Page 14 - Commercial Suffolks 2019

Suffolk’s Commercial Edge

on the LLeyn Peninsula

The Suffolk underpins the sheep enterprise for Alan Williams at Aberd-
aron on the westernmost point of the Lleyn Peninsula in North Wales.
The micro climate afforded by the Jet Stream means the 800 acre unit
is ideally suited for early lamb production and the family keeps the
system as extensive as possible.
Alan together with his wife, Catrin, and their sons, Dafydd, Wiliam and Ieuan, run 1300
Suffolk x Suffolk Mule ewes on the lowland farm, along with 500 cattle and 90 acres of
barley grown for their own feed. He has opted for the Suffolk with its early maturing, but
also because it is a good carcass ewe and achieves a good cross with the Texel.
The family buys in 350 Suffolk yearling ewes each August from three local markets,
sourcing from the same farms each year. The ewes are flushed and go to a Texel ram on
5th September to lamb the first week of February.
He says: “The cross bred Suffolks are still the favourite in this area for early lambing pro-
duction. We’re quite lucky here with the climate. We have got grass at that time of year
because it’s usually been a mild winter.

The fields will have been kept for about three months with no sheep on them. It’s very
good early growing grass here. We use high sugar grasses, the Abers, and then this
year we were very fortunate and fertilised the grass before the ewes went out because
it was favourable weather.
We try and get out with the first dose of fertiliser in February. This year we didn’t feed the
ewes at all after turnout because there was enough grass - it all depends on the season.”
Alan says the hybrid vigour afforded by crossing with the Texel means they get the best
out of the Suffolk. The ewes are wormed as they are turned out after lambing and they
are dipped once a year with PourOn which is also used in a bad year for fly strike.
The ewes are out until four to six weeks before lambing. They’re brought in around Christ-
mas time with the exact date varying according to the weather. They will have been vac-
cinated against toxoplasmosis and enzootic abortion when they are bought as yearling
ewes.
They are vaccinated against footrot two months and then a month before coming in and
run through a footbath every week in the shed. Once in, the sheep are fed a TMR, with the
ration of soya, maize and grass silage adjusted according to the advice of a nutritionist.

12 Commercial SUFFOLKS – AUTUMN 2019