BECOMING a renowned and respected breeder of any form of livestock doesn ’ t happen overnight . It ’ s a gradual build from that moment when the die is cast and the decision has been made . It ’ s then blood , sweat and tears , often a great deal of tears of frustration , agony and occasionally success , before the realisation dawns that you might just have become what you set out to achieve .

Mark and Jane Hayhurst have pedigree Charolais cattle at Great Carr Farm , Kirby Misperton where the tip of the rollercoaster from Flamingoland can just be seen from their fields . There are many times when Jane feels they have been on it since they took up with the breed .

“ Mark and I purchased this farm 20 years ago after having taken on a little smallholding in 1999 . That was when Mark had said he ’ d like some cattle . He was from the village and had worked on a local farm from leaving school and had then had his own construction business .

“ I ’ m from a farming family in Rosedale Abbey where we had a bit of everything , which included four Charolais cows . I had always liked Charolais as a youngster and father always bred Charolais X cattle . I like their temperament , their nature , I like what they can do . They are also lovely animals to work with . We made the mutual decision to go with Charolais as we both liked the breed and could see

how we could make the farm work with them .

“ Our farming operation runs to 290 acres plus we take other land for additional grass . It means we have the grass for the cattle and grow arable crops consisting of barley , wheat , oats and beans , 150 acres of arable cropping this year , so that we can be self-sufficient and make up our own mixes and rations for the cattle .

“ That ’ s important because then you are not so reliant on other people and you

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know what ’ s in the feed . It ’ s also very good for the arable side because you want to be practising crop rotation , moving it around the farm . We also have the grassland for grazing and for making our own feeding crops of hay and silage and haylage .

“ We currently have 280 head of stock here and specialise in Charolais . We have 100 pedigree Charolais cows .

Jane says the Charolais ’ record as a terminal sire for producing animals that put weight on and finish fast is as important

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today as it ever has been for commercial rearers .

“ The great thing about the Charolais is that it is the most fantastic animal for putting weight on . Weight for age you can ’ t get better . It is a brilliant terminal sire for producing fat animals . It ’ s great because you can sell to your man who wants to breed store cattle , then he goes to the market and sells to the man who finishes them , so we all get a slice of the pie .

“ The Charolais terminal sire goes with mostly anything and its proven time and time again . The thing we always do is performance record . We ’ ve done that all the time . You put the information in and have the figures . People like that . They show it does its job . Most of our business is to commercial buyers who want to see easy calving , extra weight for age gain and are looking for that cross breeding hybrid vigour .

“ It ’ s also fantastic because it works with the so many different breeds and put to a fantastic crossing cow it produces a really good calf that puts the weight on and finishes faster than anything else .

“ We pride ourselves on always trying to produce bulls that produce easy calving .

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