Case study: The lowland farmer from Maesmawr, Welshpool

In November, 200 Aberdales were put to a Charollais, 100 Mules to a Suffolk and 600 Suffolk Mules to a Texel. But there are 170 Aberdale ewe lambs on the farm, ready for tupping next autumn, and Mr Trant says numbers are likely to increase further in the future.

“I like the idea of having small ewes producing more,” he says. “Mules are so hungry - they are unbelievably hungry in comparison to these. You never realise it if all you’ve had is Mules. These are nice sheep to have and they are good doers.

Terminal sires

“What I quite like is I can ring up and say ‘I want this, this and this’ and what I’ll get will be good. We don’t have to spend hours at sales.”

Mr Trant takes this even further, using Innovis’ additional service of also buying terminal sires for farmers to use on the Aberdale ewes. He is also a big fan of the management advice he has been getting since buying from Innovis, particularly when it comes to grassland.

“You cannot turn these ewes out and treat them like other sheep - it’s a bit of a culture shock, seeing how well they do on so little,” he says, referring to the fact flushing Aberdales will result in a lot of lambs.

This has been taken advantage of at Maesmawr, with poorer quality grass used for ewes at tupping. This means there is more good grass for finishing lambs and in spring when ewes are turned out.

This has resulted in less cake being fed to ewes and lambs, says Mr Trant.

Mr Llewellyn says ewes hold their condition well, which means less additional feeding, and they are easier to run in large bunches than small.

Mr Jones says he had heard many reports of less cake being fed and, because it is hard to put a figure on it, has secured funding from the Welsh Government to pay 30 per cent of a £440,000

trial at Aberystwyth University to compare Aberdales, Mules and Welsh ewes lambing inside and outside.

It is because of this ability to lamb outside that Mr Trant is particularly keen on Aberdale ewes, saying if the economics of indoor lambing no longer stack up (which he thinks is very likely in a few years) he can easily switch to outdoor lambing.

In-lamb ewes are housed from early January (earlier if the weather is poor) and lamb in 20 days from April 1.

In 2008 the Aberdale averaged just over two lambs per ewe, but changes to management at tupping has resulting in a scanning percentage around 195 per cent, which is only a little higher than the Mules had been averaging for the last 20 years.

Mr Trant sells around 600 lambs each year deadweight to Waitrose, with the remainder going to Welshpool market. All lambs, regardless of their dam, are hitting the Waitrose specification ‘very well’, he says, despite the Aberdales being up to 10kg smaller.

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