"The Sheep Keep us!"

I farm heavy land with high rainfall in the heart of the ‘Fermanagh Lakelands’ so sheep are the easiest stock to carry on the land. I have been involved with sheep breeding and purchasing store lambs since the late 80’s apart from a lull from 1999-2004 when due to training and working away from home decided to sell out my breeding flock.
When returning to breeding sheep I knew I needed a ewe that was easier managed and above all easier lambed.

A friend, Mr Wilson, recommended I try the Lleyn breed so 20 Hoggets and 50 Ewe lambs were purchased at Ruthin Sale in 2004. These ewes were all lambed out with little problems.
The following year 71 Hoggets were purchased in Carlisle and since then breeding ewes have been sourced at the Club Sale in Ballymena and home reared.

Presently we run 278 Ewes to the ram. Wendy and I do all the daily tasks except for clipping and silage making which is contracted out. We both have jobs and a young family, who seem to have more interest in Nintendo DS than sheep, so a ewe that is easily managed is vitally important to us.

It has been a rollercoaster of a year. There really wasn’t any spring just an extended winter. The 30th March 2010 was one of the worst nights I have ever experienced. With only 10 ewes left to lamb the remainder were lying out in blizzard conditions trying to get shelter from the driving snow and well away from any feed. Surprisingly by the next morning only 4 lambs were lost.
After this we had a hard dry month with no growth and I was glad to see rain (Yes, imagine even in Fermanagh!) at the end of April – it takes the rain to bring the grass.
The summer brought wonderful grass growing conditions. The middle of August reseed did very well whereas the one done 10 days later was nearly washed away with heavy rain at the start of September. You would think by now I would have learned that you can’t reseed early enough, but that’s what one gets for trying to use up the extra summer grass.

The start of December brought snow and more snow, with freezing conditions down to -17oC. For us in the West this was life changing as the infrastructure ground to a halt at this unusual phenomenon. Thank goodness for the 4 wheel drive pick-up I purchased recently to get silage out to the fields. At least the snow stopped me complaining about its’ fuel consumption. Amid all this the sheep have never thrived better and trade has been excellent although costs are ever increasing.

The Lleyn breed for me has proved to be very prolific (scanning main flock 215%, lambs 170% this year), easy lambed with lively and hardy lambs. My policy is to house ewes in January prior to lambing from 1st March purely for my own convenience and to save on winter grass. With my job working days or nights it is good to know where the lambers are when one comes home. With lack of space in shed I had to lamb some outside in the very cold weather last winter with only a few fatalities. Ewes and ewe lambs are all lambed together in the one batch, again for convenience and this past year many lambed within the first two weeks of March. Ewes and lambs are put out the following day after lambing if weather suitable. Ewes are milky and fed concentrate 1.5 lbs three weeks prior to lambing to multiples and after lambing until grass comes. Singles are only fed meal at time of lambing to facilitate transfer of lambs on. Lambs are creep fed until grass comes and then finished off grass with no meal. All male lambs sold by late November, mostly to Marts this year. In past years the factory proved a good option with 95% of lambs grading U and R. Ewe lambs are sold privately for breeding at the Lleyn Society Club Sale at Ballymena and some retained as replacements. Prices this year have been excellent, male lambs averaging over £71 and females over £112, long may it last.

I culled a large number of my original ewes this year at 6-7 years old. They have lasted well - sorry to let them go but it is sensible to replace them with a ewe lamb at little extra cost.
Although ewes are totally pedigree Lleyn and a large % of income is gained from the sale of breeding stock I still run the flock on a commercial basis, creep feed only being fed until spring grass is available. Ewe lambs not with ram receive no winter concentrates at all. Sometimes, in unusual circumstances you have to throw the rule book out the window, as in the past few weeks when we got a good layer of snow and -17oC, and silage and nuts had to be fed.

Stock rams are never housed. They are out wintered with a little feed, receiving no feed during spring and summer but fed a couple of weeks before going to the ewes. This maintains them in a fit not fat condition able to cover 70 ewes.
Ewes are not flushed but run on whatever grass is available to keep lambing percentage manageable. From my past experience with other breeds multiple births were often not viable whereas with the Lleyn three lambs are strong, viable and easily reared on a ewe that received the same attention as a twin bearing ewe. Also in the past I required large volumes of cow colostrum but now I find ewes have lots of milk. Much use is made of adaptors for the transfer of lambs which is mostly successful.

I see the Lleyn as a profitable breed, easier managed with useful traits many of which have been highlighted by other flock owners.
In years past I would have said “we keep sheep” now I prefer to say “they keep us”.