A ‘Muckathon’ held at Wyke Farms in Somerset has raised over £2,000 for a local charity.

The August event, led by local farmer George Reed and fourth generation Wyke Farms family member, Jack Clothier, from Wincanton Young Farmers, raised £2,210 for local charity ‘Hannah’s Willberry Wonder Pony’.

Originally set up by young horse rider and young farmer’s member, Hannah Francis, the charity funds research into bone cancer, particularly Osteosarcoma and provides ‘Willberry’s Wishes’ to seriously ill people of all ages, or an immediate family member of someone suffering from a terminal condition.

The ‘Muckathon’ saw a team of eight local farmers spreading as much digestate as possible onto the fields at Wyke Farms within a 12-hour period, overseen by Wyke Farms Director Roger Clothier. During the event, the team spread 160 tankers worth of digestate on the fields, the equivalent of 2,500 tonnes.

Cheese toasties kept them going as the task was completed with no breaks and kind donations of tractors and tankers from local contractors, dealerships and farmers where gratefully recieved; Martin Haskett, Wayne House, Jason Croft, Andy Longman, Tom Yeoman, Nick Parker, TH Tractors, Redlynch, Lawrence Wadman, Richard Reed and Jeremy Angell. Kind donations of fuel to run the tractors were received from Ford Fuels and Ticknell Fuels.

The digestate is a by-product from Wyke Farms Sustainable Energy Centre. The company use their own farm waste and local waste such as apple pomace from cider-making and unwanted fodder from farmers, to create energy from anaerobic digestion – making them 100% self-sufficient in renewable energy. The initiative not only solves the ever more pressing problem of what to do with effluent produced on farms, but utilises it in a way that creates an energy source to run a business as well as produce a nitrogen rich, odour free, fertiliser in the process. Wyke Farms currently spread digestate on their own fields and offer it to local farmers for free.

George Reed and his team of spreaders were pleased to be able to help Wyke with their weekly spreading of digestate, whilst raising money for a worthwhile charity. He added, that it was “nice to work with a company who value sustainability and environmental practices when farming”.

Roger Clothier of Wyke Farms said: “It was great to see such a large turnout from the young farmers club, all so passionate about sustainable farming in Somerset and eager to raise money for a great cause”.