Sheep

Sea eagle predation along Scotland’s western seaboard is becoming a rapidly increasing threat to hill farming as lamb losses mount.

Just under 3,000 sheep went under the hammer at the NSA Wales and Border main ram sale held at Builth Wells and a new record was set for the overall average. Hannah Noble reports.

The Prime Minister has announced lamb will be able to be exported to the US for the first time in decades despite the President playing down the prospects of a US-UK trade deal

Badger Face Welsh Mountain breeders witnessed a new breed record of 1,700gns for a Torddu ram at Brecon.

As Cumbria enjoyed a two-day heatwave, record numbers of sheep competed at the Westmorland County Show and the cattle rings were graced with the presence of Princess Anne and Sophie Countess of Wessex.

A new step-by-step guide to quarantine testing and treatments has been created by the Sustainable Control of Parasites in Sheep (SCOPS) group.

It was a day to remember for the Owens family’s Woodhouse flock, Presteigne, at the Kerry Hill sale at Ludlow.

THE Solway and Tyne Texel Breeders Club sale at Carlisle topped at 70,000gns for the second prize ram lamb and reserve overall champion, Bradleys Eubank.

With current subsidy payments gradually being phased out, there will be little margin for error for sheep farmers. Maximising productivity and efficiency will become increasingly critical to business resilience, and farmers will need to seek every opportunity to make incremental gains in flock performance.

Nine years ago Mark and Tracy Weekes’ cattle enterprise at Silverton, near Exeter in Devon was devastated by bTB leading to a change in direction for the business. Rebecca Jordan reports.