Handbanktexels - texel01 |
2010 Update
Like most sheep farmers last year, we had a good year last year in terms of prices, doing particularly well at both Skipton and Builth Wells, where our averages were well up on previous years. In private sales, we were pleased to supply a new customer on a large estate in Herefordshire with 5 shearling rams, and our regulars closer to home continued to support us. The 2009 lamb crop were scanned at the beginning of July and the trend is definitely upwards in nearly all areas, especially in scan weight EBV, gigot EBV and our overall average index has moved up from 266 to 295, putting us comfortably in the top 5% of recorded Texel flocks. (After the August BLUP run we will add the 2010 details.) Later in July 2009, at Great Yorkshire Show, we took 2 ram lambs and one lamb for the carcase competition. We managed a 5th. prize in the carcase competition, 3rd. prize in the Recorded Ram Lamb class, and our grand-daughter Clara won the Under 10 Young Handler class with the other ram lamb. The 3rd. prize ram lamb, Handbank Prince Charming (PRH09 813) has been retained in the flock and semen has been collected from him, some of which is going to Norway later this year. (He was named by our grand-daughter!) The rams we chose to use at AI this time were:-
In addition to using one of our own stock sires, Handbank Kilwillie PRH04 265 we also borrowed a lamb from Jack Lucas, as a sweeper. His details are:-
Since the last write-up, apart from going through the brutal winter that most sheep farmers suffered, we have also had other things happening. Anne went into hospital in October to have two knee replacements, which meant that she spent more time indoors at lambing time than usual (helping in other ways such as record-keeping and cooking for the workers!). However, at lambing time this year, in contrast to last year's multitude of singles, we had many more twins and overall a much better lambing percentage. Despite the bad weather and poor grass levels this spring, the lambs have grown well and the 8-week and 21-week weights have been pleasing. This week we took 6 lambs to be CT scanned at Sutton Bonington, and their results will be incorporated into the first BLUP run in wk. beginning 2nd. August. One piece of news that is very gratifying is that a ram we sold as a shearling in 2007 to a Lancashire vet, Norman Johnson, has been selected for the EBLEX Ram Linkage Programme for 2010. He is Handbank Madoc (PRH06 435). He came 10th. in the Top Stock Sires List for 2009 with an index of 384 and is in the top 1% of the scheme. 2009 Update Although last year was a difficult year once again for most sheep producers, with the threat of Bluetongue hanging over the industry once more, for us it meant that we succeeded in selling the majority of our shearling rams from home, and six of the seven rams entered for Builth were sold to one buyer. So for the first time in many years, we did not make the long trip to Powys for the Builth Wells sale. This made preparing for AI (and not having to pull sponges at 5.0 a.m. when you've just got back from Builth @ midnight!) so much easier. The rams we chose to use at AI were:-
We also used one of our stock sires, Handbank Kilwillie, PRH 04 265, along with two of our own ram lambs to act as sweepers. The ram lambs were:-
Last autumn, we sold more females than in previous years. This included 9 shearling ewes going to a new breeder in County Durham, three to a local breeder, a group of 21 ewes and shearlings, plus 5 ewe lambs, to another Sheffield sheep producer, and 10 ewe lambs to Leyburn Sale. In addition, we sold 4 aged ewes and 9 ewe lambs at the Skipton Female Sale in December, where we were also lucky enough to win 1st.and 2nd. prize in the ewe lamb class. The reason for this major reduction was in order to make room for the ponies which our son Joe and his wife Alex, and their two young daughters have brought with them when moving up to South Yorkshire just before Christmas. They now live in the farmhouse, and we---the old folks---live in a barn conversion on the farm (specially designed for the zimmer frame era!) Lambing started as usual around Valentine's Day, but this year it was much easier with the extra help around. Having grumbled last year about having too many triplets, this year we seem to have had more than our fair share of singles---something many other breeders commented on, and which we think may relate to the unusually wet, wintry weather last autumn. Nevertheless, the ones we have are looking good, particularly in terms of conformation and tight skins. We'll wait to see the results after the 21-week scan and will include information about these results later in the summer. (We have only recently submitted the 8-week weights). This year for the first time there will be a mobile CT scanner at Sutton Bonington, near Nottingham and we hope to take our five best ram lambs there at the end of July. As regards flock health, every sheep on the farm had a Bluetongue jab at the end of March and all the lambs are now in the Heptavac P+ system. We also put the lambs through the foot-bath as a protection against scald, and the shearling rams and ewes are being brought into the Footvax system again. Background Information Since first moving to the farm in 1982, Bob and Anne Payne have been breeding Texels. We first became interested in breed improvement in 1986 when we recorded through the "within flock" Sheep-breeder programme with MLC, and later joined the "across flock" Elite Texel Sires programme run by Signet. We are committed to producing good quality shearling rams and ram lambs which not only have good conformation, but also have good growth rates and muscle depths. These will then be capable of producing prime lambs for commercial sheep farmers, who always need to command the best prices available. Over the years, we have selected our replacements carefully and are now at a stage where the flock is maintaining a greater consistency, and the results show a regular flow of rams with high EBV's for both growth and muscle. Our ram, Handbank Jack the Lad, was selected as a Reference Sire with the old ETS in 2003 and the following year was a recommended sire for the newly formed Recorded Texels. At present he has 435 progeny in 21 flocks across England, Wales and Scotland, but he also has sons and daughters in Minnesota USA, Belgium and Northern Ireland. (The details of some of his sons can be seen in the tables below.)
We sell our tups mainly at the Skipton, Builth Wells and Bakewell ram sales, but also we sell some directly from the farm. We welcome visitors who want to come and see them, and they are under no obligation to buy. Normally, it is not our intention to sell ram lambs as commercial farmers choose shearling rams because they have more size and scope, but if visitors come looking for ram lambs, we will sell them. (In addition, we have shearling ewes for sale.) 2008 Up-date Last year, as usual, the sale season coincided with the start of the breeding season, and September was a very busy month. The rams we chose to use at AI were:-
We also used our own stock sires on some ewes, and later used them as sweepers, along with two of our own ram lambs. (This helps us to achieve a tighter lambing pattern.) When we scanned at the end of November, we were alarmed to find we had no less than 15 sets of triplets, and 3 sets of quads. You can have too much of a good thing! Winter was kind to us but Spring was less so, with too much cold and rain and slow grass growth. The grass eventually arrived and the 8-week weights were very encouraging. More recently, we did our 21-week weighings and ultra-sonic scanning and have had some pleasing results, particularly with growth rates. The high EBV's for growth seem to be coming through to this year's lamb crop. Due to movement restrictions relating to Bluetongue regulations, we were unable to send any lambs to Edinburgh for CT scanning, but hope to do so again next year. Nevertheless, we have learned that one of our ram lambs has been placed 8th. out of all recorded Texel ram lambs this year with an index of 388. In addition, there are a further 6 ram lambs with an index of 320+. Publicity Earlier in the year, Innovis asked us to write an article for their Semen Catalogue on why we had found the use of AI valuable to our flock. The following is a selection of some of the details:- "In general terms however, using AI has meant that we have been able to gain access to semen from rams acknowledged to be genetically superior at a price that is more accessible to us, and consequently we have seen significant improvements in terms of growth rate and muscle depth over the years. As a result, our rams have been selected to take part in a number of trials in the past, the most recent being:-
In addition, our genetic improvements have meant that we have been able to sell semen from our own ram, Jack the Lad. His progeny now number 400 in 19 flocks in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, but he also has progeny in Minnesota, USA and in Belgium. (Unfortunately, some of his rams died last year in the Bluetongue outbreak in Belgium. This is also a timely and sobering reminder that it is good policy to freeze semen from any stock sires felt to have high genetic merit.)
The attached graph, prepared for us by Sam Boon of Signet, shows the improvements expressed in terms of economic benefits. He also writes "In 10 years you have increased the value of Handbank Texel sired lambs by £1.71p. per lamb dropped. Assuming one of your Texel rams leaves 75 lambs per year for 3 years, this is an extra £385 per ram over their working lifetime. This more than justifies a commercial producer's investment in a Handbank recorded Texel ram. Also, in 2007 nearly 75% of Handbank ram lambs earned a coveted Gold EBLEX Order of Merit, indicating their genetic merit was within the top 10% of the Texel breed."
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