Royal Highland Show

Hi all
Sorry I have not written a blog for a while but this one is about the Royal Highland Show (RHS). The RHS is one of the oldest shows that I know. It is the biggest in Scotland and every farmer knows about it.
What a surprise, it was raining. Typical British weather!! To be precise it never stopped raining and the organising team from the RHS had to close the original car parks as it was so wet and move them to hard concrete areas. There was a lot of work for the bus drivers as they had to ferry bus loads of people to the show and back for hours on end.
Despite getting some pretty bad weather, the Highland Show was really popular. The first day was mainly devoted to native breeds. As you might remember I stewarded the shetland sheep at the TCAS. The Shetland Championship went to Kate Sharp’s coloured ewe and the Reserve to a shearling tup. The Scottish Blackface competition was won by J White with a two crop ewe and a gimmer as Reserve. Pat Maddock won the Ryelands with her shearling ram. There was a large turnout in the Texel classes (170 entrants) with a one-crop ewe from John Forsyth getting Champion and JC Innes’ gimmer getting Reserve. Robbie Wilson of Turriff, Aberdeenshire won the Suffolk classes with a two crop ewe and a tup lamb. The judges were really impressed with the overall standard, especially in the Texel classes. The overall sheep champion went to John Forsyth with his one crop Texel ewe. Well done.
In cattle, the supreme award went to Bill Bruce with the bull Balmyle Eclipse, who is an enormous Charollais. A really good event despite the rain.
Speak soon
Jack

Sunday

Hi all It has been a wonderful final Show day. The sun has been shining most of the day and everyone was in great spirits. It was the Rare and Minority Breed show day so we had to make some more sheep rings to fit in all the different breeds. The show consisted of some sheep, cattle and pigs  from the RBST WATCHLIST 2012. These are species that are considered endangered or at risk so it is fantastic to think breeders are working so hard to keep them going. Since the Rare Breed Survival Trust began, they have not lost a single species. I was the ring steward for the Shetland sheep. I hadn’t realised before today how many different colours there were within the Shetland breed. The Shetland’s wool is excellent for spinning. The Champion Shetland was a ewe with a lamb at foot from Faygate Rare Breeds. This champion then went into the Interbreed competition. There was an impressive line up of breeds in this and eventually the judge selected a Ryeland from Messrs J & S Donovan (from Pembrokeshire)as his champion.  The reserve was a Kerry Hill. The overall best rare breed in show today was awarded to a Longhorn Bull and was judged by Mrs A Petch from Devon. The judging of this took place in the main ring after the impressive grand parade. Alongside this show today, there were some championship sheep classes from Friday and Saturday’s classes. There was a large turnout in the pairs class and following very close inspection and consideration, the judge awarded the Championship to the Blue Texel pair. The Kerry Hills were runners up. I hope you have enjoyed my show blogs and I’ll resume my weekly reports again very soon. I’ve really enjoyed helping on all 3 days and am looking forward to next year already. Jack

Saturday

Hi all What a rainy day but when it came to the Young Handlers' classes the sun came out and started to dry up the puddles. The Young Handler classes are very important to any show as they encourage the younger generation to try out showing sheep, cattle and pigs. There were over 35 children entering the sheep young handlers ranging from 5 to 21 years old. There were so many entries in one class we had to spilt the first class into two. The Judge was very interested in all the exhibits and questioned each on their sheep. The champion young handler went to a girl from the 17 - 21 years of age class. As well as some prize money and vouchers she won a jacket with 'Champion Young Handler' embroidered on it. Well Done. In the main sheep classes, the Supreme Sheep Championship went to a Beltex from Messrs S & S Gibbons. The Supreme Cattle Championship went to Oakchurch Diplomat an Aberdeen Angus from J & A Price. The Herefords won the Supreme pairs. Sunday is rare breeds day with record entries in all departments, lets hope for some sunshine. If you have any comments or would like a livestock report please email me on hanleysuffolks@gmail.com. Jack

Friday

Hi all What a great first day at The Three Counties Show but wasn't the weather strange. It could not make it's mind up but every one was in a good mood and even though there were some sharp showers, they enjoyed their day. There was great show of cattle, sheep and pigs also some lovely goats. As usual the Hereford cattle drew in a big crowd of exhibitors mainly from the Three Counties as it is our local breed of cattle. Mr R N Borwick had very hard decision when choosing class winners as there where about 100 cattle entered. The Herefords had 28 different winning cattle in the grand parade. The grand parade consisted of about 221 different animals ranging from a small Beltex sheep to a big Charolais Bull.  As usual Clive Roads and his team of Commentators gave a fantastic description of all breeds and they always keep us all up to date with all the information we need to know. Today there where 15 cattle breeds with 16 judges having to make some very difficult decisions. Mr A Owen, Mr T Jackson and Mr M Smell had a hard decision as they judged the Young Handlers in the sheep, beef and pig sections. It is very important to encourage the young stock people and all of them were given a rosette and a food voucher for use at the show. My Clun Forest section went well and I an pleased to announce that  Mr Smith's sheep was the breed champion. There were 19 different breeds to judge and 20 different judges making the decisions. All the sheep shown were in there best coats and all looking very smart. The Terminal Sire Progeny Group went to a Charollais pair with a pair of Blue Texels reserve. There was a great show of Texels with at least 10 in each class with some having more than 20. The Suffolks where another show puller with Chris Holmes from Rockery Farm winning for the second time. Last year, he sent the Suffolk champion to Shrewsbury Pedigree Suffolk Sale and took the top price. In the pig section it was a big day as an exhibitor who has shown his pigs at the show for 60 years was presented with an award. Well done!! I would also like to say well done to all the stewards and judges and a big thank you to the livestock officers who keep the show going and they work all round the clock to get the show ready to go. Everyone is looking for forward to the weekend classes. More stock will be arriving for the Rare Breed Day on Sunday. If you have any comments about the show send an email to me on hanleysuffolks@gmail.com. I will have a full livestock report available soon. Jack

THREE COUNTIES SHOW

JUST TO LET YOU KNOW. THE THREE COUNTIES SHOW IS ON!!!! PLEASE IF YOU CAN, LET PEOPLE KNOW THAT IT IS ON AND ALL THE MAIN EVENTS ARE GOING AHEAD AS PLANNED!!!!! IF YOU CAN COME, DO SO AND INVITE YOUR FRIENDS. IT IS ON FROM FRIDAY 15TH TO SUNDAY 17TH. SUNDAY IS THE RARE BREED SHOW AND I WILL KEEP YOU UP TO DATE WITH ALL THE WINNERS.

ALL THE BEST
JACK

Audience

AT 17:50 ON 11/06/2012 I HAVE HAD 1,556 VIEWS ON MY BLOG. SO KEEP VISITING MY BLOG AND LETS GET IT UP TO 2000 BY SEPTEMBER.

GOOD LUCK

I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR YOUR VEIWS ON FARMING AND MY BLOG NY EMAILING ME ON HANLEYSUFFOLKS@GMAIL.COM

Jubilee celebrations, going to market and trying out auctioneering

Hi All

What a lovely week once again. I should not complain but it is just a little too hot, especially when you do a science experiment using fire!

I have got my ewes shorn on Tuesday, Tim did them and they look great. I did not have a go at it as I would hate to have to take the blame if anything had happened! I will have some pictures soon to post on here.

Tim is a sheep dealer. Through the lambing period, I was there every night in the school week. I started at 6 o'clock and was responsible for certain jobs until Tim returned. Now lambing has finished I am helping whenever there are jobs to be done. On Thursday I had a phone call to ask if I could go round in the evening and load the lorry with the wool bags. Tim was telling me how dreadful the lamb trade is at the moment, we have some good chats while we are working. In Longtown which is a very big livestock mart which usually have 4000 ewes and about 4000 lambs to sell, both ewes and lambs were down dramatically.

Hope you are enjoying the sunshine.
Jack

29th May

Hi All

What a lovely week once again. I should not complain but it is just a little too hot, especially when you do a science experiment using fire!

I have got my ewes shorn on Tuesday, Tim did them and they look great. I did not have a go at it as I would hate to have to take the blame if anything had happened! I will have some pictures soon to post on here.

Tim is a sheep dealer. Through the lambing period, I was there every night in the school week. I started at 6 o'clock and was responsible for certain jobs until Tim returned. Now lambing has finished I am helping whenever there are jobs to be done. On Thursday I had a phone call to ask if I could go round in the evening and load the lorry with the wool bags. Tim was telling me how dreadful the lamb trade is at the moment, we have some good chats while we are working. In Longtown which is a very big livestock mart which usually have 4000 ewes and about 4000 lambs to sell, both ewes and lambs were down dramatically.

Hope you are enjoying the sunshine.
Jack

Beef Expo

Beef Expo took place on the 23rd - 24th May at the showground. It's mainly a tradeshow for businesses with most of the Cattle Society stands showing off their finest cattle and the latest trade equipment and support organisations represented.
On the first day of the show there were organised farm tours. We had some great friends staying at the house and we went to the show together. They thought that both of the tours were they good and different. After the tour there was a Native Cattle show. I am very pleased to say that a lovely Longhorn heifer weighing 598Kg from Mr & Mrs G Woollatt won the Native Heifer section and went on to win the overall Native champion. The reserve Native champion was the second place heifer from Mr Michael Read with his Lincoln Red called Hemingby Treasure coming in at 574Kg. The first place steer cam from RH & SM Grace with a great Lincoln Red called Blisland Bruiser.
The second day was a much bigger occasion consisting of 14 classes. There was a lot of great looking cattle. I also saw cattle from Canada. Wow!!!

Here are all the winners from the classes and what they weighed:
3.1. Heifer by a registered Limousin sire Mr D Hughes coming in at 491Kg. This lovely heifer became Champion Continental Heifer. Well done.
3.2. Heifer by a registered Limousin sire from Messes JEL and LS Morgan weighing 518Kg.
3.3. Heifer by a registered Limousin sire from Mr A.D. Bishop's Red Hot Honey coming in at 728Kg.
4.1. Heifer by a registered British Blue sire was won by a heifer weighing 463Kg from Messrs P&S Sellers.
4.2. Heifer by a registered British Blue sire was won by T A & C L Lyon & son with a stunning 538Kg heifer.
5. Heifer by a registered Charolais sire was won by Mr J MacGregor with a 494Kg heifer.
6. Heifer by any other Continental sure was won by a big 642Kg heifer from Mr A D Bishop.
7.1. Steer by a registered Limousin sire was won by a 514Kg steer from Messrs P & S Sellers.
7.2. Steer by a registered Limousin sire was won from J Hyslops 654Kg steer.
8. Steer by a registered British Blue sire was won by T A & C L Lyon and Sons who also won class 4.2.
9. Steer by a registered Charolais sire was won by Mr W Owen with a big strong steer weighing at 514Kg.
10. No entries
11.1. Baby heifer up to and including 425Kg. This was won by the Baby beef championship from a smaller Limousin heifer weighing in at 299Kg from T Jones. Well Done!!
11.2. Baby heifer up to and including 425Kg. This was won by a heifer from Mr R Fountaines weighing in at 379Kg.
11.3. Baby heifer up to and including 425Kg. M M & C Alford's British Blue heifer at 406Kg.
12. This was the last class. Baby steer up to and including 425Kg. This was won by the overall champion of all the classes at the show. The cow was bred from T A & C L Lyon & Sons third win of the day. The Limousin weighed 345Kg.
Hope you are all ok
Jack

25th May

Hi All

Hope you have all had a great week and the weather has ok. The farmer I help, Tim, has started shearing. Tim is one of the first farmers in the area to shear his sheep and one of the first to get his wool off to the British Wool Board. I love shearing because I get to jump on the wool sacks to pack the fleeces in tight. I love seeing the ewes with their fleeces off and looking neat and tidy. On Monday I will be helping Tim to shear about 200 ewes. My job will ether be pushing them up to the shearers or take the lambs off the ewes so they don't get mixed up when the ewes get shorn.

Over the next few weeks I will be giving you the latest results from the major shows.

Over the past week there have been a couple of shows. There was a great turn out of all different types of livestock. I was really pleased to know that my good friend Sandy Fraser won the sheep interbreed with his Suffolks. So here we go:

Newark and Nottingham show:
Sheep interbreed
Champion: Sandy Fraser of Scunthorpe. Sandy won with his homebred Suffolk Shearling Ram.
Reserve Champion: Frank Rushton with his Texel Shearling Ewe.

Cattle Interbreed
Champion: Smiths of Bloxham with their great Limousin bull calf.
Reserve Champion: A South Devon cow and calf outfit from A and C Farm's, of the Langham Herd.

Dairy Interbreed
Champion: A Jersey cow from Abi Sercombe.
Reserve Champion: A Holstein cow from Holdcroft and Sons, Burton on Trent.

Pig Interbreed
Champion: A Tamworth sow from Stuart Roberts.

Balmoral Show:
Sheep Interbreed
Champion: Texel ewe from Mr Alastair Gault's flock in Newtownavvey, Antrim. It was a lovely ewe.
Reserve Champion: Was a Charolais from Mrs Diane Christie's flock in Comber, Newtownards, Co Down.

Cattle Interbreed
Champion: A Limousin heifer Millbrook Ginger Spice from William Smith
Reserve Champion: A Charolais heifer Cornascriebe Flo from Mr James A Watson.

Pig Interbreed
Champion: A Large White gilt - Glenmarshal Dainty Lady - from Mr Trevor Shields.
Reserve Champion: A Middle White junior boar - Ginnington Captain 2 - from Rebecca Gregg.

I am very sorry if I do not mention your show please email me on

hanleysuffolks@gmail.com and I will mention it in the next blog.

Hope you are all ok.
Jack

Ask Jack

I have had a question from somebody asking me about one of their lambs: 'One of our lambs would appear to have her back legs longer than her front legs, and stands with her legs tucked underneath her. She doesn't jump around like the others. Have you had any problems like this?'I spoke to my grandfather who informed me that it sounds like a deformity. I have never had this problem but I am sure it is not too serious especially if it is not having trouble feeding. If you want more advice ask your vet who will give you more in-depth answer and they are much more qualified than me.

I have also had a comment from Annie and in reply, I think it must be raining all over the place! I will not be entering the Three Counties Show for two reasons. Firstly I don't consider my ewes to be good enough and secondly I am a ring steward at the show on Saturday and Sunday. This means I ensure all the corrrect sheep are in the ring and ready for the judge. I then help present the prizes and make sure all the results are recorded correctly. Over the Three Counties weekend I will be giving you a diary account of how it went, who won and why I like stewarding. Which show are you hoping to show at and what are you hoping to show?

Hope to speak to you soon.

Jack
www.hanleysuffolks.blogspot.com

A touch of gardening

14th May

Hi All

What a great weekend. These past few days have been wonderful. It has rained at night but been lovely in the day, great growing conditions.

On Thursday the Malvern Spring Gardening Show started in typical British weather ... rain!! Never mind, people still flocked to the show. BBC Gardeners World were recording their show and on Friday it was shown on BBC2. It really showed off the show well and together with the beautiful sunshine, there was a bumper weekend crowd. The mud had gone and the roads were packed. As I cycled along the road home from school on Friday I had never seen as many buses full of ladies and gentlemen heading back on to the M5.

On Sunday the mud was no where to be seen and I decided to go to the show. My mum works at the show so I cycled over and met her for lunch. You probably don't know but I love gardening as well as farming. Any time I go to a garden centre I will buy seeds or plants and start growing and planting. I bought quite a bit at the show and came home and started potting up. It was a nice suprise for Mum when she got home that night!

In farming you need to know about horticulture and agriculture because you need to know what seeds to plant, when to plant and how to do it. I've tried to learn from my relatives and I also read gardening books.

My ewes are looking great and the lambs are growing very well, not long now until they are ready to sell.

I would like to here from you and what you would like to know about.
Speak soon
Jack

8th May

Hi All

What a horrible week. I have had exams all week and to make matters worse it has not stopped raining. As a farmer I should not complain about the rain but it is horrible. I know a local farmer who has silage ready to be cut in the next few weeks but the river that runs next to the field has flooded. It needs to stop right now and if we then get some sun, there will be grass everywhere.

In the field where the ewes and lambs live, we use an electric fence which splits the field in half. The lambs get through the fence even throw it is "electric". This means that they are not with their mothers, so the ewes go to fing them and they push through the fence too. The ewes can then get tangled up in the fence and it causes mayhem. So we have now decided to put a new permanent fence up. This will separate the field properly.

I have had a comment on my blog from A. M:This is an amazing project! We're doing the same thing with a couple of orphans rearing them on the bottle and will sell them when they reach the right weight. Do you do this by yourself? It's just what I want to do, I'm helping with lambing at the Scottish Agricultural Colllege, and I'm completely obsessed. It's great to know that there are likeminded people my age out there!!! Good luck, and a brilliant blog!

Thank you Annie for your very kind comments. I am really pleased that you are another person starting up in farming. There are not many young people who want to start farming as it is a hard and time consuming job. Make sure you pick the right place to sell your lambs, and make sure you watch the trends in the prices for a couple of weeks before you plan to sell.
As usual send me some more questions and I will try my best to answer them. I will be attending the Spring Gardening Show next week at the Three Counties Showground. It is a great event that I go to every year.I will be buying some flowering plants to brighten up the garden when the rain stops! My main interest in the garden is vegetables. I grow tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, lettuces, cabbages, beetroot, rhubarb, carrots and peas. Mum loves me growing vegetables!

Hope you are all well.
Jack

Fencing

Hi All

What a horrible week. I have had exams all week and to make matters worse it has not stopped raining. As a farmer I should not complain about the rain but it is horrible. I know a local farmer who has silage ready to be cut in the next few weeks but the river that runs next to the field has flooded.  It needs to stop right now and if we then get some sun, there will be grass everywhere.

In the field where the ewes and lambs live, we use an electric fence which splits the field in half. The lambs get through the fence even throw it is "electric". This means that they are not with their mothers, so the ewes go to fing them and they push through the fence too. The ewes can then get tangled up in the fence and it causes mayhem. So we have now decided to put a new permanent fence up. This will separate the field properly.

I have had a comment on my blog from A. M: This is an amazing project! We're doing the same thing with a couple of orphans rearing them on the bottle and will sell them when they reach the right weight. Do you do this by yourself? It's just what I want to do, I'm helping with lambing at the Scottish Agricultural Colllege, and I'm completely obsessed. It's great to know that there are likeminded people my age out there!!! Good luck, and a brilliant blog!

Thank you Annie for your very kind comments. I am really pleased that you are another person starting up in farming. There are not many young people who want to start farming as it is a hard and time consuming job. Make sure you pick the right place to sell your lambs, and make sure you watch the trends in the prices for a couple of weeks before you plan to sell.

As usual send me some more questions and I will try my best to answer them. I will be attending the Spring Gardening Show next week at the Three Counties Showground. It is a great event that I go to every year.I will be buying some flowering plants to brighten up the garden when the rain stops! My main interest in the garden is vegetables. I grow tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, lettuces, cabbages, beetroot, rhubarb, carrots and peas. Mum loves me growing vegetables!

Hope you are all well.
Jack

Photo Shoot

On Monday I moved my ewes and lambs back to our field. The local farmer helped me but we had a problem. One of my ewes lay down and would not stand up. Sheep do this sometimes because they get scared of dogs and they do not like running. The farmer had to drive the quad back to the farm to collect the trailer to put the ewe in. Once we managed to move this ewe in the trailer we drove the rest to the pens and sorted them all. Once sorted the brilliant photographer from the Three Counties came and took some great photos of me and the sheep. These pictures you can see in this page (I like the one of me and one of the lambs!). Once the photo shoot was finished we had to clean the ewe's back ends! it is important to do this often to avoid problems with maggots. We gave them a little shave on the head to tidy them up too! The farmer said we should weigh the lambs. I got the weighing scales and caught the lambs. I was really pleased to know that they were really heavy. The top weight was 36kg which is really amazing in such a short time. I will sell these lambs soon. If there is anything you want me to talk about do not be afraid to ask. Jack

Lambing up North

These past few weeks I have been working on my uncle’s farm in Northumberland, which is where I go most holidays. This is my diary which I kept while I was up north. Tuesday 3rd April 2012 I got up at around 7am and with my Grandfather went along to the main farm to collect the feed for the cattle and sheep to take to my uncle’s other holding called Rock. Granddad checks this farm every day. By the time we returned the snow was starting to fall. It was cold!!!! L We still had get on with jobs. I lambed about 6 ewes today. 4 of them were triplets so they had three lambs inside. The other two were twins. I gave them an injection and put some iodine on the navel. I had to go in about 4 pm because it was so cold (I’ll have to harden up!). Wednesday 4th April 2012 Today I lambed about four ewes. They were all twins. One of the ewe’s lambs came out backwards but they were still alive. The shepherd and I put the big pens up in what we call the hay barn. These pens are for when the lambs have been docked (which is when you put a ring around its tail) and numbered and before they go out to the field. These pens are my responsibility which means I have to check them, fill the buckets up with water, put hay in each pen and make sure the ewes and lambs are all mothered up. I will have to do this twice a day. I put the ewes and lambs into the pens putting different breeds in separate pens and depending on whether or not they are twins or singles. Thursday 5th April 2012 On a Thursday I usually go to Acklington Mart to sell sheep but because we have nothing to sell I stayed at the farm and helped with the lambing. I did not lamb many ewes today because most of the ewes lambed themselves. The shepherd today was taking the first lot of ewes and lambs to the hill. The lambs love going out to the grass and the ewes like the grass as they have been inside for over 2 weeks. Good Friday Today we have brought the rest of the ewes that need to lamb down to the farm. There were 40 single Blackface ewes and about 120 twins. We also took another couple of ewes and lambs out to the hill from the pens that I mentioned yesterday. We took about 2 loads of Cheviot ewes with Texel cross lambs and 1 load of Blackface ewes with mule lambs. I love it when they start charging around the field; I would hate to stand in the middle of the stampede because you would get run over. We also put clean straw in with the ewes that are still to lamb because I would not like to be the lamb being born on dirty straw. Tomorrow I will be lambing some more ewes and doing all the usual jobs. Easter Sunday As it was Easter Sunday we went out for lunch. My grandparents and I were lucky to be invited to a relative’s house. But I still had to get my jobs done. I went to the farm at about 7:30 and did all the necessary work. Then my grandfather picked me up and we were off for lunch. It was brilliant. Tuesday 10th April 2012 Today the weather was terrible but we had a busy night. This meant we had to move some ewes and lambs out into some fields, even though we would have preferred to keep them in for another 24 hours we had to take them up the hill and free some space in the shed. We luckily did not find any dead lambs from doing so. I put some little bales in the big pens so the lambs can shelter behind so they do not get too wet. Wednesday 11th April 2012 I got up around 7am and went along to the farm. Last night our night lamber had quite a busy night. This meant that I had to stay at the one farm instead of going with my grandfather to the other holding. I got all my jobs done and I started to scratch the lambs for orf. We had a lot of ewes and lambs in as the weather was so horrible yesterday. We got most of the ewes and lambs out and then I bedded the big pens. Tomorrow is market day, so we went and drew 25 old season lambs which will go tomorrow. After we drew the lambs, we went back to the main farm and drew 10 ewes. Thursday 12th April I got up at 6:45 and left the house at seven. We first loaded the ewes and then went along to the store lambs and loaded them. We got to Acklington mart at 8:30. We unloaded and the drover put them into the sorting area. The lambs are sold first at about 9:15 but before that I had my breakfast. I had a bacon bun. You cannot beat bacon buns from the mart. I am used to helping at the mart when I go up north. I push the lambs into the ring. Our 25 old season lambs averaged £85.25 which was good but our top weight was 62kg which made £102. Our top price for a ewe was £160 for a very big Texel. We averaged £91.30 which is good for ewes. We went home feeling pleased with the prices. Also I have nothing but good reviews about Country Tastic at the Three counties Show today. My cousins went to the show and they thought it was fantastic especially the pigs and donkeys. Friday 13th April 2012 Through the night our night lamber had lambed over 30 ewes with about 50 to 60 lambs. This meant I had to do my jobs quickly and then go and put some ewes in the pens after they had been cut. When I say cut, I do not mean that they are having a hair cut but having their tail cut by putting a rubber ring around the tail. The tail just drops off in the field a couple of weeks later. If it is a male lamb it means also putting a rubber ring around their testicles to castrate them. Some farmers do not bother putting rubber rings around the testicles because they think they can get more meat on them leaving them uncastrated. My cousin who is a jockey had a race today and she did really well as it was her first proper race as she does a lot of point to pointing normally. This meant that my uncle went to see her leaving one of the shepherds checking the stock on the hill and the other shepherd taking the ewes and lambs up to the hill. This meant I was in charge of the lambing sheds for a couple of hours. In 2 hours I lambed over 20 ewes and about 36 lambs were delivered. I go back home in the morning. I’ll miss helping out in the North but I’m looking forward to seeing my family and seeing how my own sheep are growing. Jack

New Sheep

Hi All,

This week at school we have been given our exam timetable for our Year 9 Mocks. I have about ten exams beginning on the 30^th April. I need to start to revise as I am hoping to get some good grades. I need to do well at my GCSEs and A levels as I want to go to Agricultural college. However right now I’m looking forward to breaking up for the Easter holidays, I bet the weather changes just as the holidays start!.

                                                

This week, my business partner and I have been talking and we have decided to buy another ewe and lamb. When we first started the business we had 4 ewes but a few months ago we sold one at Hereford Market. We had always planned to replace it and this week I have found a good ewe and a very strong lamb to buy. The ewe is a Texel, a breed that we like and have researched.  One slight problem is that the lamb is younger than our other lambs and will take longer to finish than the others.

I am going to move my ewes and lambs to another field for a couple of weeks to allow the original paddock time to grow. It is looking a little brown. This is because of the lack of rain as I mentioned on my last farming blog. The local farmer thinks my lambs are about 24kg now and in another month or so they will be ready to sell. We are thinking of keeping one lamb to breed from.

I’ve got a few plans for the holidays including visiting my grandparents in Northumberland and visiting Country Tastic on the 12^th April at the Three Counties Show Ground (www.threecounties.co.uk). I’ve been to this event for the last few years and love seeing others learning about farming. It’s really popular with younger children and they get the chance to speak to the farmers and see the animals.

Happy Easter!

Jack

Weather

Hi All

In these last few weeks, I have been working hard on my local farm. We have lambed about 500-600 ewes already and we have 190 ewes to start lambing on the 1st April. The farmer was teasing me when I told him that I will not to be there for the first 2 weeks of April as I am going to my Uncle's house, who will be half way though the 2500 ewes that he has to lamb. I love going there, as i get to spend time with my grandparents too.

As you are probally well aware, the grass is not as green as spring grass should be!! This is because there has been no rain. Many areas of England are in drought.

The places that are most affected are the Midlands, Anglia and The South East. In the overall Midlands rainfall trend is  rapidly decreasing. In the South East average rain fall has been below average. Most southern counties are theatening to have hosepipe bans. In the South West of England they have had the driest 12 months since 1975/76. Severn Water companies in the southern and eastern counties of England said that they will put water restrictions after two very dry winters have left rivers and reservoirs below normal levels. Southern Water, South East Water, Thames Water, Anglain Water, Sutton and East Surrey, Veolia Central and Veolia South East are all going to enforce hosepipe bans. All of them have said that the restrictions will start on the 5th April  but Sutton and East Surrey and Anglian Water have said that they will say that they are still waiting to decide when to put in place the ban. “East Anglia and south east England are in drought. Parts of central England, south west England and south east Yorkshire continue to be affected by dry weather. It’s anticipated that the risk of drought in the spring and summer in these areas is high.” – Says the Environment Agency. The drought is slowly rising north and it's expected parts of Yorkshire will probally be included soon. Most reservoirs in the southern half of England are currently below half their normal levels for what it should be for this time of year. In the north many reservoirs are overflowing.

Speak again soon, let's hope we have some rain soon!

Hope you are well.
Jack

Schmallenberg

Hi all,

         Sorry it has been such a long time since my last blog but I have been working every spare minute for my local farmer who is lambing.

         My sheep are looking brilliant at the moment and the lambs are coming on well. They are looking strong and I am proud to say that they are my own. This morning I dagged the ewes (this means I cleaned their backsides which were dirty from being on fresh grass!). I then gave them a dose of worming drench.

         You have probably heard already that a disease called Schmallenberg has hit  England. The disease happens in cattle, sheep and goats. A total of 83 farms in the south of England have been confirmed to have Schmallenberg. Across Europe a total 1,129 cattle, sheep and goat farms have been affected by the new disease. Germany has been the worst affected area in the world. Schmallenberg was thought to be brought over here by biting midges. Cattle and ewes were bitten in Autumn of last year when they were pregnant.

       Schmallenberg virus is the second midge-borne disease known to have invaded the U.K., with bluetongue virus having arrived in 2007. Professor Matthew Baylis pinned the blame on climate change. "The spread of bluetongue virus was driven entirely by the temperature changes in Europe," he said. "Our changing climate is making it more likely these things happen."

      I am lucky as my ewes have lambed but I feel really sorry for all the farmers who have been affected by Schmallenberg and I also feel sorry for farmers who are still to lamb as they do not now if Schmallenberg has attacked their ewes.

Speak Soon
Jack

Lambing Update

Hi
Today my final ewe lambed. She had a ram lamb. It is strong and it has sucked, which means that it will hopefully be healthy.
These are a few photos of my ewes and lambs:

The first Lamb



The First Lamb



Second Ewe and Lamb

First Lamb enjoying the snow!!

Proud Ewe



Today's Lamb



Bit of Fun!!!

Thank you
Jack

Lambing Update 2-2-12

Hi All

Today I have had one ewe that has lambed. It lambed this evening at 5:15 My father had to intervene because the lamb is so big and strong and the ewe would not lamb on its own. The lamb is a ewe lamb. It has been sucking on the teats of the ewe and the ewe has alot of milk and this is good as the lamb is so strong.
But on a bad note we have had a death. The small lamb that we lambed yesterday sadly died tonight. We were sad to see that it was dead but it was so small and it would of died because of the weather. It was -7C and tonight, as I write, it is -3C already. COLD!!!!

I will put pics on tomorrow because there is only one ewe still to lamb and I think it will lamb tonight.
Jack

Just got there in Time!!!

Hi All

   Today at 8:00 this morning, I was walking up to the sheep when suddenly I saw one of my ewes pushing. As soon as I walked up to the ewe, the lamb popped out. I brought the ewe and lamb down to the little pen where my father and I lambed the second lamb which came out backwards. The ewe would not be able to lamb this lamb on its own, so we were glad we were there in time. One lamb is a female and the other is a male but he is tiny.

   This week I have had a few questions. My first question as come from Simon E.
   What does the term wet adoption mean and when would you use it?

   Well Simon, wet adoption is when you have a lamb that is dead but the ewe has a lot of milk and you hope she might accept a foster lamb. You soak a foster lamb in the fluids from around the dead lamb and hopefully a bit of the placenta. Finally, firmly but gently, you tie the diagonally opposite legs on the foster lamb together with string, for about 45 minutes. String helps because if the foster lamb immediatly jumps up to its feet the ewe will be suspicious and may try to knock the adopted lamb away.

   The next question was I asked was from Peter who asked  'I am hoping to buy some in lamb ewes and I would like you to tell me what the prices are like or should I buy ewes and lambs and what would those cost?
In last week's sales Mule in lamb ewes were around £180/head and Mule in lamb gimmers £170. Ewes and lambs are scarce at the moment so I am not able to give you prices at the moment I'm afraid. More will come to market in the next month. I think I would advise you to buy in lamb ewes at the moment.

Speak tomorrow with some photos.
Jack

Lambing Update

Hi all

The three ewes are now starting to 'bag up' and my father and I think that by the end of thursday we sould have a lamb or two. I will update you as soon as something appears but in the mean time send in some photos of your lambing and anything you would like to know about lambing. In Feburary I will be giving you a step by step guide to lambing and what to look for.

So getting snapping!!!
Jack

Lambing

Hi all,

Please send in your lambing pics to hanleysuffolksheep@gmail.com. Your photos will be shown over the next few weeks, SO GET SNAPPING!!!!
I will be also be doing a questionnaire on farming, so keep an eye out for the questionnaire. Over the next couple of days!

From Jack

Lambing

Hi All

As soon as one of the ewes lamb, I will post it and from then on wards I will be giving you daily updates. I think that I might be lambing by the end of January.
I hope and wish all farmers a sucessful lambing.

Thanks for reading,

Jack