'I’m never bored and it is beautiful' - The Yorkshire vet who swapped the practice for a farm

“I first came here as the estate’s nominated vet where the practice offers a more personal contact,” says Graham.

“When I arrived I just thought wow! Then I found out they needed somebody. I brought my wife Erica to have a look at it. She liked the place, the environment and the house and I was given the job working with the livestock and shifted from being a vet.

“I’d been impressed by the set up for the cattle and felt someone could do a really good job here running the farm and when it became clear Steve and Karen needed more help I thought it was too good an opportunity to miss.

"We’ve lived here three years at Holme Farm with our daughter Maria who has just started at school and our son Ian, who just turned two.”

Graham took over the management of the Belted Galloway herd, Highland cattle and a flock of Swaledale sheep.

“What I needed to look at was to find a way of making it profitable or not making it cost so much, for the same benefit, and enhancing what Steve and Karen firmly believe in.

“The estate runs to around 1500 acres of which almost half is heather moorland for grouse. Steve and Karen have put a further 200 acres into woodland creation to create wildlife corridors, promote regeneration, biodiversity and environmental enrichment encouraging wildlife.

“My initial responsibility was as a stockperson but I’ve become far more involved than purely that.

“It’s a living landscape here and drystone walls are part of that. I’ve repaired 115 gaps so far and usually find one or two a week where cows have pushed them over or rabbits have burrowed underneath, weather taken its toll or soil build up has pushed them down.

“I’ve also put up wire on 2.5 kilometres of it. The sheep are very athletic and we needed better stock management. Swaledales are too calculating and clever to be a sheep, they are always looking for a way out. When I go into a field I don’t want to see they’re jumping out at the far end.

Graham has changed the farm’s management of the cattle which now sees greater prevalence on younger stock, quicker turnover and less cattle on the farm.

“We currently have 36 Belted Galloway cows or heifers that have gone to the bull and have 116 head. We now have fewer adult cows and far more young stock because that’s what we’re going to be paid for and has given more room to keep younger animals for a second summer. That way we take advantage of the grass, which is the cheapest way to feed livestock.

“All cows are pedigree registered, as is our bull Finnegan who we bought from the breed sale at Castle Douglas. I analyse all cattle and lesser ranking cows and those that don’t conform to breed standards go to the Wagyu bull we run as part of our arrangement with Charles Ashbridge of Taste Tradition. We put about 50 per cent each to our Beltie bull and Wagyu bull.

“We’ve had success with breeding pedigree heifers at Skipton livestock market. I’d like to sell more because they attract a better price than for a finished animal and go at a younger age. A heifer I produced called Diana won overall female champion this year selling for 2500 guineas.

“Our cows are now on a system where they will calve in March and the calves will go out with their mothers, come in for winter, get weaned, spend winter inside and go out for a second summer, moved almost every two days, using electric fencing, which helps grass recovery.

"At the end of September Charles (Ashbridge) takes them at 18 months, finishing them at two to two and a half years. We sell cull cows through him too. I’m going to try finishing some of my own pure Beltie bullocks at two years old.

“When I first came here the cows were calving in June and July and that caused problems. Since moving to March the calves are now growing 27 per cent faster up to weaning. We’ve also a few Highland-crossed animals from previous years before the Belties.

Graham brought some of his father’s Scottish Blackface with him when coming to Summerstone and says he’s still considering his sheep plans with a Mule being the likely overall scenario.

“I like the Swaledale’s reliability not their attitude, but they are excellent mothers.

Maybe I just haven’t improved them enough yet. I’ve had two crops of my own lambs that are now producing lambs which have done well as shearlings which is good to see, and are producing one or two lambs quite happily. I have 170 to go to the Leicester tup to breed Mules, and 100 Scottish Blackface going to the Blackface tup.

“It is all subject to change and depends on how the Blackfaces do this year. They’ve now been here three years but have been let down by a tup that has not been very fertile.

"On the plus side they’ve produced some enormous lambs that when I’m looking at weight data shows they are producing a lamb nearly 6 kilos heavier at weaning than the Swaledales.

“If I can get the Blackfaces to work then they could be the hill sheep for us, using some of my dad’s sheep. I’ve bred replacements from them.

"They were farmed hard and find the estate easy whereas the Blackfaces brought in have not done as well. They rear heavy lambs but not enough numerically. This winter is going to be the telling point.

“If we don’t get a good enough crop in terms of numbers of Blackface lambs I’m going back to the drawing board and maybe putting the Swale tup on Swaledales again because I’ve found them to be easy to manage, need very little inputs, they don’t get stressed, and lamb exceptionally well when brought into the shed, but it may just be the Blackies are still adjusting to the estate. Another option is the Dalesbred, which is a very local breed, already works well around here and we’ve a couple of breeders close by. They could be the answer if this doesn’t work.

“I do think that Mules, that carry on growing when Swaledales don’t, could be turn the sheep around in terms of numbers of lambs produced and having fewer sheep on the moors which would probably suit the shoot side of the estate.

“One thing about being here, I’m never bored and it is beautiful.”