The Farmers Mart Apr-May 2019 - Issue 62 | Page 44

44 FRANKLAND FARMS
APR/MAY 2019 • farmers-mart.co.uk
FIFTH GENERATION OF THE FRANKLAND
FAMILY BENEFIT FROM MIXED FARMING
NEAR SETTLE IN NORTH YORKSHIRE
Frankland Farms, located
at Rathmell, Settle, North
Yorkshire, covers an area of
900 acres with land ranging
from 400 feet to 1,000 feet
above sea level. Split across
three units, consisting of
sheep, beef and dairy
enterprises, the primary
holding of New Hall Farm at
Rathmell is where NSA North
Sheep 2019 is being held.
THE family are thrilled to be hosting NSA
North Sheep 2019 and are looking forward
to welcoming all sectors of the sheep in-
dustry to Frankland Farms. Visitors can ex-
pect to hear about how the family manage
this diverse mixed farm and their thoughts
on how to grow a sheep farming business
that will be robust for future challenges.
The current business is run by the
Frankland family, who first moved there in
1880, and is made up of mother, Martha,
who is the third generation and still integral
to the farm business, with the day-to-day
management carried out by Martha’s sons,
Richard and his wife Jacky and Chris and
his wife Ciara.
Chris and Ciara have two young chil-
dren, Ronan, 10 and Orla, aged 9, who
both very much enjoy helping out on the
farm. Richard’s daughter Pam, married to
Thomas, who together manage the 220-
cow Holstein cross dairy herd based at
the family’s 300-acre dairy farm, Longbank
Farm, which was secured on an FBT just
over 6 years ago are junior partners in
the business along with his son Jon who
manages the sheep flock, supported by
his partner Phil and he also works part-
time for Agri-Lloyd. The family also have
120 suckler cows, crossed to Limousin and
Belgian Blue bulls.
The sheep enterprise has in total 1,400
sheep and they lamb 1,200 ewes from
Mid-February onwards through to the end
John Frankland of Frankland Farms and Agent for Agri–Lloyd.
of April. They have 350 North of England
Mules and in amongst them some Cheviot
Mules, all of which lamb to Texel tups. The
rest of the flock is all Texel cross out of Mule
ewes that lamb to a mix of Beltex cross,
Texel tups and pure Beltex. This year, they
have used three Suffolk cross Beltex tups
with the aim of finishing lambs earlier for
the markets. Amongst the remaining ewes
are a portion Rouge crosses, also lambed to
the Beltex tup. They also keep around 200
replacement gimmers each year.
In terms of the sheep enterprise, the
Texels are mainly all home bred. Mule
ewes are bought in mainly from Bentham
or from Junction 36, and they try to buy
‘ Visitors can expect
to hear about how the
family manage this
diverse mixed farm
and their thoughts on
how to grow a sheep
farming business
that will be robust for
future challenges
’
the very best quality shearlings. The Beltex
tups are purchased from Michael Davis
of the Rathbone flock and James Wannop
of Heaton Hall, in addition to the premier
sales at Carlisle and the Beltex society
sales.
The Texel tups are bought from Skipton
and Bentham and last year they bought the
champions from the Bentham’s “Ram-page
sale”.
All lambing takes place indoors with
the sheep being housed approximately a
month before lambing starts. All ewes are
dosed with liquithrive pre-lambing, to help
with lamb thrift and colostrum quality.
The family sell as many finished lambs as