Page 97 - Britich Blue Year Book 2023

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Fee says it is very much a family affair with their children
Mark, 13, Callum,11, and daughter Jessie, 10, all keen on
getting hands-on both in sale preparation and at the
shows and sales, with Jessie also eager to be on the end
of the halters as she gets bigger and stronger.
In this year’s Skipton Auction Mart annual Craven
Champions sale of 2023-born store cattle with show
potential, it was Fee who paraded their supreme champion
in the sale ring, a three quarters Blue-sired heifer named
‘Panda’ to the top price of £4,400. The family also took the
male championship with a black bullock, this time in the
capable hands of Mark jnr and Callum for both the
showing and in the sale ring, and that went on to take
reserve supreme and go under the hammer at £2,800.
Still on-farm earlier this year were two young pedigree
bulls, ‘Intake Titanium’ by the Belgian sire DoDou De St
Remacle and out of Brennand One in a Million, and Intake
Toyboy by the Belgian Pirlo VD Panemeers -- now the
farm’s stock bull – out of the Dylan Townend-bred Clifftown
Party Girl. One will probably be retained in the herd and
the other will come onto the market at some stage.
Says Mark: “Pirlo VD Panemeers is a very muscly all-black
bull we bought privately off Philip Halhead who had
imported him, and we are using him judiciously to assess
calving ease. We wanted a black bull simply because we
do find that a good show calf will make that bit more if it
is all black. We are pleased with what we have had so far
by Pirlo. We bought him because, at the time, our stock
bull Brennand Jimmy was getting on and at nine years of
age we thought we should have a back-up plan. Ironically
the following year, Jimmy suffered a stifle injury. He will
be sorely missed at Intake. He left show calves with
fantastic plates and wide tops.
“We also invested into Embryo Transfer in the hope of
accelerating pedigree numbers, but we have had very
mixed results.”
Says Fee: “I used to work for an ET company, so I now know
how it must have felt for clients being on the receiving end
when results are disappointing. We have tried various
variables but maintaining nutrition and environmental
conditions are key. Lately we have been getting better
results and also we finally have some embryos in the tank
out of Brennand Nightcap and Intake Part Time.
Simmental cross Luings are used as recipients.”
With limited accommodation on-farm the aim is to calve
in spring, to not only suit the show potentials sales, but
also clear all the calves of various ages, apart from
replacement heifers, before the yards are needed again
for the next season’s calving. Pedigree heifers will be old
enough for the following year’s Carlisle sales while
retained commercial heifers, if sufficiently well grown, are
served to calve from two years old. In the winter, which can
typically be around seven months on Intake Farm, adult
cows are housed in cubicles with mattresses and the
central feed passages have locking yokes. In summer they
graze some of the 200 acres of rough pasture and meadow
which tends to be on the valley slopes around and below
the 1,000ft altitude of the holding, while sheep run on the
higher ground and onto the heather and Bent moor at
1,500ft or so. Hay and haylage are made on about 70 acres
of meadow and lower ground, some of it owned but away
from home, and this forms the staple winter fodder with
only limited hard feed. Very little fertiliser is used on either
grazing or conservation fields, with the reliance mainly on
FYM.
The farm carries 500 Swaledale ewes which are bred pure
apart from 50 put to the Texel, and for these too, the breed
shows and sales are an important part of the business.
95
February 2024 Pateley Bridge male champion
which made £3,500
Two young bulls Intake Toyboy (left) and Intake
Titanium