PROFILE Fendale Farm
Keeping their options open
Judith Tooth talks to a Norfolk sheep farming couple making new decisions in uncertain times.
ast October was crunch time for Norfolk sheep farmers Jim and Sue Fletcher. Faced with uncertainty and terrible market prices, they decided to hold back 500 of the Romney x Highlander shearling ewes they would usually have sold and instead put them to an Aberfield ram. The Aberfield, a terminal sire with maternal traits, is their insurance policy if Brex- it goes wrong. “The Aberfield is a Texel cross, so has good conformation,” says Jim. “If the [resulting] lambs are worth a lot, we’ll sell them fat. If not, we’ll find extra winter grazing and either sell them for breeding next year, or take on more grass and increase our flock numbers. It keeps our options open.” Although the home farm is small – a 48ha Norfolk County Council holding near Downham Market growing grass leys, fodder beet and spring barley – a large
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part of the business is running sheep on other people’s land, ei- ther low input permanent grass in environmental schemes and on river banks, or greening crops and stubble turnips, in a 30 mile radi- us of the farm. As well as the 500 ewe lambs
held back, the Fletchers are run- ning an 1800-strong flock, a third of them Romneys bought in as three or four crop draft ewes from farms around Ashford, Kent. They are used to surviving on poor graz- ing and scan out at a lambing rate of 150-160%. Back in Norfolk, they are put
to a Highlander ram, a maternal Romney cross from Innovis, bred using genetics from New Zealand, and scan out at 200 per cent. The Romney x Highlanders are then put to a Primera ram, a terminal sire, again from Innovis, to pro- duce fat lambs. “We would normally have bought more Romneys in at a draft
BUSINESS FACTS
• Large sheep flock • Low input grazing
• Innovis genetics from New Zealand
• Member of Ely Nature Friendly Farming Zone
sale, so by bringing in the Aber- field this tupping season the flock is younger and healthier.”
Ultrasound scanning Meanwhile the flock has been brought in for ultrasound scan- ning. The process is very accu- rate, and knowing how many lambs they are carrying means the ewes can be fed accordingly: those carrying singles go back to grass; those carrying twins and triplets are on supplementary fod- der beet and high energy Crysta- lyx feed blocks.
Lambing for the home-breds begins on 1 April, half outside and half in straw yards. Ideally they all would lamb outside, but some of the grazing areas such as riv- erbanks aren’t suitable. The Romneys follow on 10
April, all lambing outside. First year veterinary students from the Royal Veterinary College and Surrey University come to help. With 80% of the ewes lambing in 10 days, it’s full-on.
“The ewes milk well and the lambs are up on their feet in no time at all,” says Sue. “At most, we help three in 100. Outside, they find their own spot and pop them out. Inside you have to be quick to pen them as they lamb, as they have a very strong mater-
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We’re trying to make our farm profitable without relying on subsidies
nal instinct. “We’ve learnt over the years that the less you interfere the bet- ter – if you have the right breeds. Once you start interfering you build up problems.” Taking a step back benefits the farmer as well as the sheep, as Jim discovered on a grant-fund- ed study visit to farms in New Zea- land a few years ago: their relaxed attitude left a deep impression on him.
Something else he learned was what he regards as the best way to calculate output: “You need to wean the ewe’s weight in lambs or more – so if you have a ewe weigh- ing 70kgs, you’ve got to wean two lambs of 35kgs each or more. Then you’re doing well. We
can achieve that on conservation grazing without creep feeding: it’s hard, but possible. We mob graze when we can, make sure there’s fresh grazing, and keep on top of worming.”
Finishing lambs
All lambs not for breeding are fin- ished on the farm. As most of the
60 ANGLIA FARMER • APRIL 2019
Jim Fletcher with some of his Romney x Highlander ewes
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