About Us
J Rayner & Sons Ltd farms over a large area from Guildford in the South, Henley on Thames in the West, Gerarrds Cross in the North and Upminster in Essex in the East, with a distance of 100 miles from one end to another.
The total area of the farm is 1600.25 hectares (or 3856.60 acres) of which the company owns, has full Agricultural Tenancy, contracts, shares and manages farms.
J Rayner & Sons Ltd specialise in restoring land to agricultural use after mineral winning and land filling operations.
Geographical Information
Average rainfall: 16” each year
Height above sea level: 100ft.
Soil grade: 1-4
Staff
Farm Board:
1 x Company Secretary
1 x Personnel Director
1 x Estates Director
1 x Farm Director
Office Staff:
3 x Part-time Farm Secretaries
Farm Staff:
1 x Full-time Farm Staff
3 x Part-time Farm Staff
10 x Summer Polish/Lithuanian Students*
2 x Farm Fitters*
2 x Farm Builders*
*All farm operatives have a good understanding of the English language and hold valid operator’s certificates.
We have five members of staff with over forty years of loyal service, three having received long service medals from the RASE. In total, there is over two hundred years of farming experience on the farm.
Machinery
Main elements of farm equipment:
1 x 22’ Head 280hp Combine MF 40 with power flow header
1 x 17’ Head 180hp Combine MF 36 with power flow header
3 x JCB Loadalls 3.5 Tonnes JCB
1 x 270hp Tractor 4WD Case
1 x 240hp Tractor 4WD New Holland
1 x 120hp Tractor 4WD New Holland
2 x 160hp Tractor 4WD New Holland
1 x 190 hp Tractor 4WD John Deere
1 x 185hp Fastrac 4WD JCB
1 x 220hp Fastrac 4WD JCB
1 x Self-Propelled Sprayer 2000lts tank with 24 metres booms
In addition, there is various other agricultural machinery required to operate the farm and undertake contract work. All machinery maintenance is either carried out by qualified farm staff or out-sourced depending on the scale of the job.
Livestock
Horses - Grazing available. We have a number of horse paddocks available for weekly DIY livery.
Restoration
J Rayner & Sons Ltd also has a 12 million gallon water extraction licence to irrigate for 24 hours a day, if required. Over recent years, the company has undertaken contract work outside of agriculture to a value greater than the farm sales for each year. Such contract work includes landscaping golf courses, clearing motorway debris and restoration of landfill sites to agriculture.
Some of our clients include:
Viridor Waste (Thames) Ltd, Biffa Waste Services Ltd & Reservoir Aggregates.
Conservation
Over recent years, J Rayner & Sons Ltd has planted over 3,000 trees including field maple, beech, oak, pine, chestnut and one mile of hedgerows. Each year, we maintain over 5 miles of hedges and 10,000 trees on the estate.
We have restored over 40 hectares (or 100 acres) of land to agricultural use after mineral extraction and infilling of site with waste materials.
We have reduced our use of pesticides and fertilizer by 10% over recent years.
Management of Growing Crops
Our Agronomist, Carl Flint of Cleanacres, spends one day a week allocated to walking crops, planning work and inputs. He has been involved with the farms for the last ten harvests, managing over 200 fields.
Management of Land for Absentee Landlords
We concentrate in farming land for absentee landlords and restoring land to agricultural use after land filling use. Some of our clients we farm land for include:
Thames Water plc, Bardon Aggregates, Eton Aggregates, Bretts Construction and RMC UK Ltd.
JRS Leisure
We have a Shooting Club with over 200 members who shoot vermin over arable acres only. We also have two lakes and a river running through the farm with over 200 members enjoying our fishing, as members of Intertype Angling.
We provide sites for beehive owners on the farm and currently have a total of over 100 hives in various areas.
Farmyard Units/Building Rental
We have now gained planning permission for the use of the redundant farming premises for non-agricultural use. We also now have planning permission to convert the old Manor Farm House and Old Stable Block into offices, subject to further negotiations on the 106 Agreement. We also provide site compounds for utility companies.
Berkyn Manor Farm is also used from time to time for filming shoots such as the T.V. programme Casualty, Brighton Bombing Documentary, and Palestine Uprising Documentary to mention only a few.
Diversification at Berkyn Manor Farm
Planning Applications have been made for the redundant farm buildings to be renovated to their former glory, so they could be used for letting out to small local business.
Planning Permission is currently being sought to convert our historic manor house and stable block at Berkyn Manor Farm into high-grade office space with landscaped of gardens.
