Glebe Farm, Brandesburton: Key role in the future of the Longwool​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

‘Harry’s my big tup,’ says Lou. ‘I show him. He doesn’t like anyone else. In the last few years he’s the one that has brought us most success, with firsts at a couple of shows as a tup lamb and seconds as shearling tup and last year aged tup.

‘Lou’s looked after him since day one,’ says Gillian. ‘He was born on her birthday and they have that bond that makes them inseparable both on the farm and at shows. Harry is definitely Lou’s favourite and she’ll be showing him at the two shows we will be attending this year – Driffield and Thornton le Dale.

‘I started showing with my dad and remember from around 11-12 years old being allowed to take an odd one into the ring, but not at the Great Yorkshire Show for a number of years. He liked showing there and had a very good friend who helped him.

Gillian had female champion and breed champion at the Great Yorkshire Show in 2019 but hasn’t had the opportunity of taking part at Harrogate since, as her flock is MV accredited.

‘Up until 2019 the Leicester Longwool breed classes were held alternate years for MV accredited and non-MV accredited, but it has been non-MV only since 2020. Maybe we will get invited back one day. It would be nice to go back.

‘Driffield has always been our local show and it’s always the show that gets the most Leicesters. Our show team for this year is made up of two shortwool gimmers, two longwool gimmers, two gimmer lambs, two tup lambs, one ewe, a shearling tup and an aged tup - Gary and Harry and maybe one more, making eleven or twelve. We had a couple of firsts at last year’s show and we were in the tickets for all the classes.

‘With the number of entries Driffield attracts it is very competitive,’ says Lou, who won the Young Handlers cup for sheep at Driffield in 2022 and now competes at Northern Area Finals in Yong Farmers Club stockjudging competitions for her home club Brandesburton YFC and county, East Riding Federation of YFC.

‘You really need to be on your game at Driffield, the standard is very high. We’ve also had female and breed champion at Ryedale; and female champion at Malton Show winning my granddad’s cup. That was special.

The Shipleys live at Glebe Farm, Brandesburton which was husband Mark’s grandfather’s farm; and have Eastfield Farm, North Frodingham which was Gillian’s father Alan’s farm. Their land runs to around 200 acres and is made up of arable cropping and their flock of 75 breeding ewes.

‘There’s four miles between them,’ says Gillian. ‘Mark’s granddad who farmed here at Glebe was his granddad on his mother’s side. They used to have a suckler herd, which we still had when Lou was young.

‘The farm still works for us, as there’s only myself, Mark and Lou, who now does a lot on the farm. Mark also does bits of engineering for others in his workshop. There are still a few farms locally that are in a similar position, but it’s not as much a given that the next generation will take the farm on.

‘Yes, I will,’ says Lou, immediately. ‘I finished at school last year and I’ve just finished my first year studying machine engineering, working with things like lathes at East Riding College at Beverley. I’m not sure what I’ll do with that yet. I know I enjoy it and I also want to farm here.

‘We have a mix of Leicester Longwool ewes and crossbred ewes that make up the overall flock,’ says Gillian. ‘We normally run three tups – a homebred Leicester tup and we buy-in a Charollais for a crossing tup and another Leicester tup.

‘Of our 75 breeding ewes 40 are pure Leicesters. We breed our own replacements and it is an early lambing flock that sees us start on January 10. We sell fat lambs at around 40 kilos through Malton livestock market and would have had some away this week but for the way the weather is. We thought we’d leave it another week.

‘We usually keep around 10-12 females as replacements of around 90 lambs born and we occasionally sell tups for breeding flocks.

‘Our only other income, other than farming is from a holiday let, a bungalow next door to Eastfield Farm.

Gillian says the Leicester Longwool breed is now on the endangered list on the Rare Breeds Survival Trust’s list, but that the East Riding of Yorkshire remains a hotbed for the breed.

‘Leicester Longwool became a popular tupping breed for round here many years ago. I remember not just my dad but also Mr Elwood, Brian Glaves’ dad, Francis Richardson and Chris Coleman having them. They’re easy to look after, good lambers, good mothers, and they are a friendly sheep.

‘I think one of the reasons they have a popularity here is to do with the sheep being well suited to our grass and how the farmers around here wanted to work their flocks. They are a good solid sheep.

Leicester Longwools go back over 200 years to 18th century sheep breeder and agricultural pioneer Robert Bakewell who developed the breed at Dishley Grange in Leicestershire to produce a big-framed animal to supply large quantities of meat and wool to meet the demands of the workforce at the start of the Agricultural Revolution. At this time they were a very important breed in the UK flock.

Latest reports show that there are now less than 1000 registered pedigree Leicester Longwool ewes in the country and with Gillian, Mark and Lou having forty of them they have an important role to play in the breed’s long-term future.

‘I will always have them,’ says Lou. ‘I’ll keep the breed going here. And I’ll keep showing them. We are looking forward to having a great Driffield Show and Thornton le Dale Show and hopefully other people will see that Leicester Longwools are worth having.

Gillian says that this year’s showing time will be an emotional one for her.

‘I was born in 1976, the year dad started showing. Lou and I are keeping dad’s and the breed’s flag flying. It would be nice if we won, but we’ll be smiling and enjoying our showing just as dad did fifty years ago.

Lou is competitive and will be looking to add to her showing, YFC and stockjudging prowess.

‘We (Brandesburton YFC) came third overall at this year’s rally at Humberdale Farm, Swanland. I came fifth in Northern Area sheep stockjudging. Hopefully Harry will do well!