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www.beltex.co.uk
Beltex Sheep SocietyShepherds View,
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Frankland FarmsThe old adage that “quality always pays” should be the motto for Frankland Farms, near Settle in North Yorkshire. They have seen their sheep scoop 8 championships at Skipton Auction mart over the last couple of years as well as red tickets at other shows and sales around the area. There is no big secret in the success. Richard Frankland credits this to the quality of the Beltex as a crossing sire, putting quality where it counts, and money in the pocket as a result.
Brothers Richard and Chris Frankland are 5th generation farmers at New Hall, with their forbears moving in around 1880, where they used to run Masham sheep. Richard and Chris employ a full-time farm man, Thomas, whose career they are keen to develop within the farm business and are also helped by Richard’s son, Jonathon, who works two days a week on the farm and also works at nearby Hull House. The farm now runs to around 700 acres of in bye land in 3 blocks, of which 350 acres is rough pasture, and they also have rights on a patch of SSSI common land. They milk 90 cattle and in total, with followers and their suckler cattle have around 400 head of cattle on the farm. Working along the lines of “If summats not paying just right, summat else will be” and this is underlined at the moment with the low returns in the milk department being offset by the strong trade in the beef and sheep sectors. All cattle are finished on the farm and sold through the auction mart ring, either at Bentham, Skipton or Gisburn. Around 1000 sheep are lambed every year on the unit, with the core of the flock being 360 mule ewes, which are bought in as mule shearlings, buying from top flocks at Bentham and Lazonby. “Buying good mule sheep is a good start for the fat lambs” says Richard. “Good skins and lengthy sheep with a good frame pass these qualities onto the next generations”. These ewes are crossed with the Texel ram and the best gimmers retained from this cross, which are then put to the Beltex tup as shearlings. This is the cross which is putting down the marker for any local challengers. “When we are looking for a Beltex tup we like to get one that has good shape and skin, good on its feet and has a bit of stretch” says Richard. “The extra length makes all the difference when it comes to the shows and also helps the lambs weigh better as a result”
One of the things the Frankland’s like about the Beltex tups is the ability at tupping. “Our best getting tups cover around 100 ewes a season, which makes it ideal, as one tup is more cost effective than 2 or 3 tups covering the same number of sheep” The Beltex’s lamb at around 200% and they are quick and sharp on their feet as well, which makes ideal lambs. The quicker they get up the quicker they thrive. All the lambs are sold fat through the auctions either at Skipton or Bentham, with the March lambs getting some creep and start hitting the market in early June, ideally at around 43kg, which is aimed for the butchers market. This year has seen a good year for lamb trade and their tops weighed in at £106, with a lot of lambs in the £80-£90 mark. Most of the lambs are away by the end of November.
The returns seen by the use of the Beltex sire has certainly helped the family’s enthusiasm for the breed, making the ideal fat lamb for the market, which judging by the number of red tickets on show is seconded by the fat stock judges and by the buyers at the market, which really is where all attention should be at. The bottom line is the one to watch, and if you’re watching the Beltex, the bottom line is never far off either. |
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