. And most recently put in a heat treatment plant, only the second of its kind in the UK, to produce chemically-free, heat-treated wood for mainly external cladding. They did a lot of research, sent timber to France for treatment, got it back here to customers to prove there was a market and then installed one themselves.
“It’s a huge thermo-vacuum cylinder that you slide in pieces of underutilised wood species like ash or chestnut, heat it for 36 hours to 210 degrees centigrade and it denatures the cells, so they become hydrophobic (don’t take on any moisture). The treated timber is really attractive, stable, sustainable and will last about 60 years.”
“With the sheep, the Exlana’s are great. They lamb easily, lambs are up and strong quickly. I don’t spray to prevent flystrike. Only 2% get it and I treat them but why would I spend money on prevention for the 98% that do not need it?
Oak planks slowly drying
“For the timber, demand for quality, wide boards for flooring has gone up. We specialise in wider boards that have knots, burr etc and that gives them character in floorboards. About 20% of what we sell stays in Devon, but the rest goes all over UK. You sell to a customer in a new area, their friends and relatives see it and that leads to another order.
“With the heat treated wood, we have a product for the growing market for sustainable cladding for buildings. In Spring we hosted a visit from architects, furniture makers and even boat builders to see the process and the timber products."
“We started with AF when we bought phones through them and then electricity.
"We’ve always liked dealing with them, you get a real person on the phone who knows who you are and is very friendly."
“With the kilns and the new heat treatment plant – that goes for 36 hours at a stretch - we bought more and more electricity through AF. Then our standing charges went up, hugely! But Caroline, our account manager at AF, managed to get it halved which is amazing. It’s still a lot, but half what it was.”
“We have electric vans, cars and gators already. On the farm, I’d love an electric tractor. And more energy generation.
“Tom keeps investing in machinery. Next, he’d like a saw that cuts on the return. He wants more machinery that automates processes so we’re less reliant on staff.
“For our heat-treated wood, we’re getting interest from the Forestry Commission to clad their buildings and the National Trust is interested too.”
Find out more about Exlana sheep www.exlana.co.uk
Visit www.ukhardwoods.co.uk
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