Zwartbles: The farming couple who introduced unusual sheep to Barrowby Show

“I approached Borrowby Show and said if you can get a class together for Zwartbles I’d come, and I would help get the word out about it so that it was well supported,” says Eleanor, who started her successful Coquet Nook flock almost a decade ago.

“Borrowby takes place in two weeks’ time (July 27). It’s our local show and at the time I approached they’d just moved it to Saturday from a weekday. We’ve now had classes at the show for the past two years and it has gone really well.

"We had eleven exhibitors the first year, in 2022, with 52 entries and filled half the sheep pens. I think some found it strange seeing all these black sheep.

“We did well again last year too. I do the best I can to promote the show on the breed’s site and social media and Borrowby is a really good little show, with great access and of the shows we go to, there’s now only Aldborough & Boroughbridge Show that will get more Zwartbles entries.”

Eleanor comes from Coquet Nook Farm in Ugthorpe near Whitby, hence the name of her flock, which she started while still at her parents’ home farm, part of the Mulgrave Estate, where her brother farms today.

“The farm has around 1000 breeding ewes of Mules and Suffolk-crosses. He’s still doing that now on 330 acres. I bought three shearlings to establish my flock from the Zwartbles premier sale at Carlisle in August 2015 and my flock currently runs to 23 breeding ewes.

“I wanted a pedigree breed and was drawn to them because of their striking appearance with their big bold white blaze. They’re a very striking big sheep to look at and they are exceptional mothers, they’ve got fantastic milk quality and their temperament makes them very easy to manage.

“I like having a pedigree breed because you can get stuck into so much more on the genetics side and I pride myself on trying to breed the best sheep I can. It’s no good standing still.

"I always want to try and improve, to get better every year, breeding my own replacements and maintaining a very high health, biosecure status with everything MV accredited. The health of the sheep is my top priority.

“The only stock I buy in is the occasional stock tup and I started by using AI rather than tups as my sheep were at my parents’ farm and there would have been a concern that if it got out it may have tupped the Mules.

"AI in sheep is not as much used as it is in cattle but I used it for three years and got some of the best genetics of the breed into the flock straight away, which was a real big boost. I don’t use AI so much now, although I have got some semen in storage.”

Eleanor says she has always gone for breeding from the best.

“The first tup I bought was Barmurrie Eros who was breed champion at the Great Yorkshire Show in 2018. I got it off the Barmurrie flock in Castle Douglas the month later. I purchased another tup from Faye Wilkie of Aberdeen. It was top price at the Carlisle premier sale in 2021.

"I always believe that if you’re going to do something you have to do it properly. My most recent tup came from the Hope View flock near Newark last year. He was top price at the Worcester sale. Once I see something I like I get it bought, and I always have great support from my dad, Alan Foster.”

Eleanor and Nick will be at Borrowby with their 18-month old daughter Pearl and their show team is supplemented by his sister Lucy and her husband Chris.

“I love showing. We had reserve champion at Malton with a shearling tup at the end of June and we usually do Malton, Aldborough & Boroughbridge, Ripley, Ryedale, North Yorkshire County and the breed show at Carlisle.

“We have won the JG Wilkin Trophy at Borrowby for the last two years, for the local exhibitor gaining most points in the sheep section.

“What I really enjoy is meeting new people and having a laugh but you need to be making good money for your stock because I am paying good money. I had a tup Coquet Nook Golden Balls that sold in Carlisle in 2021 for good money and he sired the overall champion at the premier sale last year.”

The couple are both from farms but their incomes come from elsewhere in agriculture.

“Nick and I enjoy farming and we are passionate about it. We also appreciate it is nice to have a good income from another source. We will always want to have our own stock and we also fatten around 700 lambs over winter, buying mainly Suffolk-crossed in privately from Scotland.

“But our main incomes are from other areas. I’m an agricultural account manager and livestock buyer for Dunbia (UK) who I’ve worked with for over ten years having joined their graduate scheme; Nick runs his own business Thornton Fabrications, now in its fifth year.”

“I do a lot of making of new gates and doors. I’ve just started making a few electric gates,” says Nick.

“I also handle a lot of repair work. I won’t turn down anything. There are grants currently available for cattle handling equipment like races which is helping. My dad Brian helps a lot, as well as running the family farm where he has cattle. We do on-site welding too, as we have a towable generator. We’ve just put up a new workshop.”

Nick worked for Peacock’s contractors of Thirsk, where the couple have their overwintered sheep; and another fabricator before going on his own. He studied agricultural engineering at Askham Bryan College. Eleanor received a First Class with Honours degree in animal science at Bishop Burton College.

Eleanor, like many breeders that show stock, lambs her flock in January.

“I synchronise lambing so it happens when I’m not at work, in a nice tight bunch, and any not destined for the pedigree world go straight off their mothers. Prices have been really good, which is also a help.”

Borrowby Show takes place on Saturday 27 July at Hillside Rural Activities Park and also includes the Yorkshire Pudding Throwing Championship.