The last of the March born ram lambs in November

Our sheep stay outside all yer round on a grass based system using minimal conserved forage or trough feed. It’s Essex clay here so ewes are kept off the farm on a variety of grass types after drying off till February, when we bring them home for a pre-lambing boost on our  high sugar, clover grass leys. We haven’t routinely wormed any ewes since moving here in 2006 to try to preserve a naive worm population which means the home pastures quickly become quite wormy in the early summer. We have found by mixed stocking or grazing cattle followed by sheep our lambs still do reasonably well, though we like to get them off the farm onto cleaner grass by late summer.

We never trough feed any of our lambs or rams though ram lambs get a feed block over the winter and prior to sale / tupping to boost fertility. This year I am going to try Lifeline as an alternative to cake feeding during lambing which I am slightly nervous about. Hopefully it will avoid the “charge of the light brigade” every morning and reduce the workload (if it works!).

Lleyn ewes in lamb to Texel rams grazing by the river Stour in Suffolk

We started keeping Texels in 1995 and found the workload at lambing was restricting expansion of the flock and the Texel isn’t prolific enough to run as  a commercial ewe, although the lambs are always in demand. As an alternative, I wanted a ewe that would be a good mother, prolific and easy lambing and which I could breed on the farm without buying in replacements, so mules and a good lot besides were out. I was also terrified of buying in disease especially abortion and was lucky enough to buy 25 MV and EAE accredited Lleyn ewe lambs from Julian Courtauld from Essex to start us off. This was probably the best thing I will ever do in my sheep farming career.

We select all our replacements on performance at lambing and EBV’s and they have to be sound. Over the years I have realised that the right sheep don’t need mollycoddling or buckets of cake three times a day, they will survive and thrive on grass alone.

Marilyn Hendy accepting the Graham Martin Trophy from Signet's Carol Davis

The Lleyn SireReference Group held their annual selection day at Worcester market on 30th September. 7 members bought high indexed ram lambs to the market to be judged on breed type and performance figures. The results were as follows:

1st  Ram lamb from Marilyn Hendy, Somerset.

2nd Ram lamb from Humphrey Mills, Essex

3rd Ram lamb from Jim Dufosee, Wiltshire

After the judging, members were able to hire a ram lamb off each other to put to a maximum of 25 ewes this season. The great benefit of this is that a member is able to have the use of a ram lamb with high performance figures at a greatly reduced price than if they had to purchase one at the sales. They are able to access superior genetics and become better connected with each others flocks.

Carol Davis, sheep specialist with Signet Breeding Services was present throughout the day to assist with the judging and to inform members of future developments to performance recording within Signet.

The ram inspections started this week and will be completed by the end of July.

Please contact a member of the Lleyn Sire Reference Scheme if you are looking for a Lleyn ram, registered or unregistered with performance figures.

This award is presented to the performance recorded flock that has shown the most impressive improvement in genetic merit over a 12-month period, within the breed.

To read more about Graham’ flock, go to www.lleynsheep.com This website also has features on flocks of Sire Reference Group members Jim Dufosee and Edward Collins.

After the judging, members have the opportunity to hire ram lambs off each other, thereby improving the connectiveness within their flocks and accessing quality genetics at far less cost than purchasing a yearling ram with high performance figures at the sales.

Edward Collins recieving the Graham Martin Memorial Trophy from Carol Davies of Signet Breeding Services

The breeder who was awarded the Graham Martin Memorial Trophy in 2010 was Edward Collins, Bearwood Farm, Herefordshire with his ram lamb, Bearwood Rocky. This high indexed ram lamb was out of a hombred ewe by a two year old ram that was purchased as a yearling from Dereck and Cindy Steen at the Lleyn Sheep Society’s Sale at Carlisle. Edward previously was awarded this trophy for his ram, Bearwood Howard in 2007.

The next Selection day will be held at Worcester Livestock Market in September 2011.