Popularity growing for Blue Texel sheep

Seeing the potential for Blue Texel sheep to become used in commercial flocks in Northern Ireland was the main reason Andy and Janet Carson decided to establish their own pedigree flock in 2006. Little Whisker Blue Texels began when five pedigree ewes and a ram were imported from the Netherlands to their farm near Castlederg, Co Tyrone.

Compared with traditional Texel sheep, Blue Texels have finer heads, shoulders and legs, which makes for easier lambing. Janet also insists that when lambs are born they are quick to get to their feet and suckle, which greatly reduces the workload at lambing.

Although bone structure is finer, animals at slaughter predominantly grade E or U and killout percentage is consistently 50% to 53%, due to the muscular shape of crossbred progeny from a Blue Texel ram.

“A fully grown Blue Texel looks quite like a mix between a traditional Texel and a Beltex,” Janet said.

The most distinct characteristic of the breed, however, is the dark colour of the head and fleece with strikes of white and blue. The colour is caused by the Agouti gene, which is recessive, so both parents need to have the gene to display the coloured characteristics.

The recessive nature of the gene means that crossing a Blue Texel to a traditional commercial flock will result in over 90% of progeny being white in colour.

“A poor price for the wool of a blue sheep is the only disadvantage to breeding pedigrees, but this is not an issue for the majority of progeny when crossbreeding in commercial flocks,” Andy said.

Although Blue Texels are classified as terminal sires, Janet maintains that they make good mothers with plenty of milk leading to impressive growth rates in lambs. They are also very docile.

The breed began in the Netherlands in the 1970s, but the Blue Texel Sheep Society was not formed in the UK until 2003. In last 10 years, the number of members has increased from eight to 180.

This trend is also carried through in the show ring, with, for example, 140 Blue Texel sheep entered in last year’s Royal Welsh show across six categories. Janet and Andy were also in England last month judging the breed at the Royal Three Counties Show and, locally, Castlewellan and Omagh shows have this year opened a Blue Texel category.

“We aim to keep supplying local commercial sheep farmers as all reports from customers so far have been very positive, but we would like to be exporting to continental Europe in the future also. We have a high flock health status as we are scrapie-monitored, Maedi Visna-free and Schmallenberg-vaccinated,” said Janet.

The Little Whisker flock is made up of 20 breeding ewes and is expanding. This is the first year Andy and Janet will be selling ewe lambs, as well as rams. There is a further consignment of 10 hoggets and two rams from a Dutch farm due to join the flock shortly.

Control and monitoring are essential for optimal grass production and utilisation as well as avoiding anthelmintic resistance on sheep farms, according to the speakers at National Sheep Association (NSA) event last Monday.

The biennial event attracted large crowds to view over 100 trade and breed society stands, as well as to listen to seminars covering a range of issues related to sheep farming.

Speaking at one of the seminars, Philip Creighton, a grassland science researcher from Teagasc, emphasised the importance of making the most from grazed grass. A research study currently ongoing in Athenry, Co Galway involving 60 ewes per treatment, is investigating stocking rates of 10, 12 and 14 ewes/ha and prolificacy of 1.5 and 1.8 lambs weaned per ewe.

The research has shown that, on average, increasing stocking rate by two ewes per hectare increases carcase weight produced per hectare by 58kg, which equates to an increase in gross margin of £39/ha.

Increasing prolificacy by 0.2 lambs weaned per ewe increases carcase produced per hectare by 51kg, but the rise in gross margin is much higher at £118/ha.

Philip said this was because increasing prolificacy enables costs to be spread over more lambs, whereas increasing stocking rate, allows more lambs sold and an improved gross margin, but costs increase also.

Supplementary feed

For example, supplementary feed (total concentrates and additional silage) allocated for each treatment was 0.85kg, 1.96kg and 6.2kg per kilo of carcase for 10, 12 and 14 ewes/ha, respectively. However, there was no significant difference in supplementary feed across different levels of prolificacy.

In terms of soil fertility and grassland management, Philip estimated said that 90% of soils tested are sub-optimal for phosphorous, potassium and pH. As a result, grass production can increase on many farms by improving the soil nutrient status, while utilisation can be improved by adopting systems that allow flexibility and control of grazing, such as temporary fencing systems.

“Every farm is different and each farmer needs to know the grass production potential of their own farm to achieve the optimum stocking rate and maximum grass utilisation,” said Philip.

On the subject of internal parasites in sheep and anthelmintic resistance, Gemma Daly, from CAFRE, said that the right strategy implemented now can delay resistance and sustain the effectiveness of many current products.

Studies have shown that up to 80% of UK lowland sheep have worms that are resistant to group one or white anthelmintics. On most flocks, resistance is only detected when at least 50% of the worms in the sheep are resistant, known as the red zone. Conducting faecal egg counts before treatments and then a few weeks afterwards can help to indicate percentage resistance before the problems escalate.

Three steps to avoid resistance are:

The annual Beltex crossbred carcase competition and farm open evening are due to take place on 31 July. The carcase competition will be held at Dunbia, Dungannon, with the open evening on the Palmer family farm in Glenarm later that day.

The competition is organised by Irish Beltex Sheep Breeders Club and is supported by the Beltex Sheep Society, Dunbia and AB Europe. The total prize fund for the event is £550 with prizes for the first 10 places in the Beltex crossbred pairs category and a cash prize for best individual carcase.

To enter, contact Colin Barnes at colin_a_barnes@hotmail.co.uk or 028-8775 8383. For more on the open evening, contact John Harbinson at glenkeenlivestock@hotmail.com or 078-4395 7718.

Sat 18 July

Mon 20 July and Mon 3 August

Wed 22 July

Fri 24 July

Sat 25 July