Pikes Farm house - early 1900s
Pikes Farm house after 1946



Edward (Teddy) & Elizabeth North who lived with their
family at Pikes Farm in the early 1930s



Standing: L - R: Eileen, Arthur, Peter. Seated: Olive
In 1914 Army Officers visited all the farms and commandeered all the best horses, the ones they chose had to be taken to the Market Square in Stony Stratford to be collected by the army. The photograph shows Mr Edward North of Haversham in the centre of the picture in trilby hat with his hand on one of his horses, after the army had taken all the best horses they had to be replaced. Only the old and broken down horses were left, these were sold for more money than the army had paid for all the best horses.

Ted North centre of the picture in trilby hat with hand on one of his horses
19th century Granary that once stood at Pikes Farm

Bucks Standard 3rd April 1964
Peter North
Haversham farmer adopts liquid feeding

A system of liquid feeding has been in operation at Pikes Farm, Haversham, for the past 18 months. Mr. Peter North, who is the backbone behind the scheme, has used the Morea liquid feed with his beef cattle for the past 18 months and his dairy herd since August, 1963. To date results have satisfied Mr. North to the extent that he will continue the system through the summer months.

The dairy herd receive a controlled amount of Morea, 2lb. per cow per day, this is fed with 4lb. of rolled barley per gallon and hay. No special utensils are used as the liquid is poured over the barley and fed when the cows come in for milking. Butter fat has been maintained, the average for the current 12 months being 12.56, the average for the month of February this year was 12.86. Maintaining butter fat in the spring has always been specially important, the recently introduced quality bonus is an added incentive. Mr. North showed a slight drop during the period the cows were on kale, but as the drop was so slight it would be difficult to attribute this solely to the suitability of feeding kale with liquid supplement. Last year 19 cows were milked, producing 53 gallons. This year 20 cows produced 73 gallons Costing approximately 10d per cow, Mr. North feels he is saving approximately £6 per ton on feeding. This saving could be increased if the land was available to grow his own barley.

The beef side of the project has been going somewhat longer. Calves are fed ad-lib taking the liquid from tray feeders with ball floats. They are also fed hay, and straw which they pick up from the bedding. To make up for any deficiencies in the basic mineral content of the co-fed ration the calves have free choice of six powdered minerals which the stock do appear to adjust their own intake. On the 53 acres at Pikes Farm the system works efficiently. It would appear to get the utmost benefit from using liquid supplement. It calls for a fair amount of consideration both from the farm management and the attitude of the stockman concerned, otherwise it could prove an expensive venture.