Farmer Focus: Let’s see how homebred shearlings perform
© Tim Scrivener The year seems to be whizzing by and we are now getting everything ready for tupping. We have retained 110 of our 2022-born females, which will be joining the main breeding flock this year.
This group looks like the best stamp of sheep produced on the farm to date.
They are mainly sired by Innovis Aberfield SR and Highlander, and all selected from our A-flock. As dry (unlambed) shearlings, we are excited to see how they perform.
See also: How breeding from ewe lambs cuts cost by 50%
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In previous years, we have lambed ewe lambs, and we believe it makes for a calmer, more motherly ewe in the long run. However, while rearing their first lamb they take a lot of extra care to keep them growing.
With running the butchery and catering as well, we just simply can’t do everything, so lambing them as shearlings fits better with our business.
We are currently playing a bit of catch up after taking a week off to have a family holiday in the south of France.
It’s been 10 years since we have managed a whole week away, and we are very lucky to have a few people to help keep the butchery going and keep an eye on the sheep during our holiday.
It was very stressful leading up to the holiday, making sure all the sheep were in the right paddocks so they could be moved easily to continue rotational grazing.
Everything was covered with fly treatment, and lambs picked ready to go to the abattoir for the following week’s orders. We also had to ensure the stubble turnips were drilled.
We don’t have a lot of machinery on the farm, so Chris’s father kindly offered to direct drill them for us.
This year we have 52ha (130 acres) of turnips in, so hopefully, if they aren’t all eaten by flea beetle, we will have plenty of winter keep for ewes and lambs.
We have always tried to have a couple of long weekends off a year with the girls, but this week off has really showed us how important proper family time is.
Now we are all refreshed for a busy September of catering, butchery and our next pop-up shop, which we hope will be even bigger and better than before.