Page 6 - Commercial Suffolks 2019

milky with the NC Cheviot giving some hardiness and
We researched pedigree character.”
Suffolks and we knew He went on to say “the Suffolk was the only sire we
considered for these ewes. The Suffolk x Cheviot
what we wanted, skins ewes are very popular in Ireland and we believed that
the Suffolk x Cheviot mule ewe would be a similar if
as tight as we could get not a smarter, birthier female. We researched pedi-
gree Suffolks and we knew what we wanted, skins as
them, black silky hair, tight as we could get them, black silky hair, medium
bone, bright eyes and length and lift.”
medium bone, bright
Things went well in the first year with the only 2 pens
eyes and length and lift.” of ewe lambs put forward in 2015 getting £140. The
rest were run over into gimmers that topped at £200
and averaged over £180 in July 2016. 2017 topped at
£210 with an average of £191, 2018 topped at £325
and averaged £185. This year, 2019, James decided
to hold an on-farm sale which proved very success-
ful with 450 Suffolk x Cheviot mule gimmers forward,
they topped at £295, and averaged £207, with 25
pens getting £200 or over. In 2018 550 Cheviot mules
went to the Suffolk rams with lambing from 27th
March. These ewes scanned in January at 224%.
The aim is to keep rams in singles when tipping to
facilitate the monitoring of individual progeny. Shep-
herd Martin Millar said “the tips work hard. We put
them to field with up to 110 ewes, with the tips usu-
ally switched on the 17th day of the cycle, if we feel
a ram is performing particularly well we won’t switch
and just watch with baited breath on the 1st days of
cycle number 2. We understand that this system puts
pressure on the ram, but we feed them well before
going to the ewes and we will be semen testing them
all from this year before turn out.” James adds “We
look for a very specific type of ram and are prepared
to pay for them, so we need to ensure they are used
to their full potential. For example - one of our best
breeding, longest established tips has successfully
served 110 ewes 3 years in a row and got 90 last
year and we expect him to easily handle the same
this year.”

Teasers are used on all batches before tipping to
keep the lambing as tight as possible. This saves
labour and helps mitigate against fatigue setting in
after the first three weeks. There is no meal fed to
James Alexander & Family the ewes carrying twins or singles. Weather permit-

4 Commercial SUFFOLKS – AUTUMN 2019