September 2014

There’s nothing more satisfying than selling top quality pedigree livestock that will go on to establish new flocks, and this month our Hampshire Downs have travelled to new homes in Worcestershire and Monmouthshire

In the first case, a very well-grown ram lamb, who will initially be tupping cross-bred ewes on a commercial farm owned by a young couple just starting their own farming business – I understand that the ram is to be called Gorgeous (which is our flock name) Gordon (which reflects the new owners sense of humour!). Interestingly, the purchasers, both from farming backgrounds and both having studied agriculture at college, selected their chosen ram not only on his evident good looks, but also on a thorough examination of his pedigree and his EBVs, or Estimated Breeding Values. Firstly, they specifically wanted a ram that was born as one of twins, as this would make him more likely to father twins himself – a very good production trait for a commercial farm. Next, they carefully studied his growth rates, which we record from birth to maturity and from these we can calculate his Daily Liveweight Gain (DLG). Ideally, a commercial sheep breeder wants to fatten lambs as quickly as possible – the longer they stay on the farm the more feed and grass they eat, the more likely they are to be affected by parasites (which will slow their growth rate), and the more likely they are to need various treatments with expensive pharmaceuticals! In addition to these outlays, there is the farmer’s labour to take into account. Adding all these factors together, it’s easy to see how useful it is to keep specific records.

Our next purchasers, smallholders with a lovely small farm on the Welsh Borders, had done their homework carefully and decided on Hampshire Downs on the basis of looks, temperament and, very importantly, their eating quality as they wanted to start a small-scale business selling lamb through a box-scheme. Having done their research, Hamps came out top for the flavour and succulence of their meat! As they were starting the flock from scratch, we suggested that, instead of buying ewe lambs (which are always better if left to their second year before being bred from themselves), they choose 4 shearling ewes, which we could put to our tup so they wouldn’t need to buy their own ram in their first year. So they chose 4 lovely ewes, and 3 lambs to look at in the meantime!

Mid-month we brought our own ewes in to give them a complete check-over, and make sure they were all fit to go to the ram – we checked:

• FEET – ewes need to be sound or they may be reluctant to mate, will feed less so may lose condition which will lower their fertility
• UDDERS – older ewes may have damaged teats, or have lost the function of one or both ‘quarters’ due to infections, such as mastitis
• TEETH – older ewes especially may have missing teeth, and although they may be in good condition following a summer’s grazing, they may struggle during a bad winter
• CONDITION – if the ewes are poor now, after the lush grass of the summer, they won’t gain sufficient condition to rear a pair of twins
• WORM COUNT – we select ewes that have resistance to internal parasites, so a faecal egg count will identify any ewes that are highly susceptible

Thankfully, all my favourite ewes passed this examination with flying colours, and will be put to the ram on 5^th of November, for lambing to start from the 1^st of April.

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And finally, Carole Youngs of The Smallholder Series has written a comprehensive guide to ram selection and management for the autumn edition of Practical Sheep, Goats & Alpacas magazine, which is currently on sale in all good newsagents.

www.smallholderseries.co.uk