Exporting sheep – from Barnsley to Bucharest

A husband and wife farming team from South Yorkshire is set to begin exporting livestock to Romania.

S & S Richardson – Steve and Sherry – have been running Mount Pleasant Farm at Great Houghton, Barnsley, since 1985. They produce crops of wheat, barley and oil seed rape and also breed sows and pigs for retail and slaughter.

Their Texel sheep division began life as a hobby – a hobby that has seen Steve net various prizes. They are now set to begin exporting livestock to Romania, which went into European Union accession earlier this year.

Steve said: “My son and I have had quite a few successes with our Texel sheep. In 1999 the farm won the Ram/Lamb class at the Yorkshire Show beating 55 other opponents and in 2003 we won first and second prize in the same class at the same show and sold both sheep privately at the show as a result.”

Steve – who is the British Texel Sheep Society’s (BTSS) director for the north east of England – has also sold his Texel sheep in Lanark in Scotland at the biggest Texel show in the UK.

He is now looking further afield than the British Isles, with help from the South Yorkshire International Trade Centre (SYITC).

Steve began forging links with Romania in 2005 after a contact at the BTSS revealed that a group of Romanian farmers was visiting Manchester and wished to view Steve’s Texel livestock while in the UK.

Steve recalled: “I took them around the farm and thought that would probably be it. But I was invited back on a reciprocal visit in October that year and completed a 1,200 mile trip that took in lots of farm visits!

“It was really interesting to see how things worked over there and I met people from the British Embassy who were very keen to help get the exports to Romania well underway and who put me in touch with the SYITC.

“My international trade adviser, John Hall, came out to the farm and explained how the SYITC could help with the promotion of exports to Romania.”

When Steve was invited back over to Romania in November the same year he was able to access a Market Visit Support grant through the SYITC to help out.

Steve explained: “We went to the British Ambassador’s residence in Bucharest and met two or three of the big players in Romanian agriculture and discovered how keen they were on our British livestock. They really want to use our Texel stock for breeding to get British genetics into their livestock.”

An exhibition followed –  ‘IndAgra’, the Romanian national agricultural show – and Steve again turned to the SYITC, this time to access Tradeshow Access Programme (TAP) funding so he could represent British livestock in Romania, along with farmers from Northern Ireland, Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire.

“The SYITC made is so easy for us to attend the show and represent the BTSS,” said Steve.

“Our stand at the event was very popular – we saw hundreds of people every day and have had lots of follow-up enquiries. It’s clear that now Romania is in the EU it is keen to catch up with the rest of Europe.

“We had some tentative orders earlier this year but from a practicality point of view it wasn’t a good time to start exporting as the sheep tend to have their young in February.

“However, thanks to the exhibitions and the trade visits, we are expecting to begin exporting later this year.”

SYITC UK Trade & Investment trade adviser John Hall said: “The British sheep industry is the largest in Europe and there is a lot of interest in our genetics from the new member states so now really is the time for Steve to capitalise on that interest.

“It’s great that Steve and Sherry are making headway in this new market so early on and that a South Yorkshire farm will hopefully start exporting British livestock to Romania in the coming few months.”