Texel Sheep Society Primestock Magazine 2020

TEXEL

ISSUE 10 SPRING 2020

Primestock A Texel Sheep Society Publication

Performance pays for South Wales flock p10

Buyers flock to Texel lambs p4

Consistency key for Lanarkshire farm p8

Texel ewes make for flexible system in Bucks p6 Unit 74 - 4th Street, Stoneleigh Park, Kenilworth, Warwickshire, CV8 2LG Tel: 02476 696 629 Email: office@texel.co.uk

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Using

Texels offer security in uncertain times Welcome to the 2020 edition of the Texel Sheep Society’s Primestock magazine, showcasing the breed’s role in the UK’s diverse sheep industry.

At a time of immense change in UK agriculture, both in terms of support payments and the industry’s role in the wider UK economy and climate change mitigation, sheep farming has an increasingly important part to play.

Changes within many sheep farming businesses and a greater move towards improved grassland management are seeing the sector further boost its environmental credentials and it is clear a large number are placing Texels firmly at the heart of this drive for environmental efficiency while helping producers improve financial margins.

The ability of the breed to thrive in grass-based systems and provide both a terminal and maternal sire option is increasingly being capitalised on by many sheep producers.

Added to this is the breed’s undoubted ability to add value to its progeny in any situation from extensive hill flocks to more intensively managed lowland enterprises. It is easy to see why Texel is the win:win breed for so many farmers.

Texel crosses are in big demand as either prime, store or breeding lambs, meaning those farmers using Texels have a product with a wide number of outlets.

Few other breeds can match this and it is an important factor in many businesses. The flexibility of marketing the breed offers is a major strength in helping reduce risk in many sheep businesses, something which continues to prove essential as both the political and climatic environments continue to evolve.

John John Yates Chief Executive #addtexeladdvalue

TEXEL Primestock Magazine

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to select your rams What is texelplus?

Texelplus is the Texel Sheep Society’s genetic improvement service; providing performance recording services to pedigree Texel breeders. The estimated breeding values (EBVs) calculated can aid commercial ram buyers’ decision-making.

How should I use texelplus to select rams for my flock?

That depends a lot on what type of flock you are running. Each flock will have different priorities and aspirations for their lamb crop. However, there are a few simple principles which can help identify the key EBVs for your flock.

I’m running a lowland flock finishing lambs early off grass and creep feeding, which EBVs should I be looking at?

In this situation the eight-week weight and scan weight EBVs will be important as these indicate early growth in a ram’s progeny. Muscle depth EBVs will also be helpful as these relate to conformation in a ram’s lambs. Fat depth EBVs may also be of interest, but where creep feed is used may be less important than other EBVs. What if I want to retain some of the ewe lambs as breeding ewes?

This will mean paying attention to both maternal and mature size EBVs to ensure ewes retained are of an optimum size and to give some indication of maternal ability. Paying attention to fat depth EBVs could be beneficial as a positive fat depth can indicate an ability for a ram’s progeny to hold condition better off grazing/ forage alone and potentially require less concentrate feeding.

How about if I’m selling a lot store lambs for further finishing?

Selling store lambs to best effect means having well-grown lambs which catch the eye of potential buyers and have the ability to finish easily leaving good carcasses.

Scan weight EBVs are a key indicator of good growth for store lamb production, while muscle depth EBVs will help identify rams that can leave better carcasses.

Texel Primestock is published by the Texel Sheep Society Ltd. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy of the information contained in this publication, no responsibility can be accepted by the Society for any errors or any reliance on the use of information by readers.

British Texel Sheep Society, Unit 74 - 4th Street, Stoneleigh Park, Kenilworth, Warwickshire, CV8 2LG

Tel: 024 7669 6629

Email: office@texel.co.uk

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texel.uk • tel: 024 7669 6629 • email: office@texel.co.uk

New EBVs introduced in the last few years on a number of spine traits, including thoracic spine length, lumbar spine length and total spine length, could also be of interest as they assist in selecting animals which have longer spines and, potentially, higher meat yields in the loin.

How do I find the texelplus recorded rams?

Texelplus recorded rams are available at many ram sales throughout the UK, including the Texel Sheep Society’s National and Club sales as well as major commercial sales at Kelso and Builth Wells. For more information see www.texel.uk/sales

What are the benefits of using texelplus recorded rams?

A number of trials have shown that high index performance recorded rams leave lambs with higher value carcasses than those with average indices or those selected on eye alone.

Alternatively, you can use the Society’s online database www. itexel.uk to find texelplus recorded flocks near you.

This often equates to more than £5/lamb. Bearing in mind that a ram serving 50 ewes a year in a flock selling 1.6 lambs/ewe will sire 80 lambs a year, this could mean extra income of £400 a year just for using better rams. Over a four-year working life this adds up to £1600 extra income per ram to a commercial flock Where does the increase in lamb values come from?

There are a number of ways this increased lamb value is achieved.

Firstly, quicker growth early in life leads to lambs reaching slaughter weight quicker and being sold sooner. This adds value in two ways, firstly lambs hit the market sooner when prices are usually better and, secondly, lambs spend fewer days on farm, reducing costs, including feed and vet and medicine, as well as freeing up grazing for other stock.

On top of that, in many cases lambs by high index sires have prime lambs with better conformation and so are able to achieve higher value carcasses compared to some non-recorded or low index sires.

Membership Subscriptions are available by contacting the Society Office Advertising office@texel.co.uk Accounts accounts@texel.co.uk

Registrations & sales cataloguing registrations@texel.co.uk cataloguing@texel.co.uk R&D projects edsmith@texel.co.uk

Eight week weight EBV in top 10% of breed, indicating high early growth, good for finishing lambs quickly.

Muscle depth EBV in top 10% of breed, good for producing high conform ation carcasses.

Fat depth in top 25% of breed, potentially suitabl e for breeding females with good natural fleshing. side Maternal EBV just out ial ent pot ed, bre of 10% top ing form per h hig ng for breedi female replacements.

CT Gigot Musclurarity in top 25% of breed, potential for well shaped carcasses.

Society Governance Chief Executive John Yates

Vice Chairman Jeff Aiken Procters and Tatham Hall flocks

Contributors Jonathan Long Lynsey Clark

Chairman Roy Campbell Cowal and Royale flocks

Treasurer Andrew Barr Parkhouse flock

Photography Jonathan Long MacGregor Photography Alfie Shaw Countrygirl Media

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Buyers seek out quality Texel lambs Jock and David Craig, Cumnock, Ayrshire

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sing Texel rams to produce up to 1000 grass-fed, crossbred lambs annually, is a system that has worked successfully for the past 20 years at Auchlin Farm, Cumnock, Ayrshire.

The Craig family run the 700-acre upland farm, and rent a further 300 acres, with David working alongside his father, John (Jock).

In addition to the sheep, they run 170 spring-calving beef suckler cows, which go to Charolais bulls, with the calves sold as stores in October and November.

The ewe flock includes 300 Mules, 150 pure North Country Cheviots, 170 pure Shetlands and 180 Shetland cross Cheviots.

The Shetland ewes go to North Country Cheviot rams, with the resultant ewe lambs kept for breeding, while all the other ewes go to Texels.

David explains: “We buy five or six Texel rams each year at Kelso, selecting by eye and looking for ones with a good carcass, skin and mouth. We wouldn’t buy bare rams as they wouldn’t suit our type of farm – we need the lambs to have plenty of cover on them, to get them to the selling stage.

“The Texel rams go out for five weeks, from the beginning of November. We try to put one ram to about 30 ewes, to ensure all the ewes get covered in a short space of time.

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Texels deliver the goods for David and Jock Craig.

“The ewes are scanned in January and then fed accordingly with a snacker. The Shetlands lamb outside, but everything else is brought inside in batches, two or three days before they are due to lamb, and then they go straight back out after lambing.”

It’s all hands on deck at lambing, which is also calving time. David splits his time between the lambing and calving shed, where Robert Montgomerie keeps things running smoothly. David and Jock receive extra help from Duncan MacDougall, a retired hill shepherd who lives locally, and David’s sister Kara, a contract shepherd, who comes back home to work for two weeks over the lambing period.

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David says his wife Kirstin, who’s a vet, often ropes in students to help out and gain experience and it won’t be long until their three year old son Arthur is getting stuck in too!

Most years, the ewes need no more feeding after lambing. This is weather dependant, however, and David says they will continue to feed the ewes with a snacker if necessary, until there is enough grass.

“The Texel lambs have plenty of life and vigour about them and are up and away really quickly. The first ones are sold from the end of June, straight off their mothers.

“We aim for 41-42kg, although some heavier ones are needed, at 43-44kg. We try to meet what the market is looking for at any time – we have regular buyers that we aim to cater for,” adds David.

Most of the lambs from Auchlin are sold through United Auctions Mart at Stirling, with a trailer load of 50 normally heading there at a time. Up to the end of September 2019, 709 lambs had been sold to average £74.

“We prefer selling through the market for the security of payment that it offers, but also because we feel it’s important to keep that live auction system in place. It would be dangerous to give the processors complete control over pricing.”

UA auctioneer, Richard Close, says: “Auchlin lambs are well fleshed, tight skinned lambs, regularly scaling 40 to 45kg. They are sold in consistent pens and keenly bid for by numerous buyers each week, regularly achieving over the average price, as their reputation for quality and consistency goes before them.”

The ewe flock at Auchlin is gradually moving away from the Scotch Mules, towards the Cheviots, which David says seem to do well on their farm.

“We probably don’t get quite as many lambs, but we’re not particularly wanting triplet lambs.

“We want ewes that can look after their own lambs, to help us keep costs and labour to a minimum. Costs are increasing all the time, but the price of lamb isn’t keeping pace, so we have to look at all areas and cut costs where we can.”

Health status is important when buying in ewes, so the Craigs buy their Cheviots from one holding – Catslackburn at Yarrow, where they buy Texel and Cheviot rams from too. Some of the Texel cross ewe lambs, out of Cheviot gimmers were kept to breed from last year.

“That’s a bit of an experiment – we’ll put those back to the Texel and see how it goes,” says David.

Carcass and skin are essential attributes for Texel rams at Auchlin

“We’ve used solely Texels for the past 20 years and we wouldn’t have continued to do that if they weren’t doing the job we needed them to do. They are what the market wants and they allow us to meet the requirements that are asked of us, with minimum input and straight off grass,” he adds.

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Flexibility key to Texel success as maternal influence John and Philip Claridge, Bottolph Claydon, Buckinghamshire

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rolificacy, mothering ability and milkiness are just some of the attributes which make Texel cross ewes the ideal choice for one Buckinghamshire flock.

The Claridge family’s 400-ewe flock is almost entirely made up of Texel sired ewes, with most at least ¾ pure and many at near 100% pure and all replacements being homebred.

“The only sheep we buy in are rams, sourcing a few replacements each year to keep fresh blood coming through and also to increase hybrid vigour in the lambs,” explains Philip Claridge who farms in partnership with his father John.

Lambing in early March the flock achieves a 180% lambing percentage, with the first lambs usually sold in early to mid-June ahead of weaning. “Once we’ve weaned the lambs we don’t usually draw many more lambs until later in the year once they’re grazing root crops.

“A lot of our grassland is older parkland, so not ideal for finishing lambs off. As a result we tend to finish a lot later in the year, usually selling a significant number from mid-December.”

Philip says the Texel cross lambs are well suited to this system, able to grow frame on poorer grass over the summer and autumn months and responding quickly to the improvement in forage that comes once they hit root crops.

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Texel cross ewes are proving to be ideal for Philip and John Claridge’s system.

“That’s the great thing with them, they keep growing and can perform from both the low input grassland and the root crops later in the year. They can get to good weights without running to fat and lay down flesh quickly once the forage quality improves.”

With 270 suckler cows on the farm as well there is plenty to keep the family busy, meaning a simple system is essential for the sheep flock.

“We tend to leave the ewes out for as long as we can ahead of lambing, all dependent on the season of course. Most then lamb in outside yards around the buildings with triplet carrying ewes coming in to a shed to lamb.

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“Generally, ewes come in about two weeks before lambing starts and then go back to grass almost immediately after lambing.”

not to get the ewes too strong. Big headed rams aren’t right for our system, so we tend to avoid that type.

Ewes aren’t offered any concentrate feed once they’re back at grass after lambing, with the father and son team putting high energy feed blocks out for the first few weeks. “This, and grass, is enough to keep the ewes milking and not feeding them every day helps reduce the risks of mis-mothering.

“We do look at EBVs too, but it is important to remember they are only one tool in the selection box. They are a valuable insight into a ram’s potential and we do use them, but we don’t rely just on them.”

“Likewise, we don’t feed any creep feed either, with our ewes being more than milky enough to grow their lambs.”

Lambs are drawn at 38-44kg throughout the selling season, with John Claridge keen to meet the needs of their regular buyers at the live markets they trade through. “Buyers at Rugby tend to favour a 40kg lamb and as most of our lambs are sold there those are the weights we target. Heavier lambs which would be out of specification for a lot of processors do tend to do better elsewhere, so we match lambs to the best outlet for them,” he adds.

And when it comes to ram selection the aim is to source evenly fleshed, well balanced rams with strong tops and backends matched with sound feet and legs and good skins, says Philip.

“It is important to remember that we’re keeping female replacements back off the rams too, so we have to keep an eye

Female replacement selection is equally as stringent, with only twin-born ewe lambs retained and potential breeding lambs selected first before any prime lambs are drawn for sale. “We aim to select a uniform batch of lambs from the middle of the flock with the aim of maintaining improvement within the flock,” explains Philip.

“The biggest lambs are always the singles, so we don’t select replacements from them and the smaller types are generally from poorer performing dams, so they aren’t kept either.”

There is little doubt that it is a policy which is working well for the Claridges, with every lamb from the 2018-born crop averaging more than £90 and repeat buyers keen to secure their prime lambs when available. “In addition we’re now starting to sell a few shearling ewes and they have been well sought after too,” he adds.

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Ease of finishing key John Currie, Lanark, Lanarkshire

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sing homebred Texel rams from the family’s longestablished pedigree flock, to produce quality prime lambs, finished off grass, ensures an easily managed and efficient commercial sheep system at Carlinside, Lanark.

John Currie runs 400 three-quarter Texel ewes, alongside 50 pedigree ewes, on the 410-acre farm. They also grow 85 acres of spring barley, rear 150 Holstein heifers annually for Hugh Neilson, East Brackenridge, Strathaven, and John manages the Milton Lockhart Shorthorn herd for owner, William Allan. It’s a busy schedule and the commercial sheep system has been tailored to suit the type of farm and fit around pedigree sheep and cattle commitments.

John explains: “Tups are put out on 15th November, for 45 days. We use home-bred Texel tups, with good skins and carcases and we find those traits definitely come through in the lambs.

A Bluefaced Leicester is used on the purer end of the ewes, for breeding replacement ewe lambs and to ensure the cross flock doesn’t get too pure, while the hoggs go to maternal breed tups.

“The crossbred ewes lamb from mid-April onwards, at the tailend of the Texel lambing and when other spring work is mostly finished. It’s a very low-input system, the ewes are kept on good grass, but receive no extra feeding pre-lambing. Generally, the ewes scan at 180% and are split into batches after scanning, with all of them lambing outside.”

Lambs are weaned in the first week in August, with the ewe lambs that will be kept for replacements, also drawn at that time (between 80-120 each year). The lambs due to be finished, are then put to better grass and are sold from mid-August onwards.

John says: “This is the second year that we’ve sold the finished lambs through Farmstock (Scotland) Ltd. We’ve found it gives us more consistency with prices and it’s good to know how the lambs are grading, allowing us to make improvements where necessary.”

John’s lambs go through Lothian Lamb and Beef, one of the seven regional livestock marketing groups that own Farm Stock. The first batch of 55 that went away in 2019, averaged £79.92, with an average kill weight of 22.25kg. Some 67% of those were in the company’s ‘gold’ range, grading Es or Us. “The lambs are almost all finished off grass alone, with only the last few sometimes given some feeding to get them away. We’ve found the Texel lambs best suit our system – they have the size and carcass that we’re looking for, are easily fleshed and have the ability to finish well off grass,” says John.

“We’ve upped the commercial ewe numbers over the past few years and hope to increase them further, to 600.”

Texel crosses deliver consistency for John Currie.

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Texel cross ewes central to flock success Sean McCambridge, Ballcastle, Co Antrim

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“That has been a big change in ewe management and reduced incidence of prolapses and bullying within the groups as there is always feed in front of ewes 24/7 so they don’t rush to feed all at once.”

Sean says it is the flexibility of Texels which makes them a good fit within his enterprise. “They are a very versatile sire, we can finish a proportion of the lambs off grass alone, sell others as stores and retain our own ewe lambs as replacements.

Ahead of lambing all ewes are housed on slats, both expanded metal and concrete, with the high price and reduced availability of straw locally meaning this is the most economic option. “Both TMR feeding and slats help reduce direct and labour costs associated with many housed systems,” adds Sean.

“In none of these situations is the Texel a compromise, it ticks all the boxes in all these options and gives great flexibility in marketing our lambs.”

Once lambed ewes are out to grass as soon as weather and grass allows, ideally within a couple of days and are then rotationally grazed alongside the farm’s 85-cow suckler herd.

The base for the flock is a group of Mule ewes which are all served with Texel rams, with ewe lambs from this first cross retained as replacements. “In all honesty, the Mule is probably the weakest link in the chain, but we need them as the foundation for the maternal line, so are currently buying in 50-60 of them a year.

“We would usually have a first draw of lambs away to the slaughterhouse in mid-July, with the aim of getting them as close to the 22kg carcass weight cut off as possible. We don’t want to go over that, but we do target that top weight as the optimal for our lambs.

t a time when sheep farmers need to remain agile to maximise their business opportunities, the versatility offered by using Texels as the main sire is helping Ballycastle, Northern Ireland-based Sean McCambridge manage his 800-ewe flock.

“They’re not as long lasting as the crossbred ewes, but that’s just the way it is,” he explains.

The first cross Texel ewe lambs are then put to a Suffolk tup, with ewe lambs also retained from this cross and put back to a Texel again.

“It’s a great three way cross and means we maximise hybrid vigour in the lambs, helping boost the number we are able to sell finished off grass.”

Lambing kicks off in the third week of March, with ewes housed from mid-January onwards and fed silage initially, with a blend added to create a mixed ration from six weeks before lambing.

“Ewes are fed according to scanning results, with the switch to a mixed ration made about 15 years ago.

“Of the 1200 or so lambs sold every year about a third of these are sold as finished lambs, with the remainder being sold as store lambs for others to finish.”

But Sean is careful to select his replacement ewe lambs before any lambs are sold, ensuring the top end are kept for his own use.

“We generally source our Texels as ram lambs from sales at Ballymena and while I want to buy rams with good tops and ends, we have to bear in mind the maternal side of things too and stick to a budget, generally spending from £400 to £550 to secure the rams we want.

“The prime lambs grade well and our retained ewes have plenty of milk and are great mothers, so we must be getting it about right,” says Sean.

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High peformance rams deliver higher earning lambs Russell and Rhys Edwards - Blackmill, Glamorgan

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inding a breed that fits the farm topography, climate and system is the goal for all sheep farmers and one which many tinker with on a regular basis in a desire to reduce inputs and boost output.

However, for Blackmill, Bridgend-based Rhys Edwards and his father, Russell, the challenge to find the right breed for their 600-ewe flock run on 225 acres at Hendre Ifan Goch Farm, was completed some 20 years ago when they started using Texel rams.

“We’ve used various breeds in the past and are currently taking part in the RamCompare project with one year left to go in phase two and are using a number of other breeds each year as part of that. Texels within the trial have held their own with good overall performance.”

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He adds that these is no doubt some of the other breeds being used as part of RamCompare have their place, with faster growth rates or higher killing out percentages than Texels. “But we are pleased with kill outs, growth and grades of high EBV Texel tups to date, with another four being trialled on the farm for lambing 2020.”

The 600 ewes run by the family are managed alongside 150 homebred ewe lambs which are run dry and enter the flock as shearlings. “These come from a maternal portion of the flock, although we are keeping back a few Texel cross ewe lambs too these days as a trial.

“The basis for the flock has historically been white-faced ewes, but is now transitioning to darker headed Welsh Mules, with these helping keep prolificacy up and giving a stronger replacement ewe,” explains Rhys.

Lambing begins in early March with 190 ewes AI’d to RamCompare sires before the rest of the flock kicks in a week later. “Ewes are housed from early January onwards and fed a TMR diet made up of 4kg/head of silage, 300g/head of sugar beet pulp is then added from five weeks before lambing with a high DUP soya introduced at 50g/lamb carried from three weeks ahead of lambing.

“It is a simple diet, but one that is very effective at delivering good sized lambs and also ensuring ewes have a good bag of quality milk for the lambs.”

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Once lambed ewes are turned out to grass within a day or so, depending on the weather, with the first ewes and lambs going on to a crop of winter rye, plantain and clover, which grows well early in the season and carries the first 200 or so ewes to lamb for three weeks until grass really gets going.

“We don’t feed ewes after lambing and once grass gets going the whole flock moves on to a rotational grazing system, moving every two to three days depending on grass growth and demand.

“We initially started rotational grazing just the lambs sired by terminal breeds, but then compared growth rates in these lambs to those in the maternal flock. The terminal flock lambs were hitting 300g/day to 12 weeks old, while the maternal flock lambs were at least 50g/day behind them on set stocking.

“As a result, we now rotationally graze the whole flock in two groups on different blocks of the farm,” says Rhys.

Careful monitoring of growth rates is just one part of the family’s data collection, with every ewe and lamb recorded and performance tracked throughout the season, including the performance of lambs by different sires.

Lambs are weighed every fortnight up until slaughter and abattoir data is collected and fed back in to the computer to gauge overall lamb performance.

“This has been illuminating and helped reassure us of the need to buy higher quality rams with known performance. While RamCompare has helped highlight the performance attributes of different breeds on our farm, it has also shown how different rams within the same breed can performance markedly differently.

“One high performance ram really stood out on that front when compared to a ram we’d bought on our own judgement.”

Rhys explains that the high performance sire left lambs which were, on average, worth an extra £5.55 when slaughtered. “That is a startling amount of money for every lamb and really highlights what can be achieved. Some of that came from lambs being ready for slaughter sooner and hence achieving a higher price/kg, some from better conformation and some from better killing out percentage.

“What it doesn’t account for, though, is the extra cost of keeping slower growing lambs on-farm longer, so including that could mean the difference would be even higher.”

Meanwhile, he points out that another Texel used through RamCompare has resulted in great conformation lambs, but slower growth. “His lambs have great carcasses, there is no arguing with that, but of the last 100 lambs 35 were by that ram.

“In our system that type of ram just doesn’t suit. We want quick growing lambs which can be finished off grass at the peak of the season to achieve the best returns.”

Having previously bought their rams relatively cheaply at the local market both Rhys and Russell are adamant that extra investment in better rams with known performance is the only way they’ll go now.

“EBVs mean we get assurance of how a ram’s progeny will perform. Obviously, they’ll only do as well as they can under the right management, but that’s down to us to get right. If we get the genetics right and our management is right we stand the best chance possible of getting the best returns,” adds Rhys.

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Texels on Target • 85% of Texel lambs grade ‘in spec’ * • Texel rams add £25/year to their progeny ** • Texel sired lambs earn premium prices • Nine of top 10 carcass merit EBV sires in RamCompare are Texels *** • Texel sired lambs in demand as prime, store and breeding lambs.

For the latest sales information see www.texel.uk/sales

Proven, Pedigree, Performance **Texel Sheep Society Taste v Waste and VIA trials 2019 **AbacusBio Research 2016 *** AHDB RamCompare project 2016-2019