Malcolm returns to his roots at Skewkirk Hall

Riding in a caged trailer while grass was sent through a funnel and jumping up and down to compact it to get as much in as possible may not sound as though it would lead to a life of owning land and property. Fortunately not a hay fever sufferer, Malcolm Slinger recalls those days near Ripon where his father worked with great fondness.
Malcolm Slinger is the senior steward for sheep at Tockwith Show. Picture by Scott Merrylees.Malcolm Slinger is the senior steward for sheep at Tockwith Show. Picture by Scott Merrylees.
Malcolm Slinger is the senior steward for sheep at Tockwith Show. Picture by Scott Merrylees.

After a circuitous career including seven years in London studying maths at Imperial College before working with accountancy specialists and then moving back north to Leeds, Malcolm invested in property, purchasing his first five-bedsit house in Beeston in the early 1980s for £15,000.

Shortly after his third property purchase he met Jane who had studied at Durham University and worked for Graham Poulter’s agency in Leeds. They married and grew a successful business together from 1990-2005. Having sold up they looked forward to a life of golf and skiing, but found it wasn’t enough.

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Today they own the near 200-acre Skewkirk Hall in Tockwith, have started farming with Jane’s nephew swapping truck driving for a life of sheep, while also including pigs on a bed and breakfast basis for Ian Mosey and a livery stable.

Malcolm and Jane are heavily involved with Tockwith Show too, which returns on Sunday. Jane runs the farmer’s market and Malcolm is chief sheep steward having taken over from long term incumbent Philip Hughes last year.

“I was born in Bainbridge in Wensleydale. My father was a herdsman for Ellis’ farm on Magdalen Road, Ripon. When we sold the business Jane and I were living in Thorner near Leeds but four years on we wanted something different, so I’ve gone back to my roots. We bought Skewkirk in 2009. This had been where David Fattorini had his famed pedigree Charolais herd.

“Jane’s nephew Matt moved up from Royston near Barnsley with his family three years ago, which was when we started farming. It has been a massive learning curve for all of us, but mostly for Matt who we invited to change career. He’d been used to delivering for Marks & Spencer, now he talks sheep, drives a tractor and has the bit firmly between his teeth in agriculture. Matt and his family live in the farmhouse just 600 yards away from the hall.

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“We’ve had great assistance from Brian Bartle in Tadcaster who helped us purchase our start-up flock from a dispersal sale in Morpeth. We now have 110 breeding ewes made up of Texel X, Mules and Zwartbles. We’re aiming to get to around 200 ewes in the coming years. We sell our fat lambs at Selby Livestock Market.

“We have 1,400 pigs that come in at 40 kilos and Matt takes to finishing. We have around four to four and a half batches a year.”

LIVERY

Malcolm explains the livery yard was Matt’s idea: “There are ten stables at the farmhouse where he, his wife Zoe and three children live and the livery seemed a no-brainer. We’ve added an arena for schooling. The country lanes and countryside around here are ideal for riding.”

Malcolm and Jane are keen on wildlife too and have planted over 8,000 trees on five sites last year across 12 acres.

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