Decoy Farm |
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you use all different bulls and never breed a type . It ’ s only in the last ten years I ’ ve realised that you don ’ t breed a type that way . Breeding all comes down to families especially on the female side . The cows we now have can all be traced back to just three cow families and 40-50 per cent of the current cows are directly related to the heifer I bought from Walter Smith ’ s Staffordbased Roughley herd – Roughley Ellebell .”
While Jim is allegedly taking a back seat on the farm the herd is still his domain and he ’ s particularly impressed with the bull he purchased from France with another breeder Aled Edwards from Wales .
“ We have half shares in Fenomen . Buying a Limousin bull in the UK is very expensive so we had both gone to France for their national show and sale . Fenomen wasn ’ t the one I had originally gone over to see with a view
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to buying and I hadn ’ t planned on sharing him either but Aled said he was interested and it made sense . He went on to win the beef championship and we brought him over to the UK . We had our first calves from him in spring 2016 . His semen went live on semen stores in January .”
Jim has had some proud moments in the show rings with his Limmies but he ’ s always had one premise that he has followed throughout .
“ I always said to myself that I must never farm to show , the showing had to come out of the farming . My favourite moment was when I won with junior male champion at the Royal Show . I didn ’ t get to bed at all that night !”
Showing has become very much a part of Richard ’ s life too but for him it has been Shire horses that have provided the kick and it was Jim who unwittingly set him on his way .
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“ Dad had gone to a sale to buy a Shetland pony for his grandchildren and came back with one but also this Shire gelding . Typical auctioneering practice had brought about not having one without the other . The Shetland went up to my brother ’ s place while the Shire stayed here . It wasn ’ t long afterwards that Francis and Mark Richardson of Bewholme , who have Shires and are very well known in the breed , came calling one day and spotted the gelding . Next thing I knew I had swapped it for a mare in foal and my breeding and showing career with Shires had begun !
“ I now have five – two geldings , two mares and a two-year-old . I don ’ t want to get any more than that as it is a hobby and hobbies can prove expensive when they ’ re not earning anything for the farm . I joined the Northern Heavy Horse Society and now attend various
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shows with Francis and Mark and Johnny Philips . They took me under their wing and showed me what to do . We help each other . I ’ m a willing groom for them and Mark ’ s a willing plaiter for me , in fact he ’ s one of the best in the country . I ’ ve also now bred one or two good ones .”
Richard had the reserve gelding champion with
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