Swaledale sheep: Rakefoot relies on commercial attributes

The Cockbain family – brothers Will and Mark together with Will’s sons, John and James – have farmed Rakefoot Farm since 1937 but the fells are steeped in family history as there have been Cockbains in the area for more than 300 years. The vast majority of the 2800 acres farmed is fell land, but includes the 250 acres owned at Rakefoot as well as some additional inbye rented land.

The Berrichon is an ideal cross for the Swaledale ewe, producing vigorous, easy lambing offspring that can be finished off grass

The hefted flocks of Swaledale ewes provide the mainstay of the farm business and have been farmed at Rakefoot since the 1920s, and run alongside a small flock of pedigree Berrichons, a herd of commercial suckler cattle, and small numbers of Dales and Fell ponies.

“I was born and brought up with Swales which have had a big impact on the business, they’re a very attractive sheep and have been the most commercially viable of all the hill breeds for a long time now,” commented Will, who is a past National Farmers Union Uplands spokesman and is a former chairman of the Swaledale Sheep Breeders Association.

Once upon a time nearly all the Swaledale ewes at Rakefoot were bred pure with draft ewes and surplus ewe lambs sold at auction. In 1991 Will saw Berrichon sheep on display at the Royal Highland Show and thought they were a no brainer so bought two tups and put them to work.

“It was just common sense to me as they are big, strong sheep and very easily fleshed – a real no nonsense breed,” pointed out Will.

“The Berrichon cross Swale is exceptionally easy to manage. There’s no glory in it for us as we’re not pursuing the breeding market as yet but they’re very workmanlike and easily managed being quick to get up and suckle at lambing and they thrive on grass.”

“With the cut to the Basic Payment Scheme we’ve become very business focussed and so now we cross quite a few more to the Berrichon."

He added: “Bar the top two ewe packets which we make sure are bred pure, the Swaledale rams get slightly more than a cycle in with the ewes before the Berrichon ram goes in. This is because we want the retained females to be from the earlier lambing ewes in order to keep the earlier lambing genetics – it’s amazing what a difference four or five weeks makes to lambs when it comes to selling.”

The resulting Berrichon cross lambs are finished off grass alone and they produce uniform packets which follows through to the kill sheet when sold. There is an added bonus of not chasing a certain breeding sale date for the Rakefoot team and shows the versatility of the Swaledale as a commercial ewe.

For the Cockbains, it's all about making sure what they've got is breeding to the best of its ability and pays its way. It’s for this reason that any sheep which have been yeld more than once for any reason are culled and any persistent offenders with bad feet are culled – particularly when the flock has been vaccinated for footrot for the last 10-12 years.

While the Berrichon crosses pay their way on a commercial front, the pure Swaledales more than pull their weight and as well as plenty of top tickets in the show ring. Sale highlights include the £40,000 Rakefoot Major Tom sold at Kirkby Stephen in 2016. The family aim to sell eight to 10 shearlings each year, mostly through Kirkby Stephen.

“We’re fairly purist and like a bit of type to our Swales and we follow certain bloodlines. When buying we’re always looking for something correct, that’s where our emphasis is, but they must also have a very good mouth, shoulder and loin. We also like them to be well fleshed at the tail head as that easy fleshing ability is what will carry them through tough winters and springs,” added Will.

Rams which have made the biggest impact on the Rakefoot flock are Aygill Emperor and Bull and Cave Colonel which were bought in 2011 and 2012, respectively, as well as a Porters of Low Oxnop tup that was 10-shear when he died.

Swaledale rams from Rakefoot are sold at Kirkby Stephen

“We didn’t have the Bull and Cave tup for as long as we’d have liked but his stock particularly clicked when they came together with the Aygill line. He really delivered tups for us and you could tell if his tup hoggs looked well at clipping they always made it to sale, while the Aygill ram left lots of bone and colour combined with tremendous back breeding,” said Will.

“The Low Oxnop tup was a cracker too and his females were always so milky with lovely udders. They kept themselves together too and were well fleshed – combining the strong commercial traits we like.”

That being said, the Berrichon team did set a previous ram lamb record when Rakefoot Million Dollar Man sold to the Grahams flock at Strathallan, and have produced females to 1400gns. They never have more than 10 ewes in the flock and genetics have been exported to Austria, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man.

For the Cockbains it’s all about producing the best stock they can from the grass they have available and so they have invested in soil samples and liming over the years to improve their grazing quality while also significantly reducing fertiliser costs.

This combined with breeding pure-bred Swaledales to suit the fell that go on to produce cracking Berrichon-sired lambs that fit the desired market specification stands the Cockbains in good stead to face the challenges head.