8 minute read
Simple system suits Tynewydd
Simplicity the key for Tynewydd Deri Morgan - Brecon
From humble beginnings with just four ewes, Deri Morgan’s Tynewydd flock is now regularly among the big-hitters at commercial sales in the Welsh borders, achieving averages in excess of £1000 for pens of 20 plus rams on several occasions at the NSA Ram Sale, Builth Wells.
“We’ve bought no more females since those original four, having expanded the flock to its current numbers of about 110 ewes by keeping the best of our own gimmers and working away to improve the quality of what we have by selecting rams with the traits we needed at the time,” explains Deri who farms with assistance from his mother, Marjory, and sister, Wendy.
Farming 270 acres, much of which is in a Site of Special Scientific Interest, the Texel flock runs alongside a flock of 110 Lleyn ewes and a small suckler herd.
“The flock was founded in 1991 and as we started to see success selling rams the Texel flock gradually replaced the farm’s commercial ewe flock. It quickly became clear it would be a better way to go when we sold our first two shearling rams at Builth in 1993 for £500 each,” he adds.
As a keen young breeder Deri says the enjoyment and camaraderie at local shows was a big attraction in the early days of the flock. “We’ve pretty much given up showing these days, but there is still a really good local Texel community with several strong flocks in the area. The willingness to help other breeders hasn’t disappeared and that is one of the great things that stands out in the breed locally.”
Focussed on breeding strong, commercially relevant shearling tups for sale locally the Tynewydd flock has enjoyed success in the South Wales Texel Club flock competition on a number of occasions, first entering in 2005 and standing third in that first year before going on to be champion flock four times after that.
“The great thing about the flock competition is the feedback from the judges over the years. That first year we entered the advice was clear and concise. We had a flock with great conformation, correctness and carcasses, but lacked the extra sparkle and breed character to stand any higher.
“As a result, we went to Lanark and bought Haddo Lucky Strike for 3800gns. He really moved the flock on and in 2007 with his first crop of gimmers coming into the flock we won the Club flock competition for the first time and were All Wales champion flock too.”
But while there has been an increased focus on breed character Deri says the flock has stayed true to its aims in producing top end commercial tups. “That’s our bread and butter and while we have sold tups up to 4400gns, with others at 3000gns, the aim is to produce a level pen of tups that return a good average.
“We get a lot of pleasure in seeing our rams go away and do well for their buyers and it was particularly pleasing to see one of our rams sire the champions at the Royal Welsh Winter Fair for Adrian Roberts.
“Another of our tups went on to sire a Builth NSA champion for Elgan Jones’ Llwyngan flock and we recently sold a half share in Crannog Browser, a ram bred in my daughters’ flock to the Ballyglonney flock of the Creer family.
“We have always admired the Creers’ sheep, so to sell them a ram was a notable day for us,” he explains.
Latterly the flock has also made great use of performance recording, taking this tool on board in 2010 and developing the flock further with the aid of the information and insight gained.
“While it is a useful marketing tool and an increasing number of buyers are looking for texelplus information when sourcing rams, the real gain for us is the greater understanding we’ve got of our ewe flock and which ewes are the real performers.
“We’ve identified the lines which are really delivering in terms of their lambs and their own performance and have culled accordingly. Texelplus information allied with the insight we gained into mastitis and feet issues through involvement with the Society’s R&D initiative has made a big difference to the flock in recent years,” says Deri.
“Without a doubt we’ve been able to weed out a few problem ewes and families as a result and now have much fewer feet and udder issues than we used to.”
With the flock run on very commercial lines, all ewes are AI’d to lamb towards the end of February with the aim of a compact lambing period to tie in with Deri’s off-farm work.
“We use AI to tighten up lambing as a result have been able to share a few rams with other breeders as we need them for much less time than for natural service. We’ve also used a bit of ET in recent years to expand the best families as a result of the insight we’ve gained with texelplus,” he adds.
Notable sires in recent years include Arkle Pacific Star who was bought in 2009. “He’d been first the Great Yorkshire Show and really clicked with our females. His first 25 tups sold averaged £1200, really moving the flock up a gear.
“Scolton Unify is another that has left a legacy of strong females which click with a variety of tups. His daughter and granddaughters are proving to be tremendous breeders being productive and milky.
“Kimbolton Ba Ba Boom and Crannog Browser are both proving themselves good breeders at the moment and the first Firgrove Class Act lambs born this spring are looking promising too as are lambs by Claybury Churchhill.
When it comes to flock management Deri aims to keep things simple, with ewes only housed in the last few days before lambing and turned out to grass again with a couple of days of lambing. “Ewes receive homegrown oats through 3-in-1 feeders from three weeks before lambing and lambs don’t receive any creep feed and are run outside all winter on grass and turnips. Feed is then introduced to ram hoggs in late spring in order to bring them on for the sales.
“This helps keep costs down and ensures the sheep we sell will go on and thrive in any system anywhere,” says Deri.
And with the focus solely on selling shearling rams he believes it is a system which is working well. “We cull ewes hard to keep the flock young and ensure any problem sheep aren’t given a second chance.
“That helps keep flock management requirements low and allows us to enjoy working with the flock,” he adds.
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