SOME farmers are glass-half-empty men or women , bemoaning the way life is or hard luck has shaped them , but Stuart Currie is most definitely from the positive end of farming , as well he might be , given his prowess in the livestock world over a number of years with Texels and Beef Shorthorns .

Stuart looks back on the past nine or ten months and what the weather has wrought , with a degree of thankfulness as well as smiles over how things had gone just beforehand .

“ It ’ s certainly been a long winter and in retrospect it was a stroke of luck that we had a reduction sale of the Shorthorns last year because feed and bedding expenses would have been astronomical on those 20 extra calves .

“ We had a hell of a sale last year with stock averaging over 4000 guineas per beast from 20 outfits plus 4 young bulls . We ’ ve had good prices before such as 11,000 guineas at Skipton for a Shorthorn heifer in 2019-20 , but to get that kind of average across so many animals was really good for us and has definitely helped .

Stuart is the third generation to farm at Beautry Farm , Rathmell , where the farm runs to just over 150 acres and he farms with his wife Gail . The farm has changed considerably from when Stuart returned to the then dairy farm , after studying at Askham Bryan College .

© MacG photography

“ My father , Duncan , who we sadly lost last year , inherited Beautry from his stepfather Fred Lister . Dad had to take on the tenancy when 17 years of age when stepfather died early . Our landlords were happy for him to take it on so long as he went to college , which he duly did , also at Askham Bryan , for a year . Whilst he was at college his brother-in-law Kenneth Strickland looked after the farm for him .

“ At one time it was a small dairy farm of between 30-40 cows and 150 breeding ewes . After I had completed a 3-year course at Askham I came back to the farm in 1981 and took the reins that saw us milking 110 pedigree Holsteins in partnership with mum , Joan , and dad .

But the main business on the farm was to become their diversification enterprise that saw a move out of dairying and a conversion of the former dairy into an equine rehabilitation centre , including

© Adrian Legge

an equine swimming pool and veterinary clinic in 1991 , which also included a farrier ’ s forge .

“ We had two tenants at that time , a farrier and the vets ,” says Stuart . “ We still have full vet facilities with an operating theatre and examination room and Gail and I ran the rehabilitation centre with the swimming pool that became our main business alongside farming Texel sheep , followed by adding Beltex a little later . We also ran a few store cattle up until 2008-09 .

Stuart was on the lookout for a breed of cattle to go into at that time and that ’ s when he decided on the Beef Shorthorn .

“ We ’ d had a look around for something that was quiet and easy to manage . It was a day ’ s shooting at Coniston Hall that swung it . Paul Barker was shooting that day , who was buying for Woodheads at the time , and I think his wife was one of the sales managers for Morrisons . She ’ d said they were going to try Shorthorns in their flagship store in London as a special brand . I thought this had to be good for the breed going forward as they would be paying a premium for commercial cattle off a Shorthorn bull . With that consideration , plus being cheap to

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Specialists in Equine Performance & Rehabilitation since 1991

We have a unique 12ft deep circular equine pool allowing for a fully bespoke program tailored to each horses needs .

“ The centre is proud to be working with Stuart Currie and Beautry Farm , providing the best care & support for his animals .”

Contact Dianne Cornthwaite 07745 554 181 northernequinetherapy @ hotmail . com

northernequinetherapycentre . co . uk