The Kimbolton Flock enjoyed a tremendous trade at the recent Welsh National and English National sales with strong interest from both Commercial and Pedigree breeders.

At the Welsh National trade topped at 1400gn for Kimbolton White Knight . He is the first Ram lamb to be sold by Kimbolton Va Va Voom.  This was the fourth highest priced Ram Lamb of the day and he sold to Duncan MacNiven from Glenfarg Perth.

At the English National trade topped at 2100gn for Kimbolton Valiant . He is a Shearling Ram by Wallington Special Brew who is renowned for breeding well fleshed sheep with ENORMOUS gigots.
He was the top priced Shearling Ram in the sale and was the pick of Stephen Cobbald from Suffolk for his Lavenham Flock.

At the same sale a bid of 1600gn secured Kimbolton White Gold. He is a Ram Lamb by Cambwell Trademark and is out of a Drinkstone Ewe by Drinkstone Punt Gun. He sold to R J Amphlett from Craven Arms.

A further bid of 900gn secured a very stylish and sharp looking Shearling Ewe by Avon Vale Real Deal out of a female line that goes back to Glenside Royal Male. She went home with D Morley.

We would like to thank everyone who bid and wish the purchasers the best of luck with their new additions.

If you missed out securing what you wanted please check out the latest stock list on the “For Sale” page of this site as we could still help.

The Catalogues have now been published for the first of the Pedigree Texel Sales that we are attending so I wanted to take this opportunity to summarise what we have on offer as this is a great opportunity to purchase some fantastic animals with some great EBV’s.

Welsh National Sale 29th August

• Three sharp Shearling Ewes by Special Brew and Real Deal with indexes to 388 (lots 67-91)
• Four well grown Shearling Rams by Real Deal, Spitfire and Special Brew with indexes to 367 (lots 114-117)
• Four Ram Lambs by Cambwell Trademark, Va Va Voom, Real Deal and Special Brew. with indexes to 507 (lots 235-238). This consignment includes the fifth highest index ram lamb in the breed, plus the third highest index Cambwell Trademark lamb this year (index 469)

English National Sale 31st August – 1st September

• Two  well muscled Shearling Ewes by Real Deal and Special Brew with indexes to 386 (lots 54,55)
• Five well grown Shearling Rams by Real Deal, Special Brew and Spitfire  with indexes to 462 (lots 122-126)
• Three outstanding Ram Lambs by Cambwell Trademark and Va Va Voom with indexes to 495 (lots 465-467). This includes the highest index Cambwell Trademark son being offered for sale this year whose index is currently 470.

Shropshire & Border Counties Shrewsbury Sale 5th September

• Two nice Shearling Ewes by Real Deal, Spitfire and UR The Boy with indexes to 399 (lots 149-151)
• Two nice Ram Lambs by Va Va Voom and Vanquish with indexes to 495 (9th highest index Ram Lamb so far this year) (lots 247-248)
• Two well grown shearlings by Special Brew and UR The Boy with indexes to 383 (lots 309-310)

Please feel free to get in touch to discuss these animals or to arrange to view them prior to sale day.

For a full list of all sheep for sale please visit the ” For Sale” page above. If you cant immediately find what you are looking for please make contact anyway as we may still be able to help.

The second BLUP results have been published on line today and include the results of our 21 week weights and ultrasound scanning data.

We are delighted with the results which show that our flock bred;

• 4 out of the top 11 Ram Lambs (including the 2nd placed)
• 3 out of the top 7 Ewe Lambs (including the 2nd placed)
• 3 out of the top 8 Senior ewes
• Plus Kimbolton Va Va Voom is now the second highest Senior Stock Sire in the breed (semen is available) .

Our pens at the Welsh and English National Sales will contain some of these exceptionally high index Ram Lambs. This will provide an excellent opportunity to buy into proven genetics that will deliver very fast growing lambs with the right carcase attributes.

For a full list of animals for sale this summer please see the For Sale page where you can download the latest list.

If you are looking for some quality Texel’s to purchase this year you have come to the right place!

If you go to the “For Sale” tab you will be able to download a list of animals currently for sale which represent a wide range of types with some outstanding EBV’s on offer.

Please feel free to call us to discuss your requirements, we prefer to sell straight from Farm as you have the opportunity to view the system that these animals have been produced on. This is something that we feel is very important and not something you get to see when you buy at auction.

We look forward to hearing from you.

PPK1500527 relaxing in the sun!

We are proud to announce that Kimbolton Voyager has been selected as one of only six live service Texel Rams , for inclusion in this exciting project this year. Voyager was not only selected due to the accuracy of his figures and his connectedness, but also because he had the highest % muscle in the leg of all Texel lambs CT scanned in 2014. He is a son of Avon Vale Real Deal  (Top Recorded Senior Sire of 2013) out of a home bred ewe by Roxburgh Spitfire (Top Performance Recorded Ram Lamb of 2011).

Ram Compare is a two-year pilot project financed by AHDB Beef and Lamb, Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat Promotion Wales (HCC), Quality Meat Scotland and Agrisearch, with support provided by the Sainsbury’s ‘Big Data’ Agriculture R&D Grant Scheme, Randall Parker Foods, Dunbia and Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC).

The project is designed to trial strategies for capturing commercial data on slaughter lambs in the UK sheep industry. It will be similar to central progeny tests that are taking place in Australia, New Zealand and Ireland. The first stage of the project involves developing a network of six commercial farms that will use artificial insemination (AI) and single-sire mating to produce a crop of over 500 lambs per farm per year. In the UK sheep industry the sire of slaughter lambs is not usually known, so this approach will enable sire information to be collected.

Data from their lambs will be collected through to slaughter. This data will be evaluated to see whether its inclusion in the rams’ genetic evaluations identifies differences between sires and improves their accuracy. A ranking of the tested rams, based on commercially important traits, will be generated at the end of the project in 2017.

Speaking after news of his Ram being selected was received Paul Phillips from the Kimbolton flock said “We were delighted that Voyager had been selected for inclusion in this project as there was very strong competition.  Our breeding strategy is focussed on producing superior genetics that are designed to deliver fast growing, well muscled lambs for the commercial producer. This trial, which involves organisations from right across the supply chain, provides an excellent opportunity for our genetics to be tested and directly compared to other breeds. We look forward to keeping up with developments and seeing the final outcomes”.

Well the Phantom has certainly been enjoying the spotlight in recent weeks. It wasn’t enough for him being a hit on social medial, now he is appearing  in the printed press and on You Tube too!

His newspaper career began when his picture was included in the Hereford Times along with an appeal from a Lady to find out what this “mystery breed” was.

The following week a further article appeared following an interview and this was picked up by the National Press.

Appearances in the Daily Mail, Daily Express, Daily Mirror and The Portsmouth News have also been followed up by his appearance on You Tube (or should that be Ewe Tube!)

We will soon be deciding where to sell the Phantom, so if you would like to buy something original and different please get in touch.

In the first BLUP run of 2015 the Kimbolton Flock has shown encouraging progress with an average lamb EBV of 405, which is an increase from 384 last year.

In almost every EBV we have shown significant improvement and it is interesting to look back and compare progress from 2009 which was when we started performance recording. The lambs we have bred this year have twice the maternal ability, growth rates and muscle depth and three times the amount of gigot than the ones bred in 2009. We know this because it has been accurately measured through the use of scanning (both ultrasound and CT). This demonstrates how quickly you can achieve genetic improvements in a breeding flock and clearly underlines why it is important to buy the right genetics for your flock.

Our customers reply on us to provide them with animals that will pass on their superior genetics and enable them to produce lambs that grow quickly and finish within specification. These simply earn them more money than lower performers.

Some of the highlights from this first run include

• Breeding three out of the top ten Ram lambs in the breed so far
• Breeding three out of the top five Ewe lambs in the breed so far
• Breeding three out of the top nine senior females in the breed
• Wallington Vigilante is now third highest senior sire in the breed
• Kimbolton Va Va Voom is now the sixth highest senior sire in the breed

We look forward to scanning and to the inclusion of the later lambing flocks data to see where we finish the year, but so far a promising start.

This years lamb crop are starting off well and settling in with their new Mums. So far lambs by Cambwell Trademark, Kimbolton Va Va Voom and Wallington Vigilante have begun to catch my eye.

Clearly they have a long way to go until they are ready to be sold but an encouraging start.

I have also had a few people ask how “The Phantom” is so I thought you would enjoy the picture below!

We just need some grass now!

Valentines Day saw the official start of lambing for the flock this year and by the time you read this we will be making progress as our lambing is planned to happen over 19 days this year.

So far the lambs born have been bright and have got up and sucked quickly. The selection for ease of lambing is working with less interventions.

We have had a few surprises including the one in the picture below who has become quite an internet sensation!

Please send me a friend request on Facebook to get up to the minute updates and news!

Further updates will be posted here as time (and sleep!) allow.

Update – Lambing of our sheep finished as planned on 12th March, the only exception being the East Middle Ewe who we bought in lamb and she lambed  20th March. All over for another year – I’m off for a lay down!

The Kimbolton Flock has been selected to participate in a ground breaking genomic research project aimed at identifying the genes that are significant in both mastitis and foot-rot resistance.

As one of twenty flocks nationally our sheep will be monitored and sampled in 2015 and 2016 with the outcome being that our flock will become one of the first in the UK to have Genomic Estimated Breeding Values (GEBV’s) for these important welfare traits.

When proven this technology will allow us to DNA test rams for resistance to both mastitis and foot rot allowing us to have confidence that their progeny will be less susceptible to these traits.

Data collection and DNA sampling under way

But what is Genomics?
Genomics is a term which is increasingly being used in livestock breeding, but just what is genomics and how can we use it to further Texel breeding?

Put simply, an organism’s complete set of DNA is called its genome and virtually every single cell in the body contains a copy. Genomics is a term that was developed in the 1980s and describes the large scale sequencing and analysis of DNA.

The key distinguishing feature between genomics and genetics is that genetics investigates the activity and composition of a single gene whereas genomics includes all genes and their associations in order to recognize their collective influence on the development and growth of the organism.

Through genomics researchers aim to determine complete DNA sequences and perform genetic mapping to help understand the relationships between genes and important traits, such as disease resistance and levels of production.

The knowledge about gene interactions that has so far been gathered has led to the emergence of new areas of study such as ‘functional genomics’ where researchers try and understand the pattern of gene expression, particularly across different environmental conditions.

Importantly, the science of genomics is applicable to animals, plants and humans. Genomics are also being used in human medicine and researchers are using the tool to study the role that multiple genetic factors acting with the environment play in complex diseases.

Genome-based research has already enabled improved diagnostics, more effective therapeutic strategies and better decision-making tools for patients. Ultimately, treatments could be tailored to a patient’s particular genomic makeup.

In June 2014 it was announced that researchers had sequenced the complete genome of sheep. Carried out by an international team of researchers the project took eight years to complete and involved 26 organisations across eight countries.

The Texel breed formed the basis of this work and the Texel Society is capitalising on this new technology and has become the first breed society in the UK to begin developing genomic tools. Funding has been awarded to the Texel Society in-conjunction with SRUC to undertake a genome-wide search for the genetics associated with resistance to mastitis. The intention is to expand this work to other disease related traits, such as footrot, in the coming years. You can read more about the current mastitis project here.