Patrick Goldsworthy+44 1480 812758
07711 [email protected]
Meat the flock
Photographs & drawings: Copyright Goldsworthy Associates Limited, Jake Tebbit
The Shepherd
• Part time• Past experience– Teenager: Cotswolds and Jacobs– Ag Student: night shift 2 x 500
Greyfaces– “Farmer”
• 150 ewes Mule/Greyface - Suffolk/Texel cross• Edge of Dartmoor• Texel, Suffolk, Southdown and Dorset Down
tups
• Now – c. 25 Southdown ewes
Origins
• 15 year aspiration• 1 acre paddock needed mowing• 3 in-lamb ewes bought from local
breeder • Jan 2008
• Now up to c.28 acres
Why Southdowns
• Docile and easy to handle• Tight stocking/ folded• Early finishing potential• Early relief of grazing pressure• Lambing ease• Outstanding conformation• Best tasting lamb• Past experience• Looks!
Ambleside farmland
Free rent 1.5 Ha
Paddock 0.4 Ha
Front Field 1 Ha
Hill Farm 6 Ha Let for 2011
Orchard Row 3 Ha To be sown autumn 2010
Anglian water land no boundaries visible in field
2010 c.20 ewes and followers on 2.9 Ha
Grazing and grass
• Buy-in most hay• Permanent pasture (tenanted FOC)– 80 kgN/Ha
• Leys – 180kg N/Ha (subject to rain/soil moisture)
• Establishing new leys out of arable– Autumn undersown WW with PRG/clover
mix or – HSG grasses sown with
Rye/Westerwolds/IRG cover
Tups and tupping
• Ewes flushed on grass or with ewe nuts
• New for 2010– Ewes sponged to synchronise
lambing– PMSG to increase ovulation rate in
shearlings and some ewes– 7ewes per ram
Lambing
• Ewes in at Xmas• Lamb indoors Feb- Mar• Keep in until grass and weather
“fit”• Lambs dressed & weighed at
birth• Tails and castration at 4-6 days
Current flock (at 12-9-2010)
• Rams– Two stock rams– One shearling (for sale) one ram lamb
• Ewes– 12 ewes w 1 or more lamb crops– 18 shearlings– 9 ewe lambs
• Butcher– 2 lambs (2w)
Lambing performanceYear Ewes to
tupLambs born
Lambs survived
Ewes survived
2008 3 6 6 3
2009 5 11 7 3
2010 11 20 15 11
2011 30
Health
• Work with young vets on Flock Health Plan
• Open flock while growing – No quarantine– Feet and worm new arrivals
• Blue Tongue Vaccine• Heptavac P• Not currently– Scrapie testing… Autumn 2010– Maedi Visna
Worming and Flystrike
• Worming– No FEC– Land sheep free until 2008– Worming until 12 months
• Panacur -white (fenbendazole) and Cydectin – clear (moxidectin)
– alternate years
• Flystrike– Vetrazin (cyromazine)/Crovect (cypermethrin)
late March to shearing– Vetrazin post shearing– Crovect for misses
Signet Recording
• More scientific way to analyse performance and genetics
• “Marketing” edge for unshown flock
• Benefits commercial breeders who want high performance terminal sire
Signet: What’s involved
• Flock breeding data• Birth weight• Eight week weight• 140 day –Weight– Scan• Muscle• Fat
• £££s
Signet Data
• Eight week weight • Mature size• Litter size• Maternal ability• Scan weight• Muscle depth• Fat depth• Index
Maternal qualities
Terminal sire qualities
Terminal Sire Index based on all terminal sire qualities
Signet dataEBV Index Accuracy
Estimated Breeding Value
Against breed benchmark
Confidence in results (%)
Actual value in stockEg kg, mm, no.
Low numbers= low confidence due to limited data and connectivity
Challenges
• Lowland flock – Flystrike– Twin lamb disease
• East Anglia– Climate and soil– Limited livestock
services• Markets/abattoirs• Veterinary resources• Fallen stock
Sales
• Ewe lambs mostly retained• Whethers to butcher for private
sale and own use• Rams for sale/hire