Flying sheep-breeding trade on cards if grass comes >More in
A cold, dry spring has subdued talk of a red-hot breeding sheep trade this summer.
National flock size, lamb prices, demand for cull sheep and ewe hogg numbers slaughtered this year have all fuelled expectations of a strong trade later this summer.
However, very limited grass growth across the UK has eroded confidence slightly.
AHDB Grasscheck shows growth on beef and sheep farms in early May was at 25kg DM/ha a day, about half the average for the previous two years.
Exeter
Strong prices for rams, hoggs and shearlings at Exeter’s recent Dorset May fair bode well for sheep breeders later in the summer.
What’s your background? My grandfather was a dairy farmer at Ochiltree and decided, aged 60, that he needed a new challenge, so they took on a high hill farm at Newton Stewart. Palgowan had 25,000 acres and our family association with Blackface sheep started then. My father moved from there to Crossflatt in 1948, so I’ve been here all my life. I went to Aberdeen University from school to study Agriculture but always with the intention of coming home. At that time, we had 80 suckler cows along with the sheep and we had them until around 10 years ago, when the decision was made to disperse the herd because of my encroaching old age!
Morag Cockburn is first up for the Breeders : Background I was brought up at Cloverhill by my parents with my two sisters and brother and I helped dad around the farm from an early age. I have never really wanted to do anything else. I used to come home from school to chop and feed turnips for the suckled calves in winter, although the Easter holidays and lambing time was always my favourite time of year as a child. We had pure Blackies at Cloverhill, half of which were crossed to produce Scotch Mule ewe lambs. I enjoyed helping to bring them out for Lanark. We also had a heft of Cheviots which were dad’s pride and joy. Many a summer’s night was spent prepping them for local shows.
Establishing a viable agricultural business from scratch is far from easy, but share farming with a good working contract, is certainly working a treat for former freelance shepherd, Neil Sandilands. A finalist in the 2020 Sheep Farmer of the Year, Neil entered a shared partnership agreement with Jedburgh-based arable and livestock farmer, Stephen Withers, from Upper Hundalee, and his feet haven t touched the ground since. But, after much, blood, sweat and tears and some extremely long, long days, Neil who lives with his partner Lorraine Gotterson, and their young family of Harris (8) and Isla (5), admits they are making money having transformed what was once a mediocre commercial sheep unit into a extremely productive, progressive enterprise that has more than doubled in size.