A history of Albion Farm - Delph

Farming - The Hirst Family

Welsh Black Cows Polaroid The Hirst family have been farming in Saddleworth for many generations. In 1970 Sidney and David began the herd of Welsh Black cattle which is now one of the largest herds of naturally polled welsh blacks in the country. Originally a breed with horns and one of the oldest native breeds in Britain, Welsh Blacks are very hardy cattle which produce a calf with good confirmation and plenty of milk to ensure that the calf grows well.

Cattle

Welsh Black Cows 2 A naturally polled or hornless strain of the breed was encouraged to develop by selective breeding and is now preferred by many breeders. No horns means safer handling for the farmer and also less injuries to the cattle themselves by accident or by bullying.

All the female cattle have been bred from generations of the original cattle and only replacement bulls are bought in when new bloodlines are needed. At present there are three bulls used on the herd, Idloes Viscount, Cathedine Domino and a son of Idloes Viscount, Albion Karel.

All of the femal calves are registered at birth and all have to be named, which can be a problem to think of each year. Annette decided to find a solution to this many years ago by taking the year letter of registration which is dictated by the breed society, and combining this with an encyclopedia of flower and plant names. Thus we start the year with a botanical list and the prettiest names get used first.

Sheep

Sheep and Hens We also have a large number of sheep on the farm. There are Lonk and Gritstone ewes which are the hill sheep native to this part of the Pennines. In 1985 Annette and David began a flock of Dorset Horn and Polled Dorset sheep as they wanted to have a source of top class rams to cross with the hill sheep to produce a better lamb for the butcher.

The lambs produced by this cross are excellent but as an added bonus it was found that the female lambs from the cross are hardy enough for the Saddleworth conditions and are also a superb breeding ewe with lots of milk and are extremely good mothers. The pedigree Dorset flock was expanded and is an important part of the stock on the farm. Again all the females are descended from the original foundation ewes and only rams are purchased when new bloodlines are needed.

Hens

The free range hens all live at Albion Farm and can usually be seen easily by visitors to the shop. They are usually contained in their own separate areas although we sometimes have hens which are "characters" and acquire the knack of finding a chink in the fence.

They usually go in and out as the mood takes them and sometimes become a bit cheeky, as can be seen from the photo, pecking at the shop door was a bit much.

Conservation

At Wood Farm, David, Annette and Aaron are working with United Utilities in a major conservation project in which a plan for the whole of the large hill farm, with six resevoirs within it's boundaries, has been drawn up with the help of experts from the R.S.P.B.

The aim is to reduce damage to the peat moorlands by re-generating heather. The livestock will be fenced out of certain areas in order for this to take place.

Also in the region of 40,000 native trees will be planted in the gullies and ravines, again to help prevent the water washing the peat and soil down into the resevoirs.