Langford Pedigree Rouges
Focused on nutrition
Massey Feeds
are proud to be
associated with the
Gates family
www.masseyfeeds.co.uk • Holmes Chapel: 01477 536300 • Rebecca Williams: 07787 104579
64426 - BenthamAuctionMart - 8TH.pdf 1 30/06/2017 13:16:16
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Bentham Auction Mart, High Bentham, Nr Lancaster, LA2 7HF
SPECIALISTS IN SALES OF
Breeding Sheep & Gimmer Lambs
Also every Wednesday
6000 Prime Lambs & Cast Ewes
Tel:- 015242 61444/61246 (Sale days)
www.benthamauction.co.uk
By working
together
we can
achieve so
much more
needed assistance, a fact which
John is proud of.
John is very much the
commercial farmer – he is there
to make money so can’t afford
sentiment: if a sheep is not
good enough then it goes to kill.
He does, however, take great
pride in his animals and their
welfare and gets a big buzz from
seeing lambing and calving as
well as achieving a good price.
As well as the sheep side
of the business John has an
equally important livestock herd
with 100 sucklers, of which 75
spring calvers and 25 autumn
calvers.
A FAMILY AFFAIR
John’s son, Richard mainly
looks after the livestock and also
the machinery. Richard has a
real passion for cattle. He took a
three year agricultural course at
Kirkley Hall in Northumberland,
and admits that being away from
home was a good opportunity
for him to learn new ideas and
stand on his own two feet.
He continued his valuable
experience by doing a year
out on an arable farm. The
final piece of his educational
jigsaw was spending time in
New Zealand. By the time he
returned he was a well-rounded
individual with a lot of extra skills
and ideas.
The herd was made up of
Black Herefords and a blonde
bull was used simply because
they could be purchase at a
• Improve Efficiency,
• Flock Health Calendar
Cost Effectiveness,
• Disease Prevention
Competitiveness
• Collect Farm Data and
& Profitability
Evaluate Performance
• Three Visits per Year:
Call:
Pre-Tupping,
Pre-Lambing
01829 723200
& Post-Lambing
or 01829 261361
• Improve Farm Output,
Health and Performance
good price. This produced good
calvers who were finished at 12
months for cash flow. They have
changed tack slightly now as
the heifers were getting fat too
quickly and these days butchers
just don’t want fat as much.
As time went on it was
becoming more difficult to
buy Herefords at the right
price so they then started to
buy Limousin cross cows and
using the Blonde on them ;
which proved ok, they now
have Limousin bulls too. The
original source of blondes was
shut down owing to TB. On the
lookout to source a good bull,
they heard about a Limousin
bull been sold at Skipton Mart,
unfortunately he had lost part
of his tail. There was nothing
wrong with him and he proved a
good buy and they then bought
another privately from the same
breeder Ian Sedgewick of Kirby
Lonsdale.
The herd is now a very strong
one and relatively diverse,
producing good animals and
excellent meat.
The whole ethos of the farm
is that it is a business that needs
to make profit while maintaining
scrupulous livestock welfare.
Both John and Richard get a
real buzz from achieving this
delicate balance. They have a
fair bit of machinery which is all
self-maintained. They do all their
own silaging and often work
on other farms a well at busy
times.
BEESTON A
www.willowsfarmvets.co.uk
WVH2971 180.6 x 58.8 FARMERS MART 25-8.indd 1
80 Autumn 2017 www.farmers-mart.co.uk
01/09/2017 09:32