Midland Longhorn Breeders' Club summer visit - report

30 June 2019 The Homestead, Kislingbury, Northamptonshire

The Midland Longhorn Breeders' Club arranged a summer visit which took place on Sunday June 30th in Northamptonshire.

Roger and Tom Elliott, were the Club's herd competition judges last year and kindly invited the Club to visit their farming enterprise. The enterprise is spread over three main sites based around The Homestead all of which we are hoping to get round.

Roger and Tom farm 1500 acres, 350 owned and 1150 rented. They run approximately 800 head of cattle, made up of 300 cows/heifers to calve this year and another 80 heifers going to the bull.  Breeding-wise they have 60 pedigree South Devons (est 1988), 70 pedigree Shorthorns (est 2009), the rest of the herd is nearly all homebred with a mix of mainly Shorthorn, South Devon, Salers and Angus cows.

All heifers calve at two years old to the Salers, 2nd calvers to the Angus, and after that Angus, Shorthorn, Limousin and British Blue are used.  All cattle are taken through to fat, usually killed between 14 & 20 months, with stores also purchased to finish.
Roger and Tom run 50 poll Dorsets lambing Sept/Oct, 800 NZ Romney/Lleyn ewes lambing outside in April. Also 150 Suffolk, Charolais, Texel and Beltex to produce shearling rams to sell.  The also have a few pedigree Welsh pigs. 

There is also a butchers shop run alongside the farming enterprises, which has been in the family for 120 years!!

Click here for some photos on Flickr.
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