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25

Dec 2020

Last Updated: 27/12/2020
Columns
Columns

My Year: 'The animals come first, even on Christmas Day' says Ripon farming sisters

by admin

| 25 Dec, 2020
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In November, sisters Fran Robinson and Hannah Blakey, who farm near Ripon, helped to save a young bull and herd of cows from drowning in the River Ure. It has been a difficult 2020 for the rural economy, as Fran reflects on the farming year.

my-year-hannah-and-fran
Farming sisters Hannah Blakey and Fran Robinson

In November, sisters Fran Robinson and Hannah Blakey, who farm near Ripon, helped to save a young bull and herd of cows from drowning in the River Ure. It has been a difficult 2020 for the rural economy, as Fran reflects on the farming year.

Being born into a farming family with livestock to look after, the animals have always come first.

From being toddlers, Hannah and I have happy memories of cold Christmas Day mornings, watching the cattle and sheep being fed and bedded.

Today, as has been the case for the three years since we started running our own farm, it will be us doing the feeding, mucking out and providing fresh bedding.

Our Texel Mule sheep and lambs, Limousin, Simmental and Belted Galloway cattle and Quincy the bull, will be checked and fed before we open our presents.

A lovely addition for us this year has been five Valais Blacknose lambs – a rare breed that we look forward to showing next summer, if covid restrictions allow. They came from Switzerland and are called Hettie, Hannah, Hyacinth, Honor and Hollie.

There’s no question that this has been a difficult and unpredictable year for farmers across the Harrogate district, with extremes of weather, covid-19 and uncertainty over Brexit.


For us, Brexit could have an effect on exporting lambs and the price of them. It could mean tariffs, which would reduce what we get. However, we remain hopeful.



In the wider farming community across the Harrogate district, arable farmers producing vegetables had a very wet start to the year and flooded fields reduced yields and made life difficult, even before the coronavirus crisis caused additional problems.

Fortunately, Hannah and I were able to keep our animals safe and fed away from the sodden ground and they have thrived

We had a good lambing time from April to May and it was all systems go with Hannah clipping her first 300 sheep.

The very hot weather in spring and summer meant we had to ensure that our sheep were as fly-free as possible and treated accordingly.



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Perhaps one positive thing that has emerged from the coronavirus crisis has been the need for communities to pull together and look after each other.

As farmers, we are part of the community, and the message that people should support local producers has never been more important.


It’s not only good for the local economy, but reduced road and air miles are good for the environment – something Hannah and I feel strongly about as we play our part in being countryside custodians.