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Sheep products for Sale:
Click on the highlighted text.
Wool
, Throws
and Blankets and
Lamb Packs.
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.
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