Celebrating 50 Years of the Lleyn Sheep Society in 2020
Colin & Pamela Davidson, Skaill Farm, Sandwick, Orkney Flock 1674
The Davidsons have recently taken the decision to make their flock Maedi Visna Accredited (MVA). Pam noted that previously she had taken sheep to the sales, being non MVA meant they had to be penned away from the majority of the sale and often sold through another ring. “By becoming MVA we are now part of the main sale penning area sold through the busier ring. I also wanted to see how our sheep stood up against other breeders, possibly with a view to selling tups and/or competing at shows. Read more [HERE]
Rob Wainwright, Cliad, Isle of Coll, Argyll
Rob comments that the Lleyn lambs produced are of a similar, if lighter, build to the Texel lambs. He finds it easy to mix them in a batch when selling. He is more than happy with the conformation produced by the Lleyn, with plenty of length and growth.
Lambing time takes place at Cliad indoors from 1st April, before the ewes and lambs are put out onto the inbye spring grass “if the geese have left us any!”. From there they move to the hill as the summer unfolds. Generally the flock scans at about 130%, and the ewes are fed East Coast Viners 18% ewe rolls from scanning in late January onwards to lambing. Read more [HERE]
Lleyn living with Floods & TidesJohn Kingan, Laneside Farm, Troqueer, Dumfriesshire, Flock 1615
Through selective breeding John is now seeing a scanning percentage annually of 185-195%. In 2017 the whole flock scanned at 193%, lambed 191% and weaned a viable 187%. John is happy with the prolificacy of the breed as it gives him plenty of lambs to sell. John generally runs the whole flock pure with Lleyn rams bought in as stock sires. For 2018 John has put some of the commercial flock to the Texel as an experiment although he is more than happy with the way his pure bred flock is working. Read more [HERE]
Lleyn perform as well as Scottish Blackface in the Scottish HighlandsSRUC’s Hill & Mountain Research Centre, at Kirkton & Auchtertyre farms near Crianlarich in Scotland, has received funding from the Scottish Government (RESAS) for the past 5 years to look at performance differences between breeds of sheep within one of our flocks, consisting of 300 Lleyn and 600 Scottish Blackface ewes.
Read more [Here]
Nice and SimpleJ.M. Aiken, Carlophill Farm, Carlops, Penicuik, Scotland
Willie Aiken and his father John farm at Carlophill Farm. They have 1000 acres from 900 – 1700ft, ranging from wet heather hills down to peat and clay fields which are better suited to a dry summer. “We get a lot of rain in this part of the world” states Willie. They farm 930 Lleyn and Lleyn cross ewes which are all put to the Lleyn ram for early April lambing as part of this commercial system. Alongside the sheep they farm 190 Saler cows. Willie states that he wants a life. Therefore the livestock have to work around him so that he can have a life at the weekends. [Read more]
Laga Farms - Where the number of lambs matters!Laga Farms Ltd, Evie, Orkney Flock 971
When you look at a map of the UK look as far north as you can and a bit further and you come to the Orkney Islands. This is the home of Laga Farms Ltd, flock 971. This family run business consists of brothers Michael and Martin Cursiter. Michael’s son Sean works at home when he is not away shearing and Michael’s wife Ruth works alongside him whilst also juggling a job at their children’s nursery. [More]
To me it seemed obvious that we were playing a numbers game, and not giving ourselves enough time to identify inefficiencies and problem ewes" says Janet. So they set about thinking how they could reduce ewe numbers whilst keeping productivity up and altogether running an entirely more efficient system. Being a closed flock, she wanted to find a breed that would produce ewe lamb replacements without having to go through the two-tier system associated with mule breeding, and a breed that was more prolific and had a better wether lamb so that more lambs could go away finished rather than store. [More]
Lleyn may not be the biggest or the showiest of breeds, but, these increasingly popular sheep, which in the 1970's were classified a rare breed, are now common place on upland and low ground units alike, as flockmasters are forced to continually cut costs to make ends meet. And, as 2013 fast approaches, and with it, the proposal that single farm payments be phased out, we could see an ever increasing number of these white Welsh sheep adorn our landscape in years to come."The Lleyn is the breed that produces the greatest net margin on our land, and it's the one that is most likely to leave a profit without subsidies," said Duncan Allison, who farms in partnership with his mother Nancy at Anston farm, Dunsyre, Lanarkshire. [More]
Falling demand for Suffolk cross lambs out of their Scotch Half-Bred flock left a Borders farming family with no choice but to look at other options. A brief encounter with the Lleyn breed took their farming in a new direction. Coincidence brought the Lleyn breed and the Mitchells, a Borders farming family together, fulfilling their need for an easy to manage sheep that combined the ability to produce good quality meat lambs and to produce good females for breeding flock replacements. [More]
When the Lleyn was suggested, and its proven achievements discussed, Mr Stewart admits: “It just all seemed too good to be true. We asked ourselves if the Lleyn really could solve all our problems and make it seem so simple.” [More]
Much has happened in the life of Derek Steen over the last decade, Derek has been firmly focussed on the type of sheep he wants to breed "I'm aiming to breed sheep with maternal qualities, sheep which will produce and rear plenty of good shaped lambs with minimal shepherding. When buying a breeding tup, I look for strong maternal characteristics in his bloodline history. Visually I consider skin, conformation and correctness. [More]
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