Farm of the Week: Sheepdogs show returns as dairying turns sour

In March 2009, Carol Mellin's husband died, aged 71, a few weeks after leaving the farm for the last time. Albert Mellin was her second husband, and 20 years older than her, but a big strong man and a big character – "etched in farming folklore", according to the funeral eulogy delivered by Jeremy Eaton from Craven Cattle Marts.

He seemed invincible until he was diagnosed with cancer and refused all treatment. Carol and their son, Philip, 14 at the time, were left with a tenancy on the Walshaw Moor Estate, in a craggy corner of the Worth Valley, above Airedale, where Keighley feels like a distant metropolis and a local hill is said to be the original Wuthering Heights..

Much of the land is fit only for sheep – currently about 500 of them, made up of Swaledale ewes and tups on the high ground and a ewe mix of Lonks, Gritstones, Mules and Texels in the valley, being put to Suffolk, Beltex and Texel tups, thanks to experimentation added to history.

Albert used to sell the wethers as stores but with prices so good over the past year, Carol and Philip have been putting in the extra time to produce 50 per cent as fat lambs.

It is a long while since lambs made such profits, however, and the living had become heavily dependent on a contract with Dairy Farmers of Britain for the milk from about 40 old-fashioned Friesians, fed on grass and silage from pastures close to the farmhouse .

In June 2009, DFB went under and the milk was worth less than it cost to produce for two months. Eventually, the Mellins and seven neighbours – now down to six – pooled their resources to pay for a tanker to come their way and deliver to Stephen Buckley's independent dairy on the Denby Dale edge of Huddersfield.

"After delivery costs, we get 23p a litre," says Carol, "which we have been grateful for. There are worse prices around. But with a small herd, it does not mean a lot of return for the work.

"Half of the past year, Philip has been milking before and after school and one of us has been on the road four times a day, herding the cows to and from the further pastures.

"Friends have been very supportive but at the end of the day it is just the two of us and we have decided there has to be more to life than you get out of dairying."

On January 14 this year, Carol talked to a neighbour about a new-born calf ignored by its mother and offered to go into a pen to try to help the calf get under the Saler cow.

The situation turned suddenly and she was confronted with three-quarters of a ton of snorting muscle with eyes "black as coal" with rage. After being butted once, Carol "somehow flew" up the barrier – but her lower leg was rammed hard as she went and developed a huge clot-filled bruise called a haematoma. Five weeks later, she is still laid up, in between visits to hospital, and it is a touch and go if she will be back in action in time for lambing.

"But I'm very lucky to be here," she sums up.

Meanwhile, some things have gone right.

While the dairy herd is running down, they are still selling a few calves, for bringing on as beef and sucklers, from a Simmental bull on the Friesians.

Albert was a Simmental fan and built a reputation for his crosses at Skipton Mart. He used to sell them at two weeks old but Philip and Carol have been taking them to five and getting the investment back.

If not for the leg, Carol would have been at the working dogs sale at Skipton on January 15. She helped to talk Craven Cattle Marts into the working dogs business and has taken pride in the success of the venture.

She has also been able to show off her seven-year-old bitch, Maisie, marshalling the sheep after each demonstration and bringing them back for the next one, with Philip's help.

Philip went along to the January sale anyway, with three of Maisie's pups from a mating with Jimmy Richardson's Staff, from Rochdale way – a match made by Carol with the promise of a pup as dowry. That left six pups and on the strength of Maisie's reputation, one of the three taken to auction sold for 600 guineas and the three together made 1,500, at 10 weeks old.

Maisie herself cost 1,000 at 10 months old, from Bill Skidmore of Wolsingham, Co Durham. She turned into "a great moor dog", who could catch a lamb on her own, flip it over and hold it down with a paw until a human caught up. She has qualified Carol for the English national trials four times.

The value of a dog comes from parentage plus ownership. A good trainer can buy young talent cheap and double its value fairly easily and make the occasional lucky strike.

A way with dogs is part of Albert Mellin's inheritance. He and his brothers and pals used to go rabbiting and mole-catching for entertainment when they were growing up and he later made some legendary sheep dogs. His widow and his son learned from him and then learned some more themselves.

They do a popular turn around the agricultural shows, herding ducks and geese.

Philip's own number one dog is Bracken, an 11-year-old red-and-white with some of the farm's ancestry in her. Some dog people regard that colouring as a disadvantage because it reminds the sheep of fox. But Philip and Bracken have trialled at top level.

"She had a litter three years ago and I sold one and gave one to a chap who comes to help us and mum had one and I kept one and trained it on," he says. "But I didn't gel with it – it was a bit soft for these sheep on this farm. I turned down 1,250 at auction and got 1,450 after the sale closed."

The fees from a dozen agricultural shows a year are a not insignificant addition to the returns from the dogs, says Carol. They have nine young dogs and pups in training and when they don't have the dairy cows they will have time to take on more.

In May, Philip will be 16 and eligible for a tractor licence. In June, he will leave school. There is no question about it in his mind. And one day, no doubt, he will be a part of local folklore too.

Call the Mellins on 01535 643556.