Hallsford Llanwenogs

At Hallsford as well as the Beef Shorthorn Pedigree Herd we run a flock of sheep. This consists largely of Llanwenogs (Thlan-wen-og), a rare breed, originally across between the Shropshire and a now extinct Welsh mountain breed. These are a medium sized sheep very suitable for our Cumbrian conditions.

The productive year starts in October when the tups (rams) are put in with the ewes. We then house the ewes at Christmas (a) to give our land a break, (b) to reduce our feed costs (c) for ease of management and eventually lambing.

We use both Llanwenog and Berrichon du Cher tups. The former providing pure bred replacements for the breeding flock the latter an excellent larger 'fat' lamb but still with easy lambing characteristics.

In 2000 we built a polytunnel for sheep housing. A very worthwhile investment, which certainly saved our flock from Foot & Mouth and the very PC named 'Voluntary Depopulation Scheme'.

We lamb inside in March and turn them out as soon as the weather permits. We have been amazingly lucky this year and everything is going outside as quickly as possible.

Shearing takes place in late June, early July. The Llanwenog fleece is particularly fine and we separately process it and have it converted into throws, blankets and balls of wool. These products are available through our Online Shop. The wool from rest we are obliged to sell to the Wool Marketing Board.

The lambs are weaned in July/August, separated into wether and ewe lamb groups and finished as required over the next four months. The best Llanwenog or Berrichon x Llanwenog ewe lambs we retain for breeding.

In September we sort the Ewes into those that will be retained and those that are sold. The cycle starts again in October.

Feed: Our sheep are grass and clover fed for most of the year. Our grass is managed in a sustainable way without the use of nitrogen fertilisers. The nitrogen our grass needs comes from clover. When inside they are fed hay and 6 weeks pre and post lambing a mixture of barley and a GM free Soya, the latter to boost protein levels.

Health & Welfare: We check our stock daily. We monitor worm burdens using our own microscope. This enables us to determine when we have to treat the flock and avoids unnecessary use of wormers. This is both cost effective and avoids the unnecessary use of medicines . We dose for liver fluke and vaccinate the flock against a number of common sheep diseases. Our view is that antibiotics are a good thing. It is their uncontrolled use and abuse in certain, not all farming systems, which is not. We use them topically and have no hesitation in doing so. Animal welfare is a priority. We keep individual computer records for every animal.

Hallsford Lamb Online - Our aim is quite simply to produce a quality product.

What we offer you is transparency. Your lamb is produced to the highest standards in a beautiful part of England. The animals are cared for and production is not forced.

The breeds we use and way the product is processed matter a great deal in producing a product with real flavour. Our lamb is hung for a minimum of 7 days, prior to being butchered and dispatched to you on a next day service.

Wool - We offer two type of wool, the Llanwenog Aran coming from our flock of Llanwenogs.