The Farmers Mart Aug-Sep 2018 - Issue 58 | Page 37

HIGH MOOR FARM 37
• AUG/SEP 2018
1907 the year after the society was
formed wouldn’t be good enough
today. The Grits are now a great
shape and their black and white
markings are much more distinct
and cleaner looking than the
mottled faces of years gone by.
They are attractive sheep as well
as being commercially proven.’
‘It’s my dad David and his broth-
er Steve who are the farmers, not
me. Farming is a hard way to make
a living especially on a hill farm
and I try to help out as much as
possible. I take a week off at lamb-
ing time and again for the Great
Yorkshire Show. My dad and my
uncle Steve came here in 1975/76.
They were in the building trade
and were farming in their spare
time at Holmbridge when they got
the chance of this place. They’ve
both now retired from the building
trade.’
David and Steve farm in part-
nership at High Moor where
they have sheep across around
2,000 acres of mostly moorland.
They own a small moors acreage
bought recently and with another
earlier acquisition their owned
acreage now stretches to nearly
100 acres.
‘We started with Dalesbred then
Cheviots and others,’ says David.
‘When we came here this farm al-
ready had Gritstones on Meltham
Moor that Edward Earnshaw had
before us. He did all right with
them and we took on from him.’
‘The Grits are decent tidy
commercial sheep that do well
on higher ground like ours that
runs from 1,000-1,600ft. They’re
not heavy yielders as they
might only get up to
averaging one and a
quarter lambs, but
they cross well and
plenty of folk use
them to improve
their breeds. They
are fairly quiet,
steady going and
also offer a man-
ageability benefit in
having no horns. This
makes them easier to look
after than Lonks or Whitefaced
Woodlands. They are a good
polling sheep and have been used
to poll the likes of the Scottish
Blackface and Beulah.’
‘Our flock lambs from halfway
through April until towards the
end of May and it’s all outside
lambing but the Grits are great
mothers. Our tups and females
make decent prices at Clitheroe.
The main Grits breeders are now
more in Lancashire and Yorkshire
than Derbyshire but there are
still good
breeders
in the breed’s
home county and
the breed sale at Bakewell is also
well supported. The Society’s
official breed show is held each
August Bank Holiday at Hope
Show in the Peak District.’
Grit fleeces are in demand from
spinners and the Eggletons’ wool
goes into the manufacture of wool
tights. Producing great tups for the
society sales and great lambs as
stores and fat lambs isn’t enough
to ensure the farm’s viability by a
long chalk as David points out.
‘Farm subsidies whether
through environmental steward-
ship schemes, single farm pay-
ments or severely disadvantaged
land payments is our best pay and
without it we would be strug-
gling.’
But David also scratches his
head over some of the decisions
being made on the moors.
‘We’re now planting sphag-
num moss as the government is
now wanting the moors to hold
water. They now reckon that’s the
answer to flooding, but do they
want us to live in a swamp? When
you fill a bucket and then try to
put another bucketload in it does
have a tendency to run off. I think
we may be digging ditches and
trying to get water off the moor at
some stage, especially given the
summer we’ve had. They’ve gone
this way after having had us run
water do wn to water courses, but
they now reckon that causes ero-
sion and takes peat into them. So
we’re now being asked to block
all ditches and hold on to water
more up in the hills. Ah well, at
least we are doing well for wading
birds.’
www.highmoorgritstones.com