new rams

September is the time to start thinking about the breeding season ahead, about which ewes are in the correct condition to breed for another year and which rams need to be replaced. The rams will join with the ewe at the beginning of November and will be required to serve (mate) about 45 ewes each, so they need to be in tip top condition. This year I needed to bring in four new rams, and have decided to pursue a slightly different breeding approach for the next few years.

In 2009 I experimented with a couple of ‘Blue Faced Leicester’ rams on my Romney ewes. The Blued Faced Leicester is a strange breed as it is amongst the ’softest’ of  sheep (meaning that it takes a lot of looking after, and can easily perish in bad weather) But when crossed with other breeds, usually hill breeds,  it produces ewe lambs that are prolific and produce plenty of milk, whilst being reasonably  hardy.

The experiment seems to have worked as I’m pleased with the ewe lambs that we have produced, and even the lambs male lambs have sold well in market. So this year I decided that all of the rams coming into the flock would be ‘Blue Faced Leicester’ It feels like a big decision to make as the poor grazing around Mortehoe and the harsh winter weather mean that I do need to maintain the hardiness of flock, but this new cross should produce more lambs each year, and can be crossed back the the hardy Romneys in years to come.

Blue Faced Leicester rams