LOW profits are forcing many farmers to seek additional incomes and part- time farming is becoming increasingly common.

Great Broughton farmer Fraser Hugill is simplifying his system to allow him to farm part-time and earn his living as a farm conservation adviser for the North York Moors National Park Authority.

Mr Hugill farms the 70-hectare Hallgirth Farm near Great Broughton in conjunction with his father Edgar and mother Shena, who live at the nearby 60-hectare Whitehouse farm.

His parents started to diversify gradually into tourism 20 years ago and now have a man-made coarse fishing lake, two letting flats and a caravan site which accommodates 75 touring and static caravans.

"I have steadily built up a herd of 50 pedigree Beef Shorthorn cows at Hallgirth and now intend to sell my flock of 130 Mule ewes," explained Mr Fraser Hugill. "The sheep are very demanding on my time and don't suit my off-farm work. I prefer working with my cattle and that's important when there is so little profit in farming. You have got to like doing it as well."

Hallgirth is a very hard, late farm which runs to the edge of the moor at 600ft above sea level. The March-April calving cows are weaned and housed in October and are not turned out until May 20. With such a long winter feeding period it is important to keep a thrifty, easily fleshed type of cow.

"There's no doubt that the Beef Shorthorn is a cheap cow to winter," said Mr Hugill. "Father's farm is all arable and this year there are eight hectares of winter rape and 36 hectares of winter wheat as well as eight hectares of Siberia, a six-row winter barley we are trying for the first time.

"We use the straw for feeding and bedding the cattle and plan to use some of the barley to finish the bull calves. We had been buying in feed for the cattle but it makes more sense to grow our own."

In common with other native British breeds, the Beef Shorthorn was bred for grassland systems and has a larger rumen compared with continental breeds like the Limousin, which was bred for cereal-based diets.

That large rumen allows the breed to thrive on bulky diets such as poor hill pastures and straw, an important advantage on most hill and upland units. They are easily fleshed during the summer and build up fat reserves for the winter.

Depreciation is another major cost in suckler beef production and it is important that cows last longer.

"Many beef producers have become disillusioned with the Holstein influence on dairy-bred suckler cow replacements," said Mr Hugill. "They are too thin-skinned and often difficult to get back in calf. They also tend to have too much milk at calving, which leads to pendulous, misshapen udders. There is little doubt that such cattle don't last as long."

It is becoming increasingly difficult to find good quality replacements and the right type command substantial premiums. "Breeding our own means we know what we have got. The Beef Shorthorns are quiet, motherly and milky. They wear well and many of them end up as teenagers. If you want to breed beefy cattle you need to keep beefy cows."

Biosecurity is the buzzword from the foot-and-mouth crisis. Many farms are now using Beef Shorthorn bulls to run a closed herd and breed their own replacements. That way, the risks of introducing diseases like TB, EBL, pneumonia and calf scours are kept to a minimum. "There is no doubt that breeding our own replacements leads to a healthier herd," said Mr Hugill.

He is also enthusiastic about his cows' ability to calve easily. "The breed has a larger pelvis than most and would calve easily to any type of bull. That's important when you have to work away from the farm as I do."

Heifer replacements calve around Christmas ahead of the main herd and are then bulled to calve in March the following year, giving them a chance to settle down after their first calving.

Surplus heifers are sold for breeding at the North of England Beef Shorthorn club's annual September sale at Thirsk.

"Our heifers always grow out well and thrive after moving to another farm," said Mr Hugill.

The very best of the bull calves are sold privately for breeding and the rest are kept entire and slaughtered at Dawne Carnaby to kill out between 350 and 400kg.

"Last year they averaged R4L at 370 kilos and came to about £1.80p/kilo. We haven't the quality of grazing to finish steers at grass. Local buyers of store cattle haven't a lot of experience of finishing Beef Shorthorn bullocks and might not bid them to their full value. Finishing them intensively as bulls is probably the most profitable in my situation."

Mr Hugill used to keep a Blonde d'Aquitaine bull but finds that his Beef Shorthorn bulls are growthier, framier and come to bigger weights. "They maybe haven't as much shape when they are younger but they improve as they finish."

In the past the bull calves have experienced a severe check in the autumn as grazing deteriorates so Mr Hugill has introduced creep feeding this year in late July. "That should give them a head start when they are housed.