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“ We have eight pedigree Belgian Blue cows at the moment with the rest of our suckler herd made up of pure Limousins and Blue X Limmie cows which then run with a Blue or Limousin bull to get the hybrid vigour of the Blue / Limmie cross .
“ We cull anything that isn ’ t in calf and keep what we need in replacements to bring us back to the same number of cows and heifers in the suckler herd . We will also sell newly calved heifers with calves at foot up at Carlisle in the spring for others to use as replacements .
“ If we breed a Blue bull that I think is good enough to go to Carlisle for the spring sales he will go , but if not he will go into the fatstock market .
Calving currently starts in mid-January but Paul is aiming to shift it to a little earlier over the next two years .
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“ I just want to tighten it up a bit as we are still calving a bit too near to turning out time . I want to get to starting in the beginning of the new year and be finished by the first week of May .
Paul also buys in 150 black and white Friesian bull calves each year from a collection centre in Wrexham that are fattened and go on contract to the McDonald ’ s fastfood chain .
“ We also buy 30 Belgian Blue X Friesian heifer calves in March that we run on a 24 month finishing programme .
“ All of the black and whites are targeted to go at around 12-13 months and up to 500 kilos through a designated centre .
“ Our continental bulls will go at 550-600 when the weight comes to them and are sold through York livestock market . Any stores sold go through Leyburn .
Investment in a crush with quality weigh scales and a coral
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handling system to get the cattle ready to weigh has been another important management tool for Paul .
“ We took the new equipment on three years ago . It calculates how much on average per kilo per day the beast has been putting on since the previous time you weighed it . It ’ s particularly useful because say a black and white beast has hit its target in 12 months , after that their growth rate can slow and not convert feed as efficiently .
“ The continentals aren ’ t so bad as they keep converting well , but then you need to be careful that you are not keeping them too long to miss their optimum weight for size of joints .
“ Our showing season finished on a high when winning Supreme Calf Champion at the North East Blue Club Show at Newark in October last year and then we went on to win
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York Christmas Primestock Show last December with a Limousin X Blue heifer that won its lightweight heifer class before going on to win the supreme championship .
“ It was the first time we had entered anything for a good few years .
“ We regularly show in the commercial beef classes during the summer show season at Malton , Ryedale , Thornton-le- Dale , Wensleydale and the Great
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Yorkshire , where we have won best homebred and been placed in very strong classes . Our daughter Jessica helps with the cattle when we show .
The team at Flat Top Farm now includes Paul , Julie , Robert , a self-employed local man , Kevin , and three egg packers and graders – Jill , Mandy and Sarah . Paul and Julie ’ s daughter Jess runs her own business JRJ Therapies helping get muscles and tendons back in place .
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