The Farmers Mart Dec/Jan 2016 - Issue 43 | Page 60

Midhope Hall Farm

Meet an award winning
team at Midhope Hall Farm
»»Illness hasn’t stopped
the Hollingsworth family John,
his wife Val, and their son
Craig from achieving some
remarkable rewards with their
champion Midhopestones
Simmental herd. Ian Wilkinson
went to Midhope Hall Farm
on the outskirts of Sheffield to
meet this remarkable team.
The farm was taken on by
Johns mother and father in
1945. At that time they had two
farms of 80 acres in total with
cattle, sheep, a little milking and
also some butchery. John took
over the farm in 1962, by which
time it was 250 acres with
cattle, sheep, pigs and hens
- They butchered their own
but bought in as well; when
John’s father died, they gave
up the butchery and in 2007,
they decided to come out of

both sheep and milking. From
then on they concentrated
on increasing and breeding
the Simmental herd, keeping
all of the heifers when they
stopped milking and putting
the Simmental bull on them. It
proved a good move and today
they have 200 cows and calves
with 60% pedigrees and the
rest crossbreds. They also grow
50 acres of winter barley and
oats for feed and do all of their
own silageing and combining.
The family take immense
pride in their herd and its
wellbeing, something that was
apparent as I was shown into
the front room; to be greeted
by an impressive array of
rosettes and trophies. This
year they won the Inter-breed
Championship at Lincolnshire
show with Midhope Bright

60 Dec/Jan 2016 www.farmers-mart.co.uk

Light. They also won the Breed
champion at Driffield and
Halifax show, and the reserve
breed champion at the Great
Yorkshire Show. In 2014, they
showed at Driffield for the first
time, pipping to the post a
Limousin heifer that had won
Inter-breeds throughout the
show season.
In March this this year they
won both male, female and
overall champion at Newark
show and sale, as well as top
priced female. In April this
year at Carlisle Spring Sale,
they won male champion with
Midhope Exceptional, the first
calf of Midhope Bright Light, and
also Leading Ladies champion
with Midhope Everlight. At
the Carlisle 2014 Spring sale
they took Reserve Overall and
Female Champion with Midhope

Diamond, they then went on to
take Reserve Female Champion
with Midhope Dolly. Then, at
the Carlisle Autumn sale, also
in 2014, they took reserve male
with their bull, Midhope Easter
Egg.
John attributes these
successes to them having a
good eye for quality bulls and
knowing what to look for in
their pedigree. Added to which
is their insistence on taking
proper care of the animals to
make sure that they are well
fed and content. John and Val’s
hard-working son, Craig, has
recently had to take a greater
hold on the day to day running
of the farm; as John has had
to contend with a number of
health issues, including having
both hips done and waiting for
another! He has also had a new