Michael's long and winding road to Teesdale

THERE are few jobs Michael Haslam hasn’t come across in farming.
The 70-year-old can now be found next door to Middleton-in-Teesdale Auction Mart running Agri Supplies Farm Pet and Equine Country Store.
But past decades have seen him farm the length of Britain rearing sheep and cattle from Scotland to Kent before moving into farm management.
The father-of-three and grandfather-of-two sells equine goods and specialised fly spray from his Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Services (Utass) rented unit. 
He tells me business has been a touch sluggish but is hopeful it will pick up.
He says: “It’s taken a long time for people to know we are here. More and more people are online but there’s nothing nicer than coming in and knowing something fits.
“People can take away a couple of bits, buy the one that fits and bring the other one back. You can’t get that online.”
Mr Haslam hails from a family of butchers but it was his grandfather who gave him plenty of work growing up on his farm.
After marrying his wife Jan, the young Haslam family farmed in North Wales rearing sheep and dairy heifers north of Wrexham before they made a 200 mile move down to Sussex.
“It was a bit different – we brought 1,000 sheep with us from Wales, which was experimental on a lowland farm,” says Mr Haslam.
“It went very well – we crossed them with Texels and Suffolks and produced a very meaty lamb.
“We lambed three times – at Christmas for Easter, the normal March time and in April for the first timers.”
The sight of 1,000 ewes coming over the hill did come as a shock to the Sussex natives.
“They didn’t understand it,” says Mr Haslam.
“We spent a day with the farmer having dinner with a farmer and selecting every single one.”
Change came when Mr Haslam was headhunted by a Kent businessman resulting in a move to the garden of England.
“He wanted someone to get his lambs to slaughter so we moved to Kent and started to rear beef and lamb for Waitrose supermarkets,” he says.
“That was an interesting time. We were able to follow animals all the way to the slaughterhouse to the point of sale and see how they looked on the hook.
“So we got good feedback from that.”
The couple set about improving the quality of the herd through selective culling and righting the wrongs of farming forebears. Mr Haslam says: “The animals were weighed monthly so we could see what and see if the food was good enough and we could get onto the chain to let them know. It was a great experimental phase for us to try.
“We used to sell any lamb slightly overweight to the local market and any grade-able for Europe were sent on direct to slaughter.”
Hard decades on tough slopes took their toll on Mr Haslam’s body leading to a hip operation in the early 1990s.
Mrs Haslam’s equine passions ensured another move – this time to near Sterling, in Scotland.
He adds: “My wife was keen on horses and record keeping for the dogs so it worked out quite well for the both of us.
“We had herds of Aberdeen Angus, Highland Cattle and Blackfaces, which were all pedigree.
“It was 960 acres, all uphill – we had a loch on the land for people to fish.
“Jan turned out the horse one morning when we’d just arrived – we didn’t know how big the place was and it didn’t come back for two days.”
But staffing proved to be the biggest stumbling block on the Caledonian farm leading to Mr Haslam taking on a six month spell at the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department.
One hip operation later, he decided to go it alone in animal health before disaster struck.
“It was great until foot and mouth struck – business took a nose dive,” he says.
“I had to work outside the business until we got the all clear and tried to pick up the pieces – it was difficult.
“We changed direction into the equine side and started producing fly repellant.”
Mr Haslam spent years plying his fly repellant around the country but the wear and tear of his long farming career returned to bite away at his lower joints.
The result is his latest move to Teesdale and his new shop.
He says: “If you need it we will order it in for you. We have boots and riding hats for kids. We get people in who don’t live in the area.
“I understand farmers come down here with tunnel vision – they buy, sell and go.
“We could do a bit more around the village to direct people down here.”
To contact Agri Supplies call 01833 641111.
Read more in part two as Mr Haslam shares his views on Brexit, Middleton-in-Teesdale and Teesdale’s place in the nation.