Farm of the Week: Times are changing in Swaledale for Muker Show chairman who has reduced his flock

But Ken isn’t farming in the same way he was years ago. He’s reduced his sheep flock, moved away from keeping his Swaledales as a pedigree breed that once saw him take male champion at Muker, and this year he’s been helping out a local builder.

“Premiums and subsidies aren’t as much as they used to be and they are probably going to get less, so you’ve got to really focus on every sheep producing as much as possible,” says Ken.

“If you have a Swaledale sheep that is not really good enough quality for further pure breeding a lot are thinking they’ve got to have a terminal tup onto it and try and get every penny they can. At the moment wool is worth nothing and every penny’s got to be made out of every sheep.

“Most people up here are in environmental schemes if they can be. We’re in a higher level stewardship scheme, but all of the schemes are transforming at the moment.

“I think most farms now have other incomes, either tourism or other sources with camping or tea shops, bunk barns. There’s even one called Swaledale Burrow which is basically a pod in the hillside.

Ken says his new life combining a bit of building work and having taken over Swaledale Woollens with his wife Gillian, farming more or less on a weekend, has been driven by the way in which farming has gone in Swaledale, but also partly because their two daughters haven’t gone into farming.

Ken’s attitude is one of getting on with life rather than being concerned over why things happen.

“Like anything in life things come up. My building work just came up and it gets me out doing other things which is good because before you can soon be old and retired and life has passed you by. If you want to do something you should just try and do it. I’m still working nearby. It’s just extra income that’s all.

Taking over from his father had always been on the cards, just not as early as it took place.

“I was born at Firs and lived on that first farm until I was 21. We moved to where we are now at Thwaite Farm in 1985. We’ve always been a hill sheep farm with cattle at both locations until recent times.

“Had it always been my plan, to take over from dad? Well, yes and no, because it probably was but dad dropped down dead when I was 19. So really my future was made for me then, which is what can happen.

“Looking back it was a big change, but there was no choice, you just had to get on with it. In those days none of my mates thought about going to college. I left school in 1980 and if you had a farm and an interest that’s what you did. Straight home and into work. It was always what I expected to do and have always enjoyed doing.

“Then my uncle Tom died. My dad and Tom died within 9 months of each other. We were on a rented farm off Lord Peel at top of the dale, but then came to the one my uncle had owned as he had no family.

“Mum and I farmed here at Thwaite from 1985-88. I got married in 1988, and myself and Gillian have been here ever since.

Ken’s farming enterprise has changed over the years.

“I had 350 pure Swaledale ewes and 20 beef cattle, Limousin-cross-British Blue sucklers and as such it was never that big a farm. It runs from around 1000ft and rises to 2000-2500ft on the fell.

“I’m 60 next year and I’ve been slowly cutting back on the flock and no longer keep my Swaledales pure.

“I now have just 100 Swaledales that I cross with the Texel tup, lambing in mid-April. I’ve only been going that way for the last four or five years, but it fits better for me as things are changing and I’m turning to other things. I now farm on evenings and weekends.

“They are now Swaledale-cross-Texels. What we are now breeding is a Texdale aimed straight at the fat lamb market which I sell at Hawes or Kirkby Stephen livestock markets. I quit with cattle about ten years or so ago.

“Nearly everybody up here now has Texel or Bluefaced Leicester tups as well as being still predominantly Swaledales.

Muker Show holds the distinction of being probably the most traditional, uncommercialised summer agricultural show in Yorkshire. It is something of which Ken, all in Muker and the surrounding countryside are justifiably fiercely proud with its Swaledale sheep, Muker Silver Band playing throughout the day, children’s races, the fell race and the handicrafts and produce tent and maybe a dozen little tradestands.

“I think it’s the scenery people come for, as well as it being a traditional show,” says Ken. It’s not just as commercialised as others.

“The nearest we ever got to winning the supreme championship was male champion once with a tup. That was more than 20 years since.

“It’s serious competition, not in money, but the prestige of winning and promoting your stock and going on to make better prices when you come to the annual sales.

“It might only be a little show, but if you win at Muker it’s a great accolade. It’s where the top breeders come to and show.

Ken won the junior fell race.

“My first memory of the show is running in the child’s races when I was 7 or 8. I won the junior fell race once when I was 15.

Ken has taken over as show chairman from another family relative Ernest Whitehead, who had been chairman for many years.

“Ernest is now looking after Doreen, his wife, who used to be on catering duty. It’s my first year, so it’s a bit of a learning curve but it’s the secretaries and volunteers that do the real work. I just try to keep things ticking over.

“We don’t have any main ring attraction because we don’t have a main ring as such and we wouldn’t want it anyway. It all gets under way when we congregate at The Farmers Arms at 10 o’clock, all the judges, stewards, president, chairman, vice chairman and we walk with the band up into Muker. It’s quite a spectacle and if the weather’s right there’s always a lot of people watching.

“The finish of the show is unique too when Muker Silver Band plays outside The Farmers Arms. If it’s a fine evening there’s a massive crowd.