2008 May Update
Despite the same problems as everyone else this lambing time, plenty of wet, cold days and no grass, we've a record number of Mule lambs on the ground and more than half of the Leicesters are tups!
There have been plenty of hiccups on the way however which started with our poorest results to date with frozen semen – less than 50%of ewes held. After an E.coli bug among the Mules in April we're now into double figures of mastitis cases this month.
It's always heart-in-mouth time when you enquire how the tups you sold last year have done but feedback this Spring cleared away some of the lambing blues. Gavin Douglas (N25 lamb), James Herdman (Y34 lamb),John Nicholson & David Johnson (X Factor lambs), Ken Shield, Ian Scott & Joseph Anderson (Firth lambs) and Barry Nichols (Z1 by Heddonvalley) are all very pleased with their purchases – or they're winding me up….
On the home front Xfactor is still out best crossing tup with 7 out of the 8 lambs in the show shortlist by him. Firth is as consistent as ever and a homebred shearling with a double cross of Nunscleugh breeding (by Y34 out of ewe hogg purchased from Harry Gass) is a real prospect for next year.
We were at our first Show this week, the Northumberland County, and came home with a few rosettes.
1st & 2nd for pairs, 2nd, 3rd, 6th & 7th with single Mule ewe lambs out of Blackfaces.
1st for pairs and 1st & 2nd for singles out of Swaledales.
1st & 2nd for tup lambs
Purchases have been the usual mixed bag, with two disappointments but a Breck House lamb from Hawes has done a good job with some very flashy Mule and Leicester lambs.
On the traditional ewes the Z1 lamb we sold for £1900 as Hexham Champion was used beforehand and he has bred very well for us and Barry Nicholls. Typically he died this Spring in Devon. We're pleased with the Heddonvalley lambs again but they're scarce – his semen was poor at AI time and we had to use frozen, with poor results. The best ewe lambs are by Arkleby, bought at the Hexham "picture" sale in September.
Anything else of interest? Well, we've exported 200 doses of "traditional" semen to the USA, which involved a first for our vet – testing sheep for TB! We've also joined the Signet recording scheme. So how will index'd tup lambs sell I wonder…..?
Swaledale bred lambs "au natural" (all by Xfactor)
The end result
Blackface-bred shortlist of show lambs
A day in the sunshine (4 by XFActor, 1 by Firth)
Off to the Show
Traditional tup lambs (outside 2 by Heddonvalley, middle 2 by Z1)
Crossing tup lambs
Tup hoggs