Moorland farmer Maurice Medd has quit sheep farming - to breed worms!

Mr Medd's family have been leading sheep farmers for some three generations on the North Yorkshire Moors at Newton-on-Rawcliffe for some 70 years but now he has switched to producing thousands of worms which are used by fishermen, and by horticulturalists to improve drainage in lawns and football pitches.

He uses horse manure which is heated and purified over a period of four days and special sheeting. "We find that horse manure is the best although we can use cattle and pig waste, but not that from popultry which is too high in nitrogen" said Mr Medd.

Bedding consisting of peat, manure and shredded cardboard is used to increase egg production.

Anglers fishing for salmon, sea trout, eels and barbel all yuse the worms and they are invaluable to gardeners says Mr Medd of East Hambleton Farm, Newton.

"I came to to the conclusion that there isn't a lot of future in farming livestock and I had seen the price of pigs slump so I decided to have a completye change of earning a living".