A TRADITIONAL hill farm, which also runs a successful milk sheep co-operative, hosts North Sheep 2009 next month.

More than 6,000 farmers are expected to flock to John and Christine Stotts Laund Farm at Chipping, near Preston, Lancashire, on Wednesday, June 3rd.

The couple farm 500 acres of less-favoured land with their son, Simon, and his wife, Rachel.

Rising to more than 650ft it supports 500 Swaledale ewes, 120 Beulah ewes, 50 pedigree Blue-faced Leicesters, a 400 ewe Friesland flock, 30 suckler cows and 20 pedigree Simmental cows.

Mr Stott's late father introduced the Blue-faced Leicester to Lancashire and started breeding the Mule, whose gimmer lambs supply half the farm income.

However, for Mr Stott it is the Bluefaced Leicester which takes pride of place. "We sell at the society sales up and down the country and aim to be within the day's top half of average prices," he said.

Mr Stott, a founder and former chairman of the breed society, is its newly elected president.

Simon joined the business in the late 1990s and the family diversified into milk sheep to boost income.

At the time, a local milk sheep enterprise was searching for more milk in what was then a relatively new sector.

The Stotts spoke to other producers, viewed parlours in Holland, researched the market and called numerous dairies.

Their original 100 pure Friesland sheep grew to 400 which yield an average 650 litres per 10.5 month lactation.

In 2004 the family launched Sheep Milk UK, a co-operative of six, which expects to produce 600,000 litres this year.

It supplies 8,000 litres a week to a number of dairies with 95pc processed into cheese. The family does not plan to increase its own flock as the two daily milkings involve two people each and take five hours in total.

The ewes are milk recorded, put to progeny tested rams, and split lambed to ensure a 12 month milk supply.

A quarter of Friesland ewe lambs bred from the highest performing ewes with good udder attachment are selected as replacements.

The remainder are finished from 14 weeks and 42kgs liveweight and sold at marts or deadweight.

The Stotts are keen to grow the co-operative to increase milk output and introduce new products such as yoghurt.

o North Sheep 2009 is organised by the Northern region of the National Sheep Association.

Ends.