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New Hall Farm
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anywhere. I wanted something
more behind me and I did that
by working as an apprentice
slaughterman for FMC (Fatstock
Marketing Corporation) in
Bradford. It eventually became
Hillsdown Holdings.
‘The money I earned went into
renting bits of land and buying
cattle. By the time I was 20 I
had five cattle and by 25 I had
40. I bought and fattened. The
first cattle I had were Herefords
and in my opinion they were
better than they are today,
more traditional. The ones I
bought were stores about 12-15
months old and I finished them
by Christmas. Dairy farms had
proper Friesian cows in those
days and if they had enough
heifer cows they would bull
them with the Hereford. It bred
a white faced bullock or heifer. I
would slaughter my own cattle in
Bradford.’
The chest freezer revolution
was gathering momentum in the
mid-70s and Richard realised
there was an opportunity to shift
into retail as every household
started buying meat to freeze.
‘By 1975 everybody had
one. I opened up what was a
closed down butchers shop
in Mirfield renting it from the
owners and started selling
meat for freezers. It boomed.
We were selling sides of beef,
four quarters of beef, half
lambs and inside 18 months
w e were so busy that I needed
bigger premises. I rented a
closed down grocer’s shop
that was larger than I’d had
CY
and also had a car park. We
eventually bought the shop. It’s CMY
a sandwich shop today but we K
still own the premises.
‘We had started off as
Mirfield Freezer Supplies.
Haigh’s Farm Shop opened in
1980. It’s where I bought my
first block of land in 1969 and
where with additional land
purchased we had created
a small farm. We built the
house there in 1978. It was a
success right from the start
because of its location. There
are a lot of chimney pots
around here, which means
lots of customers. Our two
sons, George and Charles
run most of the business with
Charles predominantly on the
farm and George more in the
shop, but everyone helps and
Charles is usually in the shop in
mornings.’
Richard is still very much
involved and handles a good
deal of the buying alongside
George and Charles.
‘One of the great benefits of
having the farming operation is
having the facilities for storing,
grazing and finishing cattle. We
have around 400 beef cattle
that we buy in as stores from
livestock markets at Leyburn,
Lancaster and Longtown in
the autumn. We mainly stock
Limousin and Charolais X to
meet the demand we have
for lean beef, but we still
have customers who want
traditional grass fed beef and
D & H PEEL
AND SON
LIVESTOCK TRANSPORT
Proud to be associated with Richard Haigh and
his team at New Hall Farm and wish him
continued success for the future
SELBY LIVESTOCK
AUCTION MART LTD
“YORKSHIRE’S FRIENDLY LIVESTOCK MART”
Weekly Sales of Fatstock - Wednesdays
Pigs 9am - Sheep 9.45am - Cattle & Cows 10.30am
Store Stock - Saturdays
Pigs 9.15am - Sheep 9.45am - Cattle 10.45am
On alternate Saturdays
Fur, Feathers & Miscellaneous items at 9:30am
Entries taken on the day and from 9am to 4pm on Friday prior to sale
Pleased to be associated with Richard Haigh of New Hall Farm
Tel: 01757 703347 Email: [email protected] www.selbymart.co.uk
Auctioneer Richard Haigh 0776 8594535
www.farmers-mart.co.uk Spring 2017 17