Texels bring multiple benefits Geoff And Joe Lang - Bishopsteignton, Devon
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eoff and Joe Lang are phasing out their Suffolk x Mule breeding ewes and replacing them with Texel x Mule ewes at Higher Humber Farm, Bishopsteignton, Devon.
Superior grades at heavier weights from the white-headed lambs have been the deciding factor. And quieter sheep have made the 500-head flock easier to manage and handle. “It was immediately obvious more of the Texel cross lambs were grading as Es and Us than the Suffolk crosses,” explains Joe Lang. “When you see the figures back from the abattoir it was very clear what needed to change. “Before, when we were selling mainly Suffolk cross lambs, I would be excited to get a U grade back as they were mostly Rs. Now, with the Texel cross lambs, if I get an R grading I am pretty disappointed.” Lambs are finished without creep straight off grass at 213m (700ft) above sea level on medium red sandstone about two miles in country above the Teign estuary on ground which tends to dry out during the summer months. First pick usually occurs 12 weeks from lambing with finished lambs throughout the season averaging 40-42kg liveweight and 19-21kg deadweight at ABP, Yetminster, Somerset. There might not be a great difference in weight between the Suffolk cross lambs and the Texel crosses, but the latter’s superior gradings return 15p/kg more than the former. “As the Texel cross lamb does not have such heavy bone as the Suffolk they might take a couple weeks longer to finish, but the end result is always better both in terms of grading and the financial return.”
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Texels are providing both premium quality slaughter lambs and easily managed ewes, says Geoff Lang.
By Christmas just a handful of hoggets were left to sell through Exeter market. These returned in the early £80s/head. A further 50 stores were also sold prior to ewes being housed for lambing. These were nearly finished weighing in at 36kg liveweight and averaged £80/head. The flock is now based on North Country Mules put to a Texel. Lambing starts on 25th January and finishes at the end of March when 70 full mouth ewes are lambed outdoors. Any ewe lambs from these ewes are kept as replacements. “We only breed our replacement ewe lambs from the older ewes,” says Geoff.
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