Harvest time with rugby legend Tom Youngs
Join us as we visit the former Leicester Tigers and England hooker on the family farm in Norfolk for a day in the combine.
Most of us know Tom Youngs best for his prowess on the rugby field. Images of him holding a ball high above his head as a lineout takes shape before the cameras spring to mind. We’re more familiar with seeing him ploughing into the opposition’s pack than ploughing a field. But his second passion has always been farming.
Tom retired from professional sport in 2022, having played 215 games for Premiership greats Leicester Tigers, earned 28 caps for England, and won a spot in the British and Irish Lions squad during a decorated career.
And yet, a return to Sankence Farm in Norfolk, where he is the fourth generation of his family to work the land, was always the plan. And he considers himself lucky to now turn to another thing he loves in life after stashing away his gumshield one last time.
Today, Tom works alongside his dad Nick and cousin George across nearly 2,000 acres, growing barley, sugarbeet, oilseed rape, wheat and vining peas. He’s a busy man, and you can learn all about his switch from rugby to agriculture in the article we published following our visit earlier this year.
More recently, just a few weeks back in fact, we joined Tom on the farm once again – this time for the climax of the farming calendar: harvest.
“We’re about 65% of the way through now,” Tom explained as he prepped the combine in the morning and the sun rose steadily above us. “The winter barley and spring barley are done and were pretty disappointing,” he added, alluding to the fact it’s hardly rained since our visit back in March. “We’re just starting on the wheat now, which is looking slightly better, but it’s by no means been a good year.”
Tom’s an optimist, though, and despite the challenge with poor yields caused by a remarkably dry spring, his love for harvest was palpable from the moment we arrived.
“Harvest brings with it a mix of emotions,” Tom explained. “At the start you’re excited to get going, because it’s the culmination of a lot of hard work throughout the year. Many of these crops have been in the ground since October or November last year, and now’s the time to truly see how they’ve done.
“Like with many things in farming, you’re relying a great deal on what’s going on above your head – the weather. And we haven’t had that on our side this year.
“It’s easy to get going with harvest and start feeling disappointed and disheartened, because there’s always the pressure of hitting a budget, and when yields are poor, the money might not be there. We do enjoy it, though.”
And yet, Tom was quick to point out that with harvest comes a real buzz. “I have so many great memories of harvest-time as a kid,” he said. “I always remember bringing Dad his dinner to the field when he was on the combine.
“Despite the long hours and all the highs and lows, I would choose this job over any other in the world.”
After prepping the combine, a daily job that entails greasing, dusting down, fuelling and general checks, it was time to move the header to the 60-hectare block of wheat that would be the Youngs’ focus for the day.
George turned up in the teleporter, Nick was in the escort vehicle, and before long we were away, beacons flashing and slowly gobbling up the tarmac on the way to the first field of the day.
“There’s a lot going on during harvest,” Tom explained. “There are often lorries to load early in the morning, drivers to liaise with, the baler men to keep in the loop, tonnages to keep track of – and that’s if everything is going well. Machinery can break down, and the weather can be unpredictable. There are so many moving parts – but that’s all part of its magic..."
