WHEN a grouse shooting syndicate set their sights on Mr Maurice Hall's farm they made him an offer he couldn't refuse.

And, too young to retire, he invested the money on a smaller neighbouring farm which came on the market at the same time.

Last week he was host to a demonstration event organised by the Northern Uplands Moorland Regeneration Project, which centred on using ultrasound measurements to help improve the stock and on electronic tagging.

Two years ago the Halls were running 1,250 Swaledale sheep on an extensive outdoor hill system. When they moved to the smaller Oakbank Farm at Barras, near Kirkby Stephen, the flock was reduced to 500 Swaledale ewes, but the farm could not provide a living on its own and Mr Hall took a full-time job as manager of Hawes auction mart.

His wife, Linda, looks after the day-to-day running of the farm.

To make things easier, they succeeded in getting European objective 5b funding, through Cumbria Farm Link, and have built a 180ft x 60ft sheep house.

"We had to decide either to put up a shed and put them inside for winter or to send them away," said Mr Hall. "If you can get them away to the right place, it is marginally cheaper, but if they go to the wrong place it can be more expensive.

"We thought it was more sensible to put the shed up and get all the flock inside. It makes it easier to manage them in lots of ways."

Signet staged the ultrasound scanning system. They have visited the farm for the fourth year to select about 85 shearlings which have been weighed and scanned during autumn before tupping.

The results are used to rank the animals and so help identify superior rams. This allows Mr Hall to select the top 80pc of shearlings which go into the pure-bred flock, while the lowest 20pc go to the crossing flock.

Mr Hall has been very pleased with the improvements achieved through scanning. He has already achieved an increase in shearling weights and better muscle depth.

"I did start off with very ordinary sheep with room for improvement but I am very pleased with what has been achieved," he said.

The sheep shed will be used for the first time this winter and will make for easier all round management of the flock.

"It will make wintering them a little easier, if perhaps a little more expensive," said Mr Hall. "We are also going to finish our lambs off in here.

"One advantage we will get is that, for convenience, we have used AI on our sheep so that we can plan our lambing days. We have done so for six years now but it will be easier to do if we keep them inside.

"The farm itself is long and narrow so it will make it easier to have them all assembled in here."

As Mr Hall has a full time job off the farm, contract labour is used at busy times, which provides work for two farmers' sons whose family farms cannot support them all the year round.

Owning a farm was always Mr Hall's dream. His grandfather had a hill farm at Garsdale, but his father did not farm. However Mr Hall, who taught at Wensleydale School for 17 years, began farming at West Witton before moving to the Kirkby Stephen area.

Mr Richard Thompson of Heronwood Farm, Warcop, demonstrated the electronic tagging of sheep and computerised stock recording.

He is a member of a group of four farmers who, through Cumbria Farm Link, received 5b funding to buy electronic ear tags, computer hardware, software and training support in a pilot project on using electronic sheep recording on their own farms.

The group examined what was available on the market and chose Earlsmere ID Systems to supply the tags and hand-held data recorders. The recorder identifies each animal from the tag and allows individual information and management records to be rapidly entered, stored and read.

A stock management programme from Agridata allows the information from the recorder to be downloaded on to the farmer's personal computer so that permanent records can be kept and records printed automatically.

The aim is to achieve better and easier management control of the flock by providing instant, accurate records on such things as veterinary and health treatments, movement records, lambing, weighing, culling and breeding information.

Stock sale details can also be entered and the system can help to ensure traceability, reduce handling and save the farmer time.

Mr Thompson has also set up a computer bureau service, Heronwood Data Farm Services, which offers to keep all records for farmers on a software programme. He can be contacted on 017683 41774