History
Graham madeley is the third generation to farm at Rodway Manor. Although all the stock was lost in the devastating 1967 foot & mouth epidemic, the family’s passion has stayed constant to the dairy shorthorn breed, as the breeds’ adaptability proves to reign supreme.
History in detail
My grandfather, Samuel Ambrose Madeley moved to Rodway Manor in 1898 and the Madeley family has been breeding Dairy Shorthorns ever since then. The Duke of Sutherland who owned huge traits of land in Shropshire and drained the Weald Moors to create roads enabling farms like the Rodway to flourish. My father, John Arthur Cyril was the first Madeley to be born at the Rodway in 1902. In 1925 the Duke of Sutherland sold off his Shropshire prosperities in a two-day sale, where my grandfather purchased the farm.
Grading up to pedigree status started in the 1930s. This coincided with the introduction by the ministry of agricultures premium bull scheme. This was the forerunner of AI. This enabled the bringing together of better quality bulls so that many small holders within a certain area, perhaps with only three or four cows could take there cattle to these bulls. We were selected as a base for the premium bull scheme in the Shropshire area.
Sadly in 1967 we lost the whole herd to a major foot and mouth epidemic. All the shorthorn bloodlines that we had graded up were destroyed and irreplaceable. At this time my father took my brother John and myself into the family business. The chance to change breeds at this time was rejected, as we were safe in the knowledge that the dairy shorthorn’s adaptability would satisfy any farm regime.
The new herd was formed with mainly private purchases. One of the first cows we brought was Wombridge Red Rose, a family that has continued to thrive within the herd. We were extremely lucky to purchase the nucleus of the Wendest herd and so started to breed the Tiny, Rhoda, Blossom, Flower, and Barrington Duchess families. Other notable families still prospering within the herd are Foggathorpe Primrose, Lady Laura Butterbur and Lady Barrington.
In 1987 we had the first of three successful on-farm reduction sales, other sales followed in 1993 and 1999. Our policy has been to serve nearly all our cows and heifers with Dairy Shorthorn bulls. With the breed’s longevity traits and low replacement rates we are always able to sell our surplus breeding stock which contributes very well to the farms total output.
In 1989 my brother John retired from the family business and I took over the farm solely with my wife Shirley. We made the decision in 1999 to convert to organic production and by July 2000 the milk was being sold as organic. Although we are not able to build up numbers for the big on farm sales since converting we still sell a considerable number of breeding cattle each year.
Newspaper Articles
These are the newspaper articles we have collected over the years. Click to get a closer look.
