Embracing change has been one of the positive outcomes of the agricultural industry’s recovery from the foot and mouth crisis and for a family who found themselves in the teeth of the outbreak, that change meant establishing a flock of Lleyn sheep.
John Dugdale was determined to waste no time in re-stocking his 900-acre dairy, beef and sheep unit at Borrins Farm, Settle, North Yorkshire but while he planned no change to the Holstein dairy cows and beef stock, when it came to the sheep flock it was a very different story.
The Lleyn had already made an impression through its reputation for easy management; with decisions to be made over-re-stocking it seemed the ideal opportunity to give the breed a try.
The purchase of 200 Lleyn shearling ewes - bought in Cumbria and left there until the re-stocking at Borrins Farm could get underway – was a significant move for the Dugdale family and one that would transform the future policy of their sheep enterprise. They added another 380 females purchased from a video-sale to strengthen their new flock’s foundation.
John and Ruth Dugdale, their son James and daughter Claire, now run 1000 ewes alongside the 110 Holstein cows plus followers and 200 head of beef cattle bought-in as stores. Although the sheep flock includes around 250 Mules and 120 Texel x Lleyn ewes, it’s the 700 Lleyn that are the mainstay of the family’s sheep business.
“Five year’s down the line and I’m convinced we made the right decision to set up a Lleyn flock. I can think back to last spring when we’d got 120 lambing ewes in an 80-acre pasture at 1000ft and it was blowing a blizzard. They certainly weren’t ideal conditions for lambing ewes but the Lleyn ewes were just getting on with it, all with two lambs apiece and taking it in their stride with no fuss. What more can you ask of any breed?” says John Dugdale.
The flock grazes land up to 1200ft. Pre-tupping management involves no flushing and the farm’s policy is to run a high ratio of ewes with each ram. “We’ve been known to run 100 ewes with a ram. It’s a gamble, but if the ram is fit and healthy it’s not too much of a risk. At this ratio we’ve had up to 28 ewes marked in the first 24-hours but even our usual number would be 80 ewes to a ram.”
Lleyn ewes are run in large groups on the higher ground throughout the winter and offered big-bale silage from early December. Pregnancy scanning hadn’t been undertaken at Borrins farm until this year but John and James Dugdale are now convinced it’s a worthwhile cost.
“I’m not convinced there’s a huge saving on feed, although your feed is being targeted to the right sheep. The biggest saving in our opinion is at lambing time when you can group ewes together and manage them according to how many lambs they’re carrying,” says James.
From January onwards the flock is fed some sugar beet pulp – about 0.5lb a head a day – which is gradually increased to 1lb during February. By early March the flock’s rationing is switched to a concentrate which is fed at the conventional rate of up to 1lb a head by lambing time. A little concentrate continues to be fed for several weeks after lambing.
The exceptional milking ability of the Lleyn was made clear to John and James Dugdale right from the start. “When the first 200 shearlings arrived here in February 2002 they were turned on to silage aftermaths that were carrying nine inches of grass from the year before.
“The 200 ewes had been wintered fairly tightly and fed big bale silage. They’d been tupped in four groups and when we got them home we continued to run them in those groups. It took us a month to get the ewes to take any extra concentrates but within 10 days of lambing we had to stop feeding because these shearlings just had too much milk.
“We’d never had to do that before. They were tremendous milkers and very diligent mothers who stuck to a particular patch of ground with their lambs,” recalls John Dugdale.
Size, in terms of height, isn’t something the Dugdales regard as a priority in their Lleyn sheep. “We don’t want tall sheep but we do want a Lleyn that’s got good depth of body and plenty of capacity with good legs and feet. Tight wool is very important to us and even though we sell most of our prime lambs deadweight, a tight skin is still something we strive for.”
Although some females are now being sold each year from the Borrins flock, the primary income source is from prime lambs – most of which are sold deadweight through Dunbia based at Sawley, near Clitheroe, Lancashire.
“I’m completely convinced that the pure-bred Lleyn can produce lambs to match the Texel x Mule for grade and almost achieve the same weight - although they may take a week or two longer to get there,” says John Dugdale.
Their marketing specification is for lambs between 18-21kg. All male lambs are left entire. Lambs are weaned in late August and turned on to silage aftermaths; they quickly produce the first marketable lambs of the season by early September.
“On this type of limestone farm we’d even struggle to draw a Texel x Mule lamb straight off the ewe. They’d have the size but not the weight and it’s the same with the pure-bred Lleyn lambs.”
The majority of pure Lleyn prime lambs are ach
ieving R grade with a few O+ and some U. These grades are sustained throughout the late autumn and early winter months as lambs are moved around the farm on clean pasture. Most are sold by Christmas.
“We don’t trough feed these lambs. Because we have dairy, beef and sheep we have 200 acres of mowing ground which gives us hay and silage aftermaths to keep grass in front of these lambs for several months.”
The “bottom end” of the flock that isn’t considered good enough for pure breeding is put to Texel tups. Some Texel x Lleyn females are retained and put back to the Texel to produce threequarter-bred Texel lambs.
“The Texel x Lleyn are wonderful ewes and produce excellent lambs. They are easy to farm and take after the Lleyn for being easily managed,” says John Dugdale.
He reckons there’s a good opportunity for some Lleyn ewes - and even draft ewes - to appeal to commercial sheep producers considering crossing with a continental tup and retaining the female progeny.
“It’s something the breed should not be afraid of promoting. It won’t detract from the appeal of the pure-bred Lleyn but it will open up a new market among more commercially minded buyers.”
One of the appeals of the Lleyn to John and James Dugdale was the breed’s ability to reduce flock depreciation costs through its ability to generate its own replacements.
“This is an upland farm and it’s important for us to keep a young flock. There’s a tremendous opportunity for the breed to extol the virtues of the draft Lleyn ewe. If she hits some grass on kinder ground she’s got years of production ahead of her with all the added advantages of wearability and easy care.”
The Lleyn is certainly living up to expectations at Borrins Farm which has been in the Dugdale family for four generations.