The Farmers Mart Oct/Nov 2015 - Issue 42 | Page 60

Farm Name
Green
Farm Hellifield

Robert gave up milking 10
years ago. He was the third
generation to have milked and
had been firmly committed to
carrying on but then poor prices
took their toll.
“I’d been brought up with
dairy cows and when we
had a sale in 1999 when my
father, Ted retired, I put in a
new parlour and went to three
times a day milking. It meant
a lot of time on my own but
when prices were okay it was
still fine. We had 130 milkers
and the herd was made up of
110 Holsteins and 20 Jerseys.
I always enjoyed milking in a
morning but not particularly in
the afternoon and I was also
suffering from repetitive strain
injury on my shoulder.
“I came out of milking
because of a combination of
factors that included the lad
who was helping me at the time
wanting to do his own thing
elsewhere; I was struggling
with my shoulder; and the milk
price wasn’t clever. By the time

I came out of it in 2005 I’d also
built the Highlands up and had
been considering whether I
could make a business out of
them.”
Another change Robert made
was way before the decision to
come out of milk and before the
Highlands had arrived. It wasn’t
anything to do with a painful
shoulder or milk price though.
“As soon as my father retired
I sold the sheep. We’d had
400 Mule X Texels but me and
sheep just never got on!”
Today, you’ll see Highlands
everywhere on Robert’s
tenanted farm that runs to 120
acres in a ring fence. He also
has cattle on several hundred
acres in a few miles radius from
Green Farm.
Sales of his Hellifield
Highland Beef products, as well
as competing with the cattle
all around the country, keep
Robert very much in the public
eye. He tells of how selling his
first beef from the herd proved
tricky locally.

J.& E. MEDCALF LTD
WHOLESALE BUTCHERS & FARMERS
Serving the local Farming community
& North & West Yorkshire
Working to the Highest standards
The Abattoir, Jagger Green Hall Farm,
Jagger Green, Halifax, HX4 9DE

Tel. [phone] / 376276 ▪ Fax. [phone]

60 Oct/Nov 2015 www.farmers-mart.co.uk

“Our first to go was one called
Dougall but neither the family
nor our neighbours would eat
the beef beca \