A hardy breed of farmer gets set for show where Swaledales rule

Young sheep farmer Ben Hall would only have one specialist subject if he were to appear on TV’s Mastermind. He lives and breathes Swaledale sheep and this weekend begins a crunch time for him at Bridge End, Keld, just a handful of miles from Yorkshire’s northernmost border as he selects his show team.

Muker Show takes place on Wednesday and it is the biggest date in the 20- year-old’s calendar. He has attended it since being knee-high to a Swaledale tup. What’s more he has already carried off trophies in the sheep classes at the show itself, where the competition is hot and he’s up against the cream of the breed and blokes who have been around three times as long as he.

But Ben is far from wet behind the ears when it comes to the breed. At just 11 years of age he bought his own flock.

He already has fell land bequeathed from his late grandfather and he has no wish to travel much further than the three miles to Muker Show or the one and a half miles north to Tan Hill when their sheep show takes place.

He has already sold a five- month-old lamb for a record market price of £5,500 and is clearly dead set on carrying on farming up in this remote part of North Yorkshire where the winters are harsh and the company sparse. Nothing fazes him about that and he’s had enough of the education system, preferring the university of life.

“I went to primary school in Gunnerside and secondary school in Richmond but I just wanted to leave school as quickly as I could. I never had any thought of going to college and farming is what I have always wanted to do.

“We are a tenanted farm that is nearly all fell land and runs to around 1,200 acres. We have 800 ewes and keep around 250 hoggs. We cross some of the flock so it’s not all pure. About 200 are crossed with a Blue Faced Leicester tup and we sell Mule gimmers from these.

“When my granddad died he left me a bit of land and I purchased a Swaledale flock with the name Crook Seal. It took me five years to pay my dad back what I borrowed from him but my flock of 100 sheep is now wholly owned by me. I cross about 50 of the Swaledales so that the crossbred lambs produce a better return at market.

“The winters have been really bad for the past four years and we couldn’t get to some of our sheep in the snow drifts earlier this year, but we only lost three.”

Ben’s father, John, is from Cumbria. He farmed near Shap and had Mule sheep before marrying Rachel and moving to God’s Own Country.

“Dad took over running the farm about 10 years ago. My grandma still lives here at Hope House. I have two brothers and a sister. My sister lives in Lancashire and my eldest brother works for a company in Penrith. My other brother finished at university a year ago and has been clipping sheep in New Zealand. He likes farming but doesn’t want to do it all the time.”

That leaves the way forward perfectly clear for Ben. He has no girlfriend, doesn’t get out much (apart from the show) and only occasionally indulges himself with a kickabout in Gunnerside. He’s totally focussed on farming.

“Muker has always been my favourite show. It’s local, just three miles away, and it is always very competitive. Everyone around here who has Swaledales (or Swardles as they are known in many parts) competes, so the judges are always people from further away without family connections.”

The main prizes have regularly gone to flocks further afield than the seven miles from Tan Hill, which was once the key to whether you were an official Swaledale Sheep Breed Association member.

“We’ve had winners from Cumbria and Derbyshire in recent years, but then Alan Coates just the next farm along from us took one of 
the main titles last year.

“We have farmers such as as David Hanson from Fylingdales in the North York Moors who comes over to take part.”

It takes an immense amount of meticulous care in preparing a Swaledale ewe or ram.

“I will be taking four or five to the show. I’ll wash them all over their heads and legs, get their feet and wool looking right and tweezer out anything that isn’t just right. If you don’t you’ve no chance and might as well stay at home.

“Then I will be constantly looking at them from then until Tuesday night, but there won’t be any change of mind as to which ones I will be taking as it would be too late to prepare any others.”

He picked up a couple of trophies in both 2009 and 2011, so how does he rate his chances this time?

“I’d say the gimmer lamb I’m taking is the best I’ve ever had but whether that will be good enough on Wednesday is down to how it compares to the others that are there and the judge of course.”

One thing is for certain and that is that no other breed will win an overall show championship at Muker, where Swaledales rule the world.

Ben does leave his beloved Swaledale occasionally. He went to Bilsdale Show in the North York Moors last year – as a Swaledale sheep section judge!