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‘ We used to lamb over six weeks and by the end we were all dead on our feet or knees . We are currently at 170-180 North Country Cheviot ewes and 170-180 Swaledales which we are fazing out and replacing with the Cheviots . We buy quality thickset pedigree Bluefaced Leicester tups that create better conformation lambs and it is the gimmer out of that we keep to be our Cheviot Mule . We then have 370-380 Cheviot Mules that are put to the Texel .’
‘ Our eventual numbers , once the Swaledales are gone , will be something like 200 North Country Cheviots and 550 Cheviot Mules . We will probably sell around 250-300 gimmer lambs out of the Cheviot Mule X Texel , keep around 120 gimmers as replacements and the rest of what remains from the 1300-1400 lambs on the ground go deadweight to Dunbia .’ Store lambs are also bought in . ‘ We buy-in about 1200 store lambs which we take out to grass and then fetch them back in on sheep slats , which saves on bedding . If we can get our lambs away at 21 kilos deadweight with carcase
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grades of Es and Us , as we can with the pure Cheviots then the job ’ s a good ‘ un ’. In the past we bought Swaledale store lambs but they had a job making the R grade , were coming in at 18 kilos and were a month later finishing . The Cheviots seem to live off less too .’
Steven grazes his sheep away for the winter . It is something he has done for the past 40 years .
‘ We use land on dairy farms near Ripon . It ’ s been harder and harder in the past ten years because of the wetter winters .’
Changes to the suckler herd are also ongoing at Bolton Park .
‘ We have run high EBV index Charolais bulls put to once-crossed Limousin- Simmental-Hereford style sucklers out of dairy cows , keeping the Charolais bull calves entire and selling them as young store bulls at 9-10 months old for fatteners , and the heifers before lambing time .’
‘ We have to be realistic about where we are and we know that farming here we cannot fatten cattle . We can grow them but not fatten modern stock because to fatten modern cattle you
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need to bring in concentrates and straw .’
‘ Our next step that we are undertaking is switching back to an Angus-type of bull and instead of the cows being once-crossed dairies we are looking at them being twice-crossed dairy cows that will bring about a Hereford X Friesian crossed with an Angus bull and from that we will keep the Angus out of it for breeding .’
‘ It ’ s all about trying to get more native into the cows and therefore better use of grass .’
Recently there have been other changes that Steven hadn ’ t planned on . The farm he has traditionally received straw from couldn ’ t supply it this year but came up with a different solution . They needed muck for their light land and was Steven interested in sending cattle that would provide it ?
‘ It worked out well . He said he ’ d keep them on a fairly low diet and when they achieved the right weight he would put them on a finishing ration . The figures were a no-brainer . It was going to cost me less to get them to the target weight and
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without the hassle of providing straw for them or feeding them . And then there was the saving of time too . They then market that stock to either Morrisons or Dunbia .’
Steven ’ s suckler herd calves from February-April with the cows on natural service and the heifers AI ’ d . The herd goes out normally during early May .
The latest cattle venture is the purchase of native bred cattle that Steven has on SSSI land at Hawkswick that he and his wife Ann own .
‘ We have 240 acres there and native breeds are needed to graze the land from 1 July . We have Beef Shorthorn X and Highland X . These are animals that we
Continued on page 56
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