SELBY LIVESTOCK AUCTION MART LTD
Thorntree Farm
SELBY LIVESTOCK AUCTION MART LTD
“ YORKSHIRE ’ S FRIENDLY LIVESTOCK MART ”
Weekly Sales of Fatstock - Wednesdays Pigs 9am - Sheep 9.45am - Cattle & Cows 10.30am Store Stock - Saturdays Pigs 9.15am - Sheep 9.45am - Cattle 10.45am On alternate Saturdays Fur , Feathers & Miscellaneous items at 9:30am Entries taken on the day and from 9am to 4pm on Friday prior to sale
Pleased to be associated with SJ Earnshaw
Tel : 01757 703347 Email : info @ selbymart . co . uk www . selbymart . co . uk Auctioneer Richard Haigh 0776 8594535 they can keep a watchful eye on the herd . One of their few occasions away from the farm they went to Scotland to buy their prized bull Luigi from the renowned Martin Irvin and you guessed it who was constantly on her phone watching over despite the fact that her parents were cow sitting !
Their first Bull , Romeo , was a Limousin and even he would push to get inside when it rained ! He was a quiet bull who produced good calves . The rest of the herd are also keen to come in if it rains .
Tanya loves to go “ cow shopping ” now ; however , when It was time for Romeo to go to market she was tearful and refused to sell him , so it took some gentle coaxing from Stuart before he was sold . Nowadays Tanya is much better and her viewpoint is that they have had the best life possible . They have now moved up a gear as Tanya has set up a Facebook page ( Thorntree Herd ) which not only shows her affection for the herd along with a lot of cute photos , it also showcases the best ones for sale which has proved successful . The poorer ones now go straight to market . At the market Tanya is already a well known character as she is the one farmer who can be seen feeding her animal ’ s bacon and sausage sandwiches !
Stuart has done a lot of work on the farm and in particular bringing their grassland up to scratch . It had been neglected by his grandparents and was fearfully low on selenium & magnesium and took some five years to bring back to a good quality . All the work has paid off as they are now self-sufficient in hay and silage and sell a lot of what they produce .
I asked them both about the biggest challenges they have faced . “ Starting with no money at all after Gran died was the biggest ” , Stuart admitted . Something they are immensely proud of is the fact that they have now built the Herd up to 56 without ever borrowing a penny . This has not been without hardship – many are the times when they have gone without essentials in order for the Herd to have the best . One of the hardest things to grasp was the more you put into feed the better the animals .
As for the future they are very clear that , thanks to the purchase of Luigi , they are now firmly on the path to develop a 300 strong pedigree Limousin Herd with both great Bulls and Heifers and to be in a position to sell good breeding Bulls as well as remaining debt-free .
Having witnessed this hard working , dedicated team I feel confident that Tanya , Stuart and “ the girls ” will achieve their goal and beyond .
64 Dec / Jan 2017 www . farmers-mart . co . uk