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Sheep and Goats |
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Sheep
| The farm owns 80 ewes. Mostly Suffolk and Mule crosses, the flock includes 18 pedigree Lleyns being the first cohort of a new breeding flock. Presently we have 3 rams – all pedigree: 2 Charollais and 1 Lleyn. |
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We have recently received 4 Leicester Longwool ewes and their 5 lambs from the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.
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Breeding
The suffolk x ewes are mated with the charallais ram to produce a terminal lamb. All the lambs from this mating are sold for meat.
The mules are mated with the suffolk ram to produce a suffolk x lamb which is subsequently mated with the charallais ram to produce a terminal lamb.
The best performing lleyn ewes will be mated with the pedigree ram to produce replacements for the flock. The other ewes are crossed with the suffolk ram. The female progeny from this cross are kept and crossed with the charallais ram to lambs which are all sold for meat.
GoatsThe farm keeps 4 Anglo-Nubian nannies, 4 female kids, 3 billy kids and one billy. They are housed inside during the winter but let out to grass during the summer. The billy is kept separate except at mating time in September. Assuming all goes well the nannies produce kids in January.
The female kids are sold for breeding. The male kids are castrated and sold as pets or for meat.
The goats provide a good example of a milk producing ruminant. They are used for milking demonstrations to the school pupils and also visitors. Goats milk freezes well and is a good source of colostrum at lambing time. Fresh goat's milk is also used for rearing orphan lambs and sometimes calves.
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