William & Andrew Cowx: Bigger lambs will be starting to go over the weights

Andrew farms in partnership with Judith and I, while youngest son Adrian is an agricultural contractor and helps out at home when required.

Hudscales is a hill farm situated at the northern edge of the Lake District National Park, 1,000ft above sea level and looks down over the Eden Valley. The farm is 140hectares (350 acres) of mostly free-draining land over limestone and all down to grass.

We have extensive fell rights on the Caldbeck Fells. Since foot-and-mouth, when we lost all our heathed sheep, we have not exercised these rights. The farm carries a flock of Mule and Mule cross Texel ewes (put to Texel cross Beltex rams).

All lambs, except some flock replacements, are sold fat through the live auction with the aim of having all lambs off the farm without concentrates by mid-October.

We run 100 suckler cows, 70 are pedigree Limousin, the remainder being Limousin cross with calves being sold as stores at 10-12-months-old. Our aim is to have a self-maintained pedigree herd, only buying in stock bulls. Seventy cows, mainly the pedigrees, calve in spring, the remainder in September to October. The cows are wintered in cubicles and straw bedded courts and fed with a diet feeder. 

The last of the cows were turned out on May 25 after having their last BTV injection and the calves their first. During the last few days, we gave the calves a second BTV injection and four bulls have been turned out with the cows.

We hope this year is better than last, having had to take up two of our three stock bulls due to injury and having to resort to AI.

All sheds have been mucked out and washed and the silage pits are ready for this year’s crop, having been emptied for the first time in four years due to cattle being housed a month early last autumn.

By the time you read this, hopefully, the contractor will have completed this year’s silaging without too many problems.

We have had a lot of lame lambs this last two weeks so have run them through the footbath. Last year our lambs averaged £57, the first were sold in mid-June so we hope to have the bigger lambs over the weights in the next few days as we like them to go at 40-42kg.

We hope to average more than last year, but, as I write, prices have come back to nearly last year’s level.

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