Yorkshire rare breed sheep farmer back on the show circuit after cancer and major surgery

After such a huge amount of surgery fortunately Peter received the all-clear and was able to carry on with the pedigree native rare breed sheep he and wife Mandy and daughter Emma have grown both at home on their eight acres and at Drax Power Station’s 45 acres, where he worked for over 35 years.

Next weekend the family, including grandsons Samuel and Benjamin, will be out in force at Howden Show (Sunday 2 July) and they are also all set for what is their annual pilgrimage to the Great Yorkshire Show to take another tilt at winning in the Lincoln Longwool classes later in the month.

“Our first show was at Howden about nine years ago,” says Peter. “We took a little Greyfaced Dartmoor and I beat some commercial sheep with him.

“Howden doesn’t have any sheep classes now, but we still go so that there are sheep at the show and we take as many animals as we can.

“We’ve just over 30 ewes, made up of 19 Lincoln Longwools; 5 Greyfaced Dartmoors; 6 Herdwicks; and one each of Wensleydale, North Ronaldsay and Portland. We have around 40 lambs this year too.

“We take all the breeds to Howden Show and talk to everybody about them. People can have photos with them, we run some quizzes for the children and we have a young handlers competition for them. It’s all about educating people about breeds and in our case rare breeds and about how low they’ve got in numbers.

“Howden Show and Sykehouse Show are our local shows. Before Howden Show day we go through on the Saturday and tell those who are putting up the pens what we need. We’ll be there 8 o’clock Sunday morning setting up, getting up at around 4.30-5am. We take everything in just one trailer that has two decks. That’s about 40 sheep in all.

Peter and Mandy started with four Golden Guernsey goats, then took on two old Lincoln Longwools and four Herdwicks, but Peter says that it is the Lincolns that he’s always had in his heart since they had those first two, and that farming has always been something he’d wanted to be involved with since a boy.

“When I left school I went straight on to a farm looking after the beef cattle and doing arable work at Carlton. I worked for Tommy Leek who had three farms in village and I was there five years. I left when they cut back on manual work and didn’t need as many staff. I never got back into farming until we started with the sheep.

“Mandy and I have been at Skylark for 14 years. Where I had worked at Drax Power Station they wanted rare breed sheep on their land because of how they look and because of the nutrients the sheep provide to the soil.

“We found it hard to lamb at Drax because there were no facilities for us and we just had to sit in the car, so we decided we needed an easier system. We then bought 8 acres here at Skylark so that all the lambing could be done at home.

“We’ve still got sheep at Drax and when we’re showing and not at home all the animals are on Drax because we know they are safe. They have good security there.

Peter’s beaming smile is not now seen in the sheep rings at shows very often but by the side of the ring, because of eight-year old grandson Samuel who now takes centre stage in the Lincoln Longwool classes.

“I tend to stand to one side now and let Samuel take them in. There is the odd time I may have to take one in if something is too feisty for him. Everyone likes to see a young one competing amongst the adults and Samuel is very competitive.

“Last year was our best ever Great Yorkshire Show. Samuel got a second with his ewe and won the pairs. We had a number of Lincoln Longwool breeders over from America and they all went mad when they saw Samuel and Benjamin in their flat caps and waistcoats.

“Benjamin, who is just five years old, got a first place at Masham Sheep Fair and was champion young handler at Wragby Show last year.

“We decided two years ago that we were going to go for it with the Lincoln Longwools, to put everything into them and try to beat the best, which at the Great Yorkshire is Louise and Ian Fairburn. Samuel really loves his showing and his whole aim is to beat Ian.

“We also go to the Lincolnshire Show, Sykehouse, Ettington, Ripley and Masham Sheep Fair every year. This year we’ve entered some that are in the school holidays like Ryedale and Thornton le Dale. They don’t have Lincoln Longwool classes. We will be either in rare breed or any other native breed classes, but the boys get to show even more and we get the sheep where others may not have seen them.

Peter and Mandy intend growing their numbers further and adding breeds, partly influenced by their two grandsons.

“We are waiting for planning permission on new sheds. If we get it we can expand, maybe buy more land and get more animals. Lincoln Longwools are greedy and you need a lot of grass for them.

“Mandy says she would like some primitives. Maybe we will get some Hebrideans and also take on more Greyfaced Dartmoors.

“I’m looking at possibly getting a new Lincoln Longwool tup and have one in mind. We have six of our own tups. I bought a tup lamb two years ago from North Sea Camp open prison farm that we are now seeing its first crop of lambs that are looking good.

“I’m also cutting out some of the older ewes and sold eight recently at Skipton mart, and I’m fetching in more younger stock. It’s all about looking and being selective about breeding and bloodlines. Those that we sell normally end up with other breeders. We have regular customers who buy our stock whenever we sell, which is good. It shows we’re getting our name recognised.