Meet Molly Cavell of the Yorkshire Lamb Orphanage

Molly Cavell is an inspirational 22-year-old from South Duffield in North Yorkshire who has been named as a ‘Young Farmer of the Year’ finalist in The Yorkshire Post Country Week Rural Awards 2022, the category which Richard Roberts is delighted to be sponsoring. The winner will be announced at an awards ceremony on Thursday September 29th at The Pavilions of Harrogate.

The Richard Roberts team had the pleasure of meeting up with Molly to hear all about her life, business and plans for the future, and was left in no doubt as to why she is a finalist.

Molly has already been recognised in the Northern Farmer Awards 2022 as a Young Farmer of the Year finalist, and her business was a Young Business of the Year finalist in the Yorkshire Post Excellence in Business Awards 2020.

All this and Molly is not from a farming background!

LOVE OF ANIMALS

At the age of 16 Molly was involved in a helicopter crash which left her with one of her feet badly injured that necessitated a lengthy recovery. She had always had a love of animals and decided after leaving Barlby High School to enrol on an agriculture course at Bishop Burton College. She recalls that on starting the course late due to her injury she was a little different in her response to the tutor asking what animals people had.

“I was the only one not from a farming background and I said I had a guinea pig!,” said Molly.

During the course Molly was introduced to night lambing and that was what sparked the idea for a business – taking in orphan lambs. The idea has grown into a fully-operational successful business called the Yorkshire Lamb Orphanage, which this year saw Molly take in 275 orphan lambs.

“I found that nobody wants to do night lambing, but I love it,” said Molly.

“While doing night lambing I could see that orphan lambs were a problem for farmers as there were so many ewes lambing and just not the time to give to the lambs that were not able to suck straight away to their mothers.

“I knew this was something I could do and rear the lambs so they became as useful as all the other lambs kept by the ewes.”

HER NAME IS GROWING

She gets her orphan lambs from all over and her name is growing, so more and more farmers are contacting her. Her orphan lambs come from as far away as Settle, Skipton, Sheffield, Beverley and Thirsk.

“I go and collect the lambs. They are usually a day or two-day old lambs, but can be three or four days old, and mostly the farmers give me them free, but then others ask for money which I have to be sensible about as I am going to be doing all the work to look after the lambs and pay any vet bills.

“This year I was going through 145 litres of milk each day and have spent £3,000 on milk powder.”

There is so much more too. Molly has bought a 10-acre field, a feeder, a polytunnel; now goes into nurseries, schools and nursing homes taking lambs to help educate people about farming, food and animal care; attends shows with a stand with lambs and also sells items such as socks made with the wool from her stock, handmade cards featuring, yes you guessed it, sheep, and homemade jam; has some chicks and incubators she also takes into schools; has retained some of the lambs and is building her own flock, and has plans to extend still further.

Molly sells the lambs locally for both wool and meat, and has a good local network for this.

STRONG HEAD FOR BUSINESS

She has a strong head for business and makes the most of every commercial avenue.

Molly’s plans for the future include setting up as a petting farm with ewes, lambs, chickens and goats, and having glamping cabins, including one for herself to live in. She also intends to start keeping and selling turkeys.

Her enthusiasm and passion for what she does is clear to see.

“When I embarked on agricultural college with no farming experience after my helicopter crash and expressed my ambition to be a sheep farmer I was told I would never be able to be a sheep farmer due to my injury, that I would never be able to run round a field after sheep,” said Molly.

MOLLY HAS DEFIED ALL THE ODDS

Well, look at Molly now! Molly has defied all the odds and is absolutely thriving – and can more often than not be seen running round a field after sheep!

Her advice to anyone who is not from a farming background but wants to get into it is, not surprisingly, “just go for it”.

If ever there was an example of doing just that it’s Molly Cavell.

The team at Richard Roberts is in total admiration and respect of what Molly has achieved so far and looks forward to seeing what she achieves in the future.

“Molly is a shining example of why we chose to sponsor the Young Farmer of the Year category at the Yorkshire Post Country Week Rural Awards 2022,” said Hugh Roberts, Richard Roberts Land Director.

“It’s brilliant to see young people blossoming within the rural community and bringing fresh impetus. Molly is such a brilliant example of just this, and against some testing odds. It’s much kudos to her character and determination that she has done so well and achieved so much.”

Pictures show Molly with Richard Roberts Land Directors Hugh Roberts and Harry Dee and Molly with some of the orphan lambs she has reared.