• APR / MAY 2022
MOSSLEY HOUSE FARM 59
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ones on board , because there is an age group that once it is gone will seriously damage the numbers .’ Carl has lost none of his enthusiasm . ‘ I missed the last match of the season around this way at Selby because we were busy drilling spring barley but I ’ m already looking forward to the British Ploughing Championship which will be held at Glapwell in Derbyshire this autumn .’
Mossley House Farm runs to 150 owned acres and Carl and his brother Steven also rent another 50 acres for their mixed farming enterprise that grows corn , hay and haylage and is home to a suckler herd of 30 cows .
‘ Dad played a major role here and was obviously a big loss to us all . He did a lot of work on the farm while Steven and I were off drystone walling , which is another of our incomes . Our mum Anne is the backbone of the farm .’
‘ We do alright with our cattle . We don ’ t have a set breed of cow , but we put them all to the pedigree Limousin bull . We like Belgian Blue X , but we also like Herefords and Simmentals and basically anything that looks like it will make a good breeding cow , we ’ re up for it .’
‘ We buy-in our own replacements that might originally have come in as stores that we run alongside our own fatteners and we then like the look of , as replacements for the herd . We always buy from fully accredited herds that are all properly vaccinated for pneumonia and such like .’
‘ We keep our costs of keeping the cattle down by growing our own barley , oats and fodder beet and our own hay , but if every bale we sold went to the cows I don ’ t think we ’ d do as well out of them .’
Carl says they take their cattle to fat cattle with about 35 % of what they produce each year going to local butcher Paul Schofield in Penistone and Swinton .
‘ The rest are sold at Bakewell and Holmfirth livestock markets . We take our heifers to roundabout 600 kilos and the bullocks to 650-700 kilos . We do take some in as fancy stores , the more shapely ones , at between 500-550 kilos .’
All of the arable production on the farm is to feed the cattle but the hay and haylage has a dual purpose as they trade a large proportion of it to the equine market . Carl tells of how they have noticed a change in recent times .
‘ We used to make quite a lot of haylage in days gone by but we ’ ve now found the trade has drifted back to a demand instead for good quality hay .’
‘ We don ’ t sell to racing stables , our market is more like lady owners and a few livery yards . What has happened is that owners have found that haylage can be too rich for their horses . Some have apparently got laminitis as a result , and so quite a few are going back to good quality hay , which is actually much better for them .’
Carl ’ s partner is Karen who is also involved on the farm .
‘ Proud suppliers to the Fretwell family of Mossley House Farm ’
Jonathan 07957 363 895 / Parts 07398 161 662 www . erictownend . com
DONALDSON ’ S FARM AND EQUINE
Donaldson ' s Vets are delighted to have been Mossley House Farm ' s vets for a number of years and wish the Fretwell family continued success for the future .
The Veterinary Hospital . 131 Somerset Road . Almondbury . Huddersfield . HD5 8HN
donaldsonsfarmandequine . co . uk TEL . 01484 421 512 EMAIL : enquiries @ donaldsonsfarmandequine . co . uk