How a Breckland sheep farm is planning for succession

Two sisters who returned to the family sheep and beef farm with completely different approaches to work have successfully navigated a way to farm together.

Katie and Claire Evans both returned to Stonehouse Farm, in the heart of East Anglia’s Breckland area, in 2019.

Katie had graduated from Harper Adams University, while Claire had broadened her horizons working on farms in New Zealand.

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“Katie is all about attention to detail; Claire is the cowboy: she covers the ground and gets things done.

“She rattles Katie and me,” says their mum, Sue, adding that this is a good thing as “you can get paralysis through analysis”.

Farm Facts: Stonehouse Farm, West Harling, Norfolk

Katie Evans © MAG/Judith Tooth

• 101ha owned in two blocks plus at least 10 landlords
• 370 Lleyn ewes and 200 ewe lambs, producing breeding stock for sale
• 470 crossbred shedding ewes and 200 ewe lambs, producing finished lambs and some breeding stock
• 600 Hebridean ewes and 200 ewe lambs
• Lleyns and crossbreds maedi visna (MV) accredited; Hebrideans MV monitored
• 40 suckler cows – gradually replacing Stabiliser and Luing with Sussex
• Member of Performance Recorded Lleyn Breeders
• Part of Brecks Nature species recovery project

Working ways

With three sheep flocks to run (see “Stonehouse Farm’s flocks”), there is scope for each sister to play to her strengths.

Katie is now responsible for the Lleyn flock and Claire the crossbred shedders; they jointly look after the Hebridean flock, which needs minimal intervention.

“When we first got home, we were disagreeing a lot more,” says Katie. “We were living together and were too on top of each other.

“Now we’ve found a balance, when to say something and when not to. We’ve learned to work together and communicate better.”

The way they work is to make a rough plan for the week ahead, depending on the season.

Katie says: “Claire and I basically talk to each other non-stop, and if we go long enough without talking, we’ll send a message or call to see what’s going on.

“We also have a family WhatsApp group chat, so we can solve a lot on there.”

They have learned not to interfere with the management of each other’s flocks.

“If I’m going to do a day on Katie’s flock, I do the job she wants; if she helps me the next day on my sheep, it will be done my way, and even if we find that frustrating, it’s how we want it done, and we respect that,” Claire explains.

Claire Evans © MAG/Judith Tooth

Room to breathe

As time goes on, their dad, Richard, says he knows less about day-to-day decisions made on the farm.

He says he and Sue could not afford to make mistakes in their early days of farming, but greater stability in the family business means Katie and Claire are spared that tension and are doing a better job as a result.

It would be pointless to breathe down their necks, he adds. “We have to give each other space if we’re going to operate [successfully].”

Sue is gradually steering administrative tasks towards the next generation.

“It would be short-sighted not to hand over stuff, and it’s refreshing to see another approach – and often a nice surprise.

“But I sometimes keep my mouth shut even if I can see something is going wrong, as you learn by your mistakes,” she says.

Experimental flock

With an eye on the future, Katie and Claire have recently started an “in-betweeners” flock. Claire says:

“At some point, things will change slightly, whether that be partners or families, and me and Katie will ideally combine our flocks to create a shedding Lleyn to get the best of both worlds.

“We’ll manage that together and have time to do other stuff as well, be that families or other work.”

The first attempt, using 30 of Claire’s shedding ewes and one of Katie’s rams that had shed his wool, produced a lot of lame lambs.

“We got carried away by the fact that they were all shedding and ignored things like feet. It’s been a good reminder of how genetic lameness is,” says Katie.

“But we’ve started again. This year, we’ve got 24 shedding pure Lleyn ewes and put Exlana rams over them, and we’ll see what their lambs turn out like.

“If we like where it’s going, that’s where our combined flock will grow from.

“Breeding a shedding flock will mean we don’t have to use as many fly covers, and by using EBVs [estimated breeding values] to reduce parasite burdens, we won’t need to worm as much.

“All of that will have environmental benefits.”

From left: Sue, Richard, Claire and Katie © MAG/Judith Tooth

Enterprise costings

Richard, Katie and Bob (Claire’s twin, who has since also come home) attended one of the AHDB’s recent Roots to Resilience courses to learn more about business and financial management, communication and succession.

“We came away knowing more about five-year plans and how to talk about what everyone wants [from the business]. We’re now in the process of doing enterprise costings,” says Katie.

The family are also starting to prepare a formal succession plan.

Stonehouse Farm’s flocks

Crossbred shedding flock

The self-shedding crossbreds are a low-input, high-output flock running on sandy Breckland, water meadows and old permanent pasture of slightly better quality than heath.

Ewes lamb in early spring, with those carrying singles or twins lambing outside, and triplets, quads and quins lambing indoors before turning out with a maximum of two lambs.

Lambs kept in – 90 this year – are fed on an automatic milk machine and weaned at five weeks old onto creep feed. Ewe lambs lamb in April.

The flock is set stocked in summer, with the lambs weaned onto better grass and herbal leys if they are not sold straight off the ewes.

Ewes winter on barley volunteers, grass and silage topped up with ewe rolls.

The flock typically scans at 200%. This season, the figure was 197%, turning out with 186% lambs at foot.

Twin-bearing shedders © MAG/Judith Tooth

Pedigree Lleyn flock

The performance-recorded Lleyn flock produces breeding rams and females based on estimated breeding values.

It is set stocked in summer on slightly better permanent pasture than the shedding flock, and winters on turnips or cover crops on local arable farms to rest the grass.

Typical scanning rate is 185% but dropped to 168% this season, possibly caused by bluetongue.

However, ewes – which also lamb in early spring – were turned out with 162% lambs at foot, thanks to fewer triplets and good weather. Ewe lambs lamb in April.

The flock is part of the Breed for Ch4nge project, recording methane emissions.

The Hebridean flock on heathland © Katie Evans

Hebridean flock

The Hebrideans are mainly conservation grazers on two large areas of Ministry of Defence and Wildlife Trust heathland.

They qualify for a native breed payment under Higher Tier Countryside Stewardship.

Some 250-300 are put to pure Hebridean rams for flock replacements, and the rest to Exlana rams to produce a better finished lamb.

Ewes wean twice their bodyweight or more. This year’s crop of lambs will be weaned in August and run on cover crops and turnips.

Ewes remain on the heath year-round, unless drought conditions force a move to land on surrounding arable farms.