The Farmers Mart Oct-Nov 2019 - Issue 65 | Page 26

26 COLDWELL FARM
OCT/NOV 2019 • farmers-mart.co.uk
DERBYSHIRE GRITSTONE
SHEEPBREEDERS SOCIETY
derbyshiregritstonesheep.moonfruit.com
Derbyshire Gritstone Sheep Society are proud
to be associated with Clive Mitchell and family.
To join the society, learn more about the breed, buy some
Derbyshire Gritstone sheep, or for any general enquiries...
Please call: 0788 907 2948 or email:
[e-mail]
Here at MDL, we are suppliers of Agricultural machinery.
As a family business whose roots are firmly grounded in
a farming background. We stock grass and hedge cutting
implements such as Verge mowers from £1295, Flail
Mowers from £895, Hedge cutters from £3295, We also
stock machines such as Log splitters from £695, Log saws
from £1095 and Chippers from £1295. Alongside digging
Equipment priced from only £2300 for our smallest
Backhoe up to £5595 for our NEW mini Excavators.
For more info, please call us on 01228 712121
or email [e-mail],
www.mdlpowerup.com
Shearwell
Pleased to supply tags to Clive Mitchell
FABULOUS YEAR FOR
CLIVE’S GRITS & LONKS
Chris Berry talks with Clive Mitchell at Flush House.
AD CODE
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YOU cannot help but like Clive Mitchell. He’s
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Replacement
Cattle & Sheep Tags
For life - Even when sold
Please call us for details
Tel. [phone] www. shearwell .co.uk
Goldthorpes
Cornmillers Ltd
Animal Feed & Pet Foods
Supplying farms & the pet shop trade
Proud suppliers to Clive Mitchell
of Coldwell Farm
01226 762180
eMAIL: [e-mail]
Lee Lane Mill, Millhouse Green, Sheffield, S36 9NN
one of the sheep showing world’s characters
and his Lonks, Derbyshire Gritstones and
Whitefaded Woodlands sit near the top or at
the top of many classes. That was certainly
the case at this year’s Great Yorkshire Show
when he had Lonk breed champion and
Derbyshire Gritstone reserve and female
champion. Not bad for a lad who had a heart
attack two years ago!
Clive farms up high in the hills at Coldwell
Farm in the village or hamlet of Flush House
near Holmbridge, which sits above Holmfirth.
He was aware of the task he faced when he
started showing Lonks at the main breed
show near Cliviger in Lancashire, home of the
Lonk.
‘Years ago when I first started with them
one of the local farmers from around here,
knowing I was going to the Lonk breed show
at Holme, Cliviger near Burnley said: ‘You’ll not
win there you know. You won’t get a thing.’
And he was quite right. I didn’t. But I kept
persevering with the job, going and going, and
a few years ago I won the breed show two
years in succession. That same farmer then
came to me and said: ‘I think you’ve infiltrated
them.’ It was a good feeling.’
‘ Clive had a fantastic Hope Show with his
Derbyshire Gritstone not just breed champion,
but also champion of champions ’
‘I’d always like the power of them. They
are similar to Grits, but they lamb easier
and live higher up. The Grits are a bit more
marginal. I started with Grits when my
granddad George Henry died. Uncle Harold,
who lived at Flush House Farm, and his son
said I could have my pick of his stock and
I remember picking a ewe with two tup
lambs on. My dad told me I should have
wanted the one with two gimmer lambs,
but I’ve always known one of the biggest
earners in sheep is breeding tups.’
‘I built up my Derbyshire Gritstones but
when I married at 23 and moved to Edale
in Derbyshire where we rented three
farms from the National Trust I had mostly
Swaledale and Swaledale X of my 500-600
breeding ewes. When we divorced about
eight years later I sold up and moved back
home.’
Today Clive farms across 200 acres,
partly owned and rented.
‘It’s all down to grass and we have
150 Lonks, 150 Derbyshire Gritstones, 20
Whitefaced Woodlands and odds and sods
of different breeds. We only keep the best
for replacements. I sell gimmer lambs and
sometimes shearling ewes if I’ve kept too
many. Our breeding ewes will generally
do four crops unless we have something
special that keeps giving a good tup. The
Grits and Lonks will average 1.5 lambs.’
‘This past winter I started feeding fodder
beet a lot sooner than normal and the
result was we had some lambs at 16lbs
that took some getting out. The ewes
milked better for being on the fodder beet
longer.’
‘I buy all my fodder beet from Stuart
Oldfield who is local, takes it wherever I
need it and never lets me down.’
‘Lambing starts around 12-15 April and
is all outside. It has got earlier over the
years, but there’s no good lambing up