Katie Evans

We have just finished the main lambing here at Stonehouse Farm. Everything is lambed extensively apart from the triplets who we lamb inside. The lleyns lamb in small blocks for ease of performance recording, every lamb is tagged and weighed at birth. This year we have paid extra attention to colostrum management and hygiene, using a refractometer to assess colostrum quality. Lambing has gone well and I’m currently enjoying a quieter couple of weeks before the ewe lambs and Hebrideans start lambing in April. 

Now lambing has finished its time to move the ewes and lambs!

May has been a busy month with Lleyn eight week weights and tagging and tailing all the cross bred and Hebridean lambs.

A couple of weeks ago I attended a British Wool Board shearing course which was a great experience and I’m looking forward to putting the training into practice.

We also had our second ambassador meeting which was a great opportunity to catch up with the other ambassadors post lambing and learn more about the UK sheep supply chain. Particular highlights of the trip for me were the tour of Marc Jones’ sheep and beef farm and the visit to Farmers Fresh. I look forward to the next meeting in July!

This seasons Lleyn lambs are performing very well considering how dry it is here in the East. Frequent weights on the XR5000 allow us to make judgements based on daily live weight gain. DLWG combined with mob FEC samples gives an indication of worm burden allowing us to use anthelmintics in a targeted and sustainable way. The majority of the male lambs are on target to be finished straight off their mothers in time for the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha. High EBV ram lambs have been marked up to retain for breeding.

I recently attended Groundswell which is an amazing show and I would highly recommend it if you have never been. I also attended an NSA farm tour of the Sandringham Estate, it’s an impressive set up with a lot of history! 

It won’t come as a surprise that the first thing that came to mind when I started writing this is how dry it is! It’s been a difficult summer but the sheep and cattle look surprisingly well! After a late June draw we weaned the rest of the male lambs onto creep and weaned the ewe lambs beginning of August. We have selected our replacements for the Lleyn flock based mainly on EBVs and selected  cross bred replacements on condition and extent of shedding. 

I’m excited to be writing this update in Canada. My sister and I are out here for a month travelling around BC and Alberta in a camper van. We’re planning to get on some farms/ranches later in the trip so I look forward to seeing how it’s done over here!