Hull House Texels The Mellin Family Duncan, Linda, John & Tim Mellin
Hull House Texels he Hull House Texel flock of John and Linda Mellin enjoyed its best year ever in 2011 with tremendous success in both the show and sale rings and the couple are optimistic not only for the future of their own business, but the Texel breed and the whole of the sheep industry.
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www.texel.co.uk
“Producers have had 15 years in the doldrums, but things are changing. Sheep numbers are down across the whole world, but the demand for British lamb is growing. I think the future is bright for both pedigree and commercial breeders and its good news particularly for the younger generation.” John is the third generation of his family to farm at Hellifield, Skipton, North Yorkshire and has recently been joined in the business by his son, Duncan. His other son, Tim, is studying photography at Leeds University. The farm is 1,400 acres - 500 acres of grass and 900 acres of hill and moorland which
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rises to 1,200 feet above sea level. The main business is the 400 head flock of pedigree Texels, but there are also 800 Hill Cheviot ewes, 400 of which are kept pure and 400 put to the Texel, 150 Dorset ewes whose progeny are mainly used for embryo work, with the males vasectomised and sold or kept as teasers. There is also a small pedigree herd of Longhorn cattle. The farm had always run Mules, Dalesbred and Swaledale ewes, but after a visit to the Royal Highland Show in 1979 where John saw Texels, which were being shown in the UK for the first time, he went to the Lanark sale and bought a gimmer lamb. “I would have liked to have bought more, but they were too expensive, but we then bought a few Dutch imports from Peter Dixon-Smith and stock from the Boghouse and Annan flocks.” Since then the focus has been on improving the flock year on year and new genetics are frequently introduced with this aim. The majority of breeding stock is sold at the national and club sales and the remainder to commercial breeders,