42 WOODEND FARM FEB / MAR 2022 • farmers-mart . co . uk
mid-March . I ’ m looking at tightening up lambing a bit , rather than it being fairly continuous as it is at the moment .
“ We buy 100 replacements for the Swaledales and 25 for the Dalesbreds as three or four-crop ewes and generally get three good years out of them . We ’ re not a hill farm . Our land is mainly low lying , which is why we don ’ t have pure Swaledales .
“ We sell most of our Mules and fat lambs at Hawes Mart . We will sell around 350 Mule gimmer lambs there every September with 350 Mule wethers destined for the fat lamb trade . The Mashams are sold at Bentham or Skipton and we buy our Dalesbred replacements from Bentham .
“ The Dalesbreds and Teeswaters are dad ’ s passion and over the past two or three years there has been a growing demand once again for Masham gimmer lambs after a time when they were out of fashion . They seem to be making a bit of a comeback .
The Willoughbys have a good reputation on the showing circuit and at last year ’ s Great Yorkshire Show a Bluefaced Leicester gimmer hogg from their Penhill flock which they had sold to James and Hannah Stenton of Thornton le Dale was crowned supreme commercial champion .
Tom says they have consistently produced Bluefaced Leicesters that have been in demand for many years .
“ We aim to sell between six to ten tup lambs at Hawes or Carlisle each autumn and we ’ ve had Leicester tups up to 16,000 guineas . We ’ ve had one or two bought to go across to Northern Ireland .
“ We go to Reeth Show and Kilnsey Show with Mules , Leicesters and Mashams and last year we won at Kilnsey for the first time in a few years with a pen of 6 Mule lambs .
Tom says he ’ s wary of getting too carried away with good prices being maintained in the lamb trade .
“ I think we all know how quickly things can flip in agriculture , but it is good while it lasts .
Woodend Farm , which is tenanted , provides one good crop of grass in late June / early July which produces hay or haylage for the sheep and horses . Tom also gets out and about drystone walling as well as being up at Hawes Mart every Tuesday and sale day .
Tom is married to Petra who is training to be an accountant and they have a son Jacob and daughter Aliya ; Mark has a son , Nathan .
N . Iveson Steel Products Ltd .
Finghall , Leyburn
Agricultural steel fabricators , supplying & erecting UKCA approved steel portal framed buildings , as well as manufacturing livestock handling , feeding & penning equipment .
Proud to be associated with Tom and Mark Willoughby of Woodend Farm
Tel . 01677 450 420
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RENOWNED FOR QUALITY LIVESTOCK MANY BUYERS RETURNING YEAR AFTER YEAR
Proud to be associated with Tom and Mark Willoughby and Woodend Farm .
WEEKLY TUESDAY SALES OF PRIME LAMBS & CAST EWES
FORTHCOMING SALES
Tue 12th April 2022 Opening weekly sale of Ewes with Lambs at foot
Sat 14th May 2022 Show & Sale of Store Cattle , Beef Breeding Cattle & Cull Cows
Fri 29th July 2022 Opening fortnightly catalogued Sale of Store Lambs
Mon-Tue 12th-13th Sept 2022 Great Annual Show & Sale of 30,000 Mule Gimmer Lambs on behalf of NEMSA
Tel : 01969 667207 | E : office @ hawesmart . co . uk | www . hawesmart . co . uk Hawes Farmer ’ s Auction Mart , Burtersett Road , Hawes , North Yorkshire DL8 3NP