THE SHEEP

It has to be said that sheep are our thing, and over the years, we have had every kind imaginable.

These days the vast majority of our sheep are commercial-type crossbreds. A type that we breed specifically for us. We take Lleyn-type ewes and cross them with a Texel ram. This gives us a nice milky maternal ewe that has the ability to produce a high-quality meaty carcass. The majority of the ewe lambs that we produce are kept to build our flock for the future. Any male lambs are castrated for management purposes and then fattened to create our grass-fed lamb.

When our ewes reach the end of their working lives for us, rather than sending them off to market, we feel that it is more respectful and sustainable for them to be used for mutton.

Besides our commercial flock, Joshua runs a small flock of pedigree Blue Texels with aspirations to make a big splash on the show scene.

Our aim is to manage our sheep with the minimum of impact. We try to cause them the least amount of stress, a calm sheep is a happy sheep. Obviously, a certain level of management is required to maintain a happy and healthy flock. However, we do try and keep our use of chemical treatments to the bare minimum.

Instead of a regular whole flock worming program, we carry out faecal worm egg counts. Along with the support of our vets, this allows us to target any required worm treatments, thus helping us to manage any worm resistance.