health herds in Derbyshire , Lancashire and Yorkshire . Heather also persuaded Jack to sell her one of his six-month-old calves , on the promise that she would show him . That bull was Blakelaw 1 Calzaghe , or Joe , as Heather calls him , who went onto win 2012 UK Hereford Bull of the Year and National Poll Show champion .

Not only was Jack a great help and inspiration , many of the local farmers and the vet were enormously helpful , something Heather will be eternally grateful for . Although a novice farmer , Heather learnt very quickly , she put it in a nutshell : “ If you want to do it enough , you soon learn ”. She remembers spending a whole night in the shed with her first calving ! From those early days Heather has learnt a great deal , there isn ’ t much she doesn ’ t know about raising cattle . This is reflected in the huge array of certificates and rosettes she has on the wall in the main barn . Her Coley Herefords have won championships throughout the UK , becoming one of the country ’ s most respected Hereford breeders .

Although Heather began working with the cattle on her own , as the herd grew

in number and also realising that bulls like Joe were too big for her to handle safely in the showring , she needed to enlist some extra help , so seven years ago she engaged Andrew Hughes , who was a highly qualified freelance stockman , having worked on farms as far afield as South Wales , Devon , the Isle of Man and Scotland . Ironically , Herefords were his favourite breed . Andrew worked with Heather for two years , helping and preparing animals for shows as well as the day to day running of the farm , even running the farm so that Heather and Jeff were able to go away on holiday . Heather liked the way

Andrew worked , she was wanting to do something with AI and Jeff was also very interested in embryos , so the timing seemed just right , and Heather invited Andrew to join the business full time . Although it didn ’ t take a lot of persuasion as he would have to give up haring around the country and working in the wilds of Scotland on wet November evenings !

Heather and Andrew have worked hard on developing the Coley Herd , creating new bloodlines from embryos imported from Canada . They have also bought stock from Denmark - a combination of cows , calves , yearling

heifers and a bull , all of which have contributed to the herd ’ s success and development .

Andrew will always look at EBV ’ s when buying stock , however he says that when buying bulls , he looks at weight gain , calving and milk figures . Most heifers at Coley calve at two-and half-years old , with some calving at two years old if they are of the right weight and size . Udders , feet and legs are all very important to Heather and Andrew when selecting which females to breed from . Andrew says : “ You have got to keep enough size in your females . Size is easy to let go , but really hard to get