'I really love farming' (From Gazette & Herald)

'I really love farming'

WHEN Andrew Stephenson's sheep and month-old lambs come running towards him across the field, the 16-year-old swells with pride.

It's a modest flock - 11 ewes, a tup and 15 lambs - and they're only after the sugar beet pellets he's carrying, but Andrew is rightly pleased with himself.

"I bought them, bred them, feed them and pay the rent on the field," he says. "A lot of my friends have sheep, but really their dads bought them and they're farm sheep. If I don't look after these, no one else will."

Andrew grew up on a farm with a 1,000-strong flock as well as 30 cattle to help look after. Farming is in his young blood, but when his parents split, he moved with his mum, Judith, and 18-year-old sister, Laura, to a three-bedroom terrace house in Ravensworth. It wasn't long before he began to miss the sheep.

Two years ago, he bought his first three Charollais ewes. "I'm quite good with money and I had a bit saved up. Mum said that if I paid for them and looked after them then I could get them," he explained.

His uncle Stephen up the road agreed to rent him a field, and so Andrew's business began.

In the first year, he learned the hard way of the fragility of Charollais lambs when only two out of seven survived.

Since then he's built up the flock with a Rouge Charollais, with its distinctive pink face, and Mules which, with the Charollais tup, have produced fat lambs this spring for market.

Andrew cycles every day to the six-acre field to check on his flock and feed them. So far, he has funded his hobby with working full-time on local farms, but he's just received a major boost from the Good Ideas Pot, run by the Young People's Network. The pioneering scheme, which was launched last October, is co-ordinated and funded by Connexions, a partnership agency which also comprises North Yorkshire County Council's education service through its Connecting Youth Culture organisation, York Youth Services and the voluntary sector.

Coun Jim Clark, the county council's executive member for education, lifelong learning and finance, said: "The determination and resolve of many of North Yorkshire's young people never fails to amaze me and Andrew is a superb example of what can be achieved given the chance. I am confident he and youngsters like him have a bright future ahead of them living in this great county of ours."

The £1,600 award Andrew has received will cover the rent for the field, feed and help him buy more sheep. He's already embarked on building a lamb feeder and will buy a shelter.

School hasn't gone by the wayside, and he will do his GSCEs this summer. After that, Andrew knows exactly where he wants to be.

"I really love farming, and I like the idea of starting with a few sheep, breeding and doubling the amount each year," he said. "The Charollais are really fast-growing, but not very hardy when they're born. I'd like some Beltex, but they're about £500 each.

"I'd like to have my own farm, but you have to have thousands - millions these days - so I can't see that happening."

In the meantime, he's been a regular visitor recently to markets in Barnard Castle, Leyburn and Darlington keeping an eye out for his next additions to his flock.

For more information on the Young People's Network visit the website at www.connex.me.uk or telephone (01904) 799937.

Updated: 10:55 Wednesday, May 05, 2004