Patrick Goldsworthy +44 1480 812758 07711 416312 patrick@goldsworthy-uk.com Meat the flock...

Patrick Goldsworthy+44 1480 812758

07711 416312patrick@goldsworthy-uk.com

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