The Farmers Mart Feb-Mar 2018 - Issue 55 | Page 48

CV Group - Graham Fort - Brighton House Farm .pdf 1 09/03/2018 12:02:29 48 BRIGHTONHOUSE FARM FEB/MAR 2018 • farmers-mart.co.uk Carrs Billington & PFS are glad to supply Graham and the team at Brightonhouse Farm C M Y Animal Health and Feeds CM MY CY CMY Skipton Country Store 01756 792166 K carrs-billington.com 70198 - BritishRubberCompany - QUTR.pdf 1 27/02/2018 13:14:56 Established 90 years Tyres for Agricultural, Commercial, Plant and Cars As specialists we have an extensive range in stock CHRIS Berry talks with the Forts of Bright- C M Y CM Mitas AC 65 Goodyear Super Traction Radial Vintage Tyre Trelleborg TH400 Goodyear Traction Sure Grip Vintage Tractor Tyre MY CY CMY K FITTING SERVICE COVERING THE NORTH OF ENGLAND - 24/7 CALL OUT SERVICE Call now for competitive prices - we endeavor not to be beaten 01274 585427 [email protected] Sole UK Distributor for Goodyear Vintage Tyres www.britishrubberco.co.uk 70211 - RiponFarmServices - 8TH.pdf 1 09/03/2018 11:56:51 C M Y CM MY CY CMY K TEAM FORT ON THE LLEYN CRUSADE Proud suppliers to Graham Fort at Brightonhouse Farm onhouse Farm, Steeton. When you can go into the Land of Our Fathers or at least the land of the Lleyn and pull off the coup of having a champion not once, nor twice but three times consec- utively you know you’ve more than just arrived as a noted breeder. The Fort family of Brightonhouse Farm up the hill atop Whitley Head looking down over Steeton and Keighley have had Lleyns since 1997 but as head of the family Graham Fort tells it was four years later that he, his wife Mandy and their son and daughter Terry and Beverley really started on with them properly. ‘We went in seriously straight after foot and mouth in 2001. We’d had Mules and Suffolks beforehand and we had a flock of 200 pedi- gree Suffolk breeding ewes at one time, but we eventually dispersed our Suffolk flock in 2011 when we decided they weren’t econom- ical enough for us and ate too much food in comparison to our Lleyns. We now have a flock of 1150 breeding ewes that lamb all in one block over pretty much a three-week period from April 1. I do all the nights with Ter- ry and Bev coming in at around 6am-7am to take over with the morning shift. Mandy tags the lambs and we record everything to their sires and mothers and Bev ensures our online records are all in order with all lines traced back. It’s a closed flock. We haven’t bought in a female for 15 years. We buy 2-3 quality rams a year and that’s it, usually from the premier sale at Carlisle but we will go anywhere to look at good sheep.’ ‘The Lleyn is a very economical breed that has twins, is easy enough to lamb, has good skin, good confirmation and a great back end. They’re still underrated, but we get good premiums. Fat lambs go at 20 kilos off grass in mid-August to September and achieve R3L and above. They grade well off the hook which means we know what we’re getting before they go, but they also compete well against anything in the live market. We send stock to Bentham and Skipton from time to time.’ Fat lambs are one thing but providing quality stock for fellow farmers is quite another and Graham is very proud of the reputation they have gained among other breeders and commercial sheep farmers. ‘We specialise in supplying Lleyns to other breeders. Last year 45 of our rams went to society sales averaging around 1040 guineas and our top price ever was 5000 guineas for one that went to the Orkney Islands. We had the champion at the NSA ram sale at Builth Wells and champion at Welshpool and Skipton. Customers always want something different and we offer a big choice of genetics. We select the best tups for breeding and everyone who buys our females is really pleased. We sell most privately at home early in the season.’ ‘We also specialise in those who want to make a fresh start by restocking. We’re big enough to get others back under way and in the recent past we have set up a flock for a buyer in Belgium, restocked a farm in Northampton with 200 and another elsewhere in the country with 20. Our high health status is a big attraction. We’ve made a huge number of friends in the breed and they know that ours are at the top end. We’ve heard people say that the Forts’ Lleyns do exactly what it says on the tin.’ ‘We’re sheep mad,’ says Bev. ‘I run our website and keep everything in order, all our