The Farmers Mart Oct/Nov 2016 - Issue 48 | Page 54

Farm NameFarm
Dodsworth

An Animal Haven
for Rare Breeds
»»RARE BREEDS DON’T JUST
have a safe haven at Dodsworth
Farm in North Yorkshire – they all
have names too! Ian Wilkinson
went along to see for himself.
Phil Mellor and Shelley
Rogerson run Dodsworth Farm
located between York Auction
Centre and Elvington Airfield.
The farm comprises of 250
Acres of land some of which is
rented out and the rest is for
grazing Phil’s 190 head of Irish
Moiled’s and British Whites.
Phil, who originally hails
from Staffordshire, has a dairy
farming background. The family
moved to Evington in 1987 in
order to expand the business
and take over what was already
a fully functioning dairy farm.
The business continued to
flourish and at its height they
were milking some 260 cows.
Unfortunately, when Phil’s
father passed away there were
four brothers and two sisters to
pay out and as they all wanted
their share, the farm as it was
had to be dissolved and the
stock sold. It was not a happy
day for Phil who had farmed all
his life. He is, however, still in
contact with his sisters, both of
whom are married to farmers,
one in Canada.

Phil says he is so glad that
he hung onto the land which
enabled him to begin his rare
breed herds and create his new
and prosperous future.
Shelley is an absolute animal
lover and quite frankly admits
she prefers animals to people!
As a youngster she always had
her own chickens, sheep and
horses though her working life
started very differently. She
has a BA Honours degree in
industrial and product design.
After leaving university she
took a job managing Victoria
Wines in Bradford City Centre
which for a number of reasons
she absolutely hated. Knowing
she had to something else
- and always having loved
animals - she volunteered
for a job at Pudsey Park on
a part-time basis. Then an
opportunity arose at Temple
Newsham on their on-site farm.
She started on the animal side
then took on the paperwork
and subsequently moved on
to looking after all pedigree
registrations, finally becoming
i