Stephen Short with Liam Clark of P . V . Dobson |
“ We sell all cattle as stores through Gisburn at 10-11 months as suckled calves . We have 20 followers running on , of which I will sell some at spring and some heifers I ’ ll keep as replacements . The bucket reared calves come mainly out of Gisburn Mart and they are sold back there . They attract strong prices . We will also go to Skipton a little .
Highcliffe Farm runs to about 80 acres , but around five years ago Stephen and his mum
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Elizabeth bought 54 acres at Shibden called Hagstocks Farm . With rented acreage Stephen now farms almost 200 acres .
“ The business is me and my mother Elizabeth . She does a lot of my paperwork for me because I just haven ’ t enough time to do it all . I farmed alongside my grandfather for a while , but he passed away just over four years ago .
“ We make a lot of our own silage and generally do two cuts , but it was that dry in 2022 that we had to let the cows into what was going to be the second cut because we hadn ’ t enough . I ’ ve had to buy in more silage .
“ It ’ s all down to grazing and producing silage up here . We will buy some feed off Pennine Feeds and I ’ Ansons but we are largely grass based . We have oversown some vetch with some grass that is very high in protein and that really pushes lambs on .
Stephen has more farming and showing strings to his bow that supplement his income .
“ I look after cattle for a farmer over the winter and I also get sheep ready for showing for
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other folk through summer .
While Stephen loves winning at shows he has found that , since Covid , he doesn ’ t feel the urge to go everywhere showing his Hampshires as he did prior to the pandemic .
“ Since the Covid job I can honestly say that I haven ’ t really missed showing massively . I ’ ve been to The Three Counties showground for the National Hampshire Downs breed society show and sale ; I ’ ve been to Hampshire Down shows and sales in markets ; and to the Great Yorkshire . I ’ ve found that time is so precious .
Highcliffe Farm was a tenant farm on the Shibden Hall Estate years and Stephen says his family bought it over 100 years ago .
“ We ’ ve farmed here ever since under the surname Knight , Rushforth and now Short . My great granddad was Stephen Knight . His daughter was Margaret Knight and she married my grandfather Willie Rushforth . They had my mother Elizabeth Rushforth and she married my father which then made her a Short .
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