BEFORE Amanda Owen of Ravenseat and the Nicholson boys of Cannon Hall Farm took over our screens as Yorkshire ’ s kings and queen of the farming world on TV there was mother and son Carol and Philip Mellin of Moor Lodge near Oakworth . They adorned our screens a decade ago when The Dales TV show was broadcast during 2011 and 2012 .

Ten years on and sheep and sheepdogs are still at the heart of their now respective farming businesses , but there have been some significant changes . Carol has more recently changed from one breed of sheep to another and Philip has developed an alternative income in contracting while maintaining his love of sheep farming .

Three years ago Carol began switching her flock of breeding ewes from Swaledales to Herdwicks .

‘ This year is the first I ’ ve not lambed any Swaledales ,’ says Carol . ‘ Herdwicks are such a nice breed , they don ’ t jump up at you or over you , they are quieter than the Swaledales and you don ’ t get their horns in your legs !’

Carol started with 30 ewes and has since grown her breeding flock to 200 breeding ewes and 100 gimmer hoggs having added to her numbers

by purchasing 120 from Peter Bland of Grasmere at last autumn ’ s Herdwick sale at

Cockermouth Mart , who had also appeared on TV in The Lakes & The

Dales TV programme . ‘ The year before , in 2019 , I had also bought ewes from Broughton in Furness Mart ,’ says Carol . ‘ I ’ m planning on rearing hoggs to shearlings and selling at the breed sales . They graze up on the moor from May 1 through to October where I have moorland rights . I also rent in-bye land from Walshaw Moor Estate .’

Philip now combines his time between his sheep and contracting work , which he started when he was 17 .

‘ My heart is with the sheep ,’ says Philip . ‘ I ’ d love to spend all day with them and I ’ d love to have 1000 ewes one day but I need the contracting side as it provides the right income .’

‘ I started spraying for farmers using a quad bike , then I bought a mower , then went into silaging . After that I bought a muck spreader and then a tractor . I ’ ve gradually traded up and now run a John Deere that I bought in 2019 which is very reliable .’

‘ Agricultural contracting is very dependent on getting your pricing spot on , but it is also about keeping your machinery working and avoiding breakdowns . I cover a distance as far as Wakefield and Kilnsey and that means I cannot afford to be stopped because of mechanical failure . It ’ s also not a good advert . These days I ’ d rather pay the finance on a better tractor .’

‘ I ’ ll take on any job , anything to do with grass whether it is baling , bale carting , wrapping , pasture topping , spraying , mowing or muck spreading . The only downside with contracting is that everybody always seems to want you on

the same day , but that ’ s understandable . Everyone wants their work doing when they feel the weather is right .’

Carol split the farm with Philip when Philip was 21 ( he ’ s now 27 ). He now has 250 acres of in-bye land and runs his own flock of 320 mainly Texel X breeding ewes , lambing from 1 April and usually selling at around 45 kilos during December and January at Skipton Mart .

‘ I buy-in new stock as shearlings from Skipton in September each year ,’ says Philip . ‘ I look for a nice clean face , tight jacket and good length , shape and size .’

‘ The Beltex-type lambs will attract a premium . I use Beltex X tups and I normally sell all my lambs as fat but at last back end I took the view that I would sell the last 50 as stores because of Brexit . I had this premonition that wagons would all be stacked up at border controls and that there might be a downturn .’