Young farmer makes her mark with North of England Mules

Born and bred on an upland sheep and dairy farm in Cumbria, farming was not always the plan for 20-year-old Chloe James, from Roadhead, Carlisle, who originally had her sights set on a career in medicine. 

But it was while completing her A-levels that the Covid-19 pandemic struck, prompting Ms James to spend a lot more time at home and realise that her future was, in fact, on the farm.

She says: "I have always helped on the farm since I could walk, but it was not until the pandemic when I was actually working on the farm, that I thought maybe I do want to do this."  

Read also: Share farming opportunity provides first step on the ladder for new entrant

Since finishing college in 2022, Ms James has been working full-time on the family farm, alongside her father Ken and grandparents, Johnnie and Jean. The family runs a 70-head pedigree Ayrshire and Dairy Shorthorn milking herd, alongside a flock of almost 600 sheep.  

As the fourth generation of the James family to farm at Midtodhills Farm, Ms James explains her family have been there since her great grandfather, Bob, took on the farm tenancy in 1952. Her grandfather then bought the farm some years later. 

Running 130 hectares (320 acres) of grassland, alongside a further 20ha (50 acres) of rented grassland, Midtodhills Farm is home to the Todhills Dairy Shorthorn and Midtodhills Ayrshire herds.

Ms James says: "We have always milked cows here, but we are now one of only two dairy farms in the local area."  

The cows graze from May through to the beginning of October, with concentrates fed in the parlour and a silage ration fed in winter. The cows are milked twice a day through a 14-unit herringbone parlour, with the herd currently averaging around 25 litres per cow, at 4.3 per cent butterfat and a protein average of 3.36 per cent.  

All of the herd's milk goes to Yew Tree Dairy, with the herd calving all year round to a British Blue or Dairy Shorthorn bull, with around 20 heifers retained annually for breeding.

"The Ayrshires and the Dairy Shorthorn breeds work a lot better up here and last a lot longer," says Ms James.

All dairy cross British Blue and dairy bull calves are sold through Harrison and Hetherington's Carlisle auction mart at two months old, with a handful of dairy cross heifers sold privately.  

Read also: Dream comes true as young farmer buys own dairy unit 

While the dairy enterprise is a key part of the farm business, Ms James says her passion lies with the sheep enterprise, particularly breeding North of England Mules.

The family run a flock of 550 Swaledale ewes, alongside 25 pedigree Bluefaced Leicester ewes and 15 North of England Mule ewes, which are kept for embryo work.  

Everything is bred to the Bluefaced Leicester tup, says Ms James, to produce North of England Mules and a selection of Bluefaced Leicester tup lambs and shearling tups, which they sell at the pedigree tup sales in Autumn.

"We flush two or three Bluefaced Leicester ewes each year to breed replacement females and the tups are either sold or kept for breeding,"  she says.

Read also: Dalesbreds still tick all the boxes for family business

One of the family's best prices to date for a Bluefaced Leicester tup was 16,000gns, which they sold at Carlisle in 2011. And while they tend to breed all of their own rams, Ms James says they will on occasion buy tups to introduce new bloodlines into the flock.

"At the moment we are using Gragareth P14, which we bought as a half share at Bentham in 2022 as a shearling tup." 

When breeding and buying Bluefaced Leicester tups, Ms James says she focuses on the skin and the body.

"You want a good long sheep, which is well boned, has good legs and a good mouth."

She says they currently have 15 Bluefaced Leicester tups on the farm, many of which are tup lambs that are tried naturally on the ewes initially, then lifted after 17 days, when the ewes are put to the older tups.   

Lambing starts in the middle of March with everything lambed inside, starting with 200 ewes which are artificially inseminated to keep a tight lambing period. Between 100 to 200 second and third crop Swaledale ewes are bought each year from Middleton, Kirkby Stephen, Lazonby and Penrith auction marts.

"We look for big, strong sheep to start with, before looking at any colour. We prefer the more traditionally marked Swaledales with good skins."  

Now in her second year working full-time on the farm, Ms James says breeding Mule gimmer lambs is a big passion of hers and an area of the farm which she is keen to drive forward.

"We have always bred Mules and dad began showing them in his 20s, so it is something I want to continue and keep improving."  

She adds: "There are so many things you have to get into one sheep to breed that perfect show lamb, from a bonny face to good skin, leg colour, strength and clean whites, it is quite a challenge. But that is what I like about the breed."  

With the help of her boyfriend Mark Walton, who farms a flock of 300 Swaledale and North of England Mule ewes at his family farm in Alston, Ms James has recently taken over the reins in the showring.

Last year was a particularly successful year, showing at Eastgate Sheep Show for the first time, where they took home the champion rosettes for the single Mule lamb, pairs and group of three classes.  

The single Mule champion at Eastgate then went on to win the championship at the Roman Wall Show, says Ms James, as well as placing fifth in its class at the Royal Highland Show, and first place Mule bred by a Swaledale.

"We have showed at Roman Wall nearly every year, but we cleaned up there last year for the very first time," she says.