CAFRE’s lowland sheep unit is located at Abbey Farm, close to the Greenmount Campus, Co Antrim. Breeding got under way with rams turned out to 225 ewes on 22 October, meaning lambing should start in mid-March.

Breeding ewe numbers are more or less on par with the number of ewes bred during autumn 2019.

Replacements are all sourced from the upland flock located at CAFRE’s Hill Farm, Glenwherry.

Around 50 hoggets are transferred into the lowland flock every year. These animals are bred from a Blackface/Texel ewe crossed to Lleyn rams. Replacement hoggets are crossed to Meatlinc rams.

Rams

Mature ewes are crossed back to Meatlinc rams, with all progeny taken through to slaughter.

Meatlinc rams are a composite sheep, derived from crossing five different breeds. The sheep are bred with terminal traits in mind and produce fast-growing lambs on a forage diet.

Compact lambing

The rams will run with mature ewes and replacements for two cycles before being removed.

This should make for a short, compact lambing period next March, with most ewes lambing over the course of two to three weeks.

Pre-breeding checks

Rams were given a thorough pre-breeding check before they were turned out to the ewes. Rams are also fitted with a raddle. This will provide a solid indication of breeding activity, which lasts for two cycles.

Ewes were also given a series of pre-breeding checks to improve conception rates. First off, ewes were foot bathed. Ewes also received a mineral bolus based on the results of routine blood sampling, as well as being fluke drenched to treat internal parasites.

Dung samples are taken throughout the spring and summer months to monitor parasite levels, which are then used to determine when dosing is required.

Housing

Ewes will remain at grass over winter. To aid management in the run up to and during lambing, ewes will be housed from mid-February onwards.

There are two sheep flocks currently at the CAFRE Hill Farm. The first flock consists of 350 Scottish Blackface ewes, which are crossed back to Blackface rams.

The second flock, or upland flock, consists of 200 Scottish Blackface ewes which are crossed to Swaledale and Texel rams, along with 550 crossbred ewes which are crossed with Lleyn, Texel and Meatlinc rams.

The breeding season got under way for all 1,100 ewes on 22 October 2020. The rams were released in stages over a two-week period from the outlined date.

Rams

As with the lowland flock, all rams at Hill Farm were also given a thorough pre-breeding check.

In total, there are 22 rams at the farm, which breaks down to seven Meatlinc, two Lleyn, five Texel, six Scottish Blackface and two Swaledale animals.

There were five new rams purchased in 2020 and each one was performance recorded.

Again, all rams are raddled to provide an indication of breeding activity, which will last for two cycles.

Replacements

All replacements for the Hill Farm flocks are homebred animals, with approximately 280 retained each year.

Ewe lambs will graze on marginal land throughout the winter months. As the farm is involved in environmental schemes, these animals are instrumental in ensuring the breeding wader site is adequately grazed over the winter months.

Breeding ewes

All ewes were foot bathed prior to breeding. After blood sampling animals, ewes received an iodine bolus and were fluke drenched prior to going to the ram.

Tupping takes place on the in-bye land at the farm. Weather permitting, the crossbred ewes are normally housed from late December to early January onwards.

OPA

A big aspect of flock management in recent years has been scanning all breeding ewes for ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma (OPA), more commonly known as Jaagsiekte.

This year, ultrasound scanning for OPA was carried out across both flocks in August.

Scanning results continue to show progress year on year, with a significant reduction in the number of positive cases of OPA since scanning started in 2018.

Lambing at the farm will start around 17 March. CAFRE students have a big involvement in lambing sheep on both the hill and lowland sheep units.

This provides valuable hands-on experience as part of the educational courses offered by the college.

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