We have now sold most of our Kerry Hill sheep. A flock of ewes, lambs and tups went
to Stanford Hall near Lutterworth, and other groups to smaller enthusiasts. One of
our rams - we called him ‘the Swansea tup’, bred by Mr Howells was sold and has subsequently
gone on to be Reserve Interbreed Champion at Cheshire County Show. Also, 6 Kerry
Hill ewes sold into southern Scotland have taken numerous rare and interbreed championships.
Last year we purchased some Roussin sheep. We are very pleased with their offspring
on our commercials, but we have still to discover how they finish.
At the moment we are reducing our sheep flock so that Robert is able to concentrate
on breaking and handling the horse herd over the next couple of years.
Recent sales of ewes and lambs at Ludlow and Market Drayton have been realising top
prices.
Please notice that all our lambs and ewes were individually numbered - for sale purposes.
This meant that every ewe had a lamb and every lamb had a mother - not as some are
sold with the correct number of ewes and lambs, but not every mother having its own
lamb and some lambs having no mother! Buyers of our ewes and lambs have been intrigued
to know how we had sorted them. Robert then explained we had 'The Shearwell Data'
EID Recording system, where we record every lamb birth to each and every mother together
with any lamb losses and then any fostering of lambs to surrogate mothers. We now
therefore have full traceability of sheep from birth to slaughter. All drugs administered,
together with withdrawal periods, other veterinary intervention, together with any
other managerial problems are also noted (eg poor mothering ability, vigour of lambs,
colostum quality and amount etc)
This results in any purchases of our lamb (and mutton)
can be fully traced from parentage to the table.
Over the last couple of years we have now developed our commercial flock - by buying
in Suffolk x Mule ewes and Mule ewes. We have also bred our own replacements with
the Blue Faced Leicester on to some of our Kerry ewes (we are delighted with these
home bred Mules, having excellent mothering abilities, etc.).
