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Sheep and Goats |
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Sheep
| The farm owns 80 ewes. Mostly Suffolk crosses, the flock also includes a proportion pedigree Lleyns. At present we have 3 rams – all pedigree. |
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In addition we have 4 Leicester Longwool ewes and a ram donated by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.
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Breeding
The suffolk x ewes are mated with the charallais ram to produce a terminal lamb. All the lambs from this mating are sold for meat.
The best performing lleyn ewes are mated with the pedigree ram to produce replacements for the flock. The other ewes are crossed with the suffolk ram. The female progeny from this cross are kept and crossed with the charollais ram to lambs which are all sold for meat.
GoatsThe farm keeps Anglo-Nubian and British Togganburg nannies, with a number of kids and goatlings, and one billy. They are housed inside during the winter but let out to grass during the summer. The billy is kept separate except at mating time in August and September. Assuming all goes well the nannies produce kids in January.
The female kids are sold for breeding. The male kids are castrated and sold as pets or for meat.
The goats provide a good example of a milk producing ruminant. They are used for milking demonstrations to the school pupils and also visitors. Goats milk freezes well and is a good source of colostrum at lambing time. Fresh goat's milk is also used for rearing orphan lambs and sometimes calves.
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