This summer saw the Kimbolton Flock attend Burwarton Show and Tenbury Show achieving very pleasing success on both outings.

At Burwarton Show we took six sheep and they truly provided a day to remember against some very strong competition!

1st Prize aged Ram
2nd Prize shearling Ram
1st Prize aged Ewe
1st Prize shearling Ewe
1st Prize Ram lamb
1st Prize Ewe lamb

Champion with the Ewe lamb
Reserve Champion with the aged Ram
Interbreed Champion Ewe lamb
Reserve overall Interbreed Champion with the Ewe lamb

For the outing to Tenbury Show we took four sheep and we enjoyed a very warm day.  Prizes included;

2nd Prize Ram over 12 months
1st Prize Ram lamb
1st Prize Ewe over 12 months
1st Prize Ewe lamb
1st Prize Group of three
Reserve Champion with our Ewe over 12 months

Pictured below is PPK1600612 the ewe lamb who stole everyone’s heart!

The Kimbolton Flock was proud to be asked to provide four gimmers for display on the Texel Society stand this year at this key Industry biannual event.

Of the ewes selected three were by Kimbolton Va Va Voom and one by Cambwell Viceroy II. They displayed all of the key characteristics of the modern commercial Texel, functionally correct, easy fleshing, with narrow heads. They were performance recorded, with all of them easily being within the top 1% of the breed.

The stand was incredibly busy throughout the day and a competition to win a weigh crate by judging the sheep in order, received over 600 entries!

We would like to thank everyone that came by and spoke to us, your comments and positive feedback was very much appreciated.

Next stop – Burwarton Show and Tenbury Show!

A busy week saw not only the completion of ultrasound scanning for all of our lambs to measure backfat and muscle depth but also ten Ram lambs were selected to go to the mobile CT scanner for a full body scan.

This is completed to provide vital information on the quality of the carcass and the use of the CT scanner is the only way to know how the animal would kill out without actually killing it (a bit of a problem for passing on its genetics!).

Each lamb is sedated and when relaxed is loaded into a harness where it is then scanned in the same manner as human beings are.

The resulting images can then be analysed to provide information on muscle/bone/fat rations, spinal length, muscle and gigot measurements and an overall killing out % calculated.

Once all of the data has been analysed it is used to enhance the accuracy of the data used to create Estimated Breeding Values (EBV’s) and the overall performance recording index.

The data gathered is so valuable that new EBV’s are expected to be created for spinal length and lean meat yield based on the area of lean meat in the carcass. These two traits are of significant interest to processors as it is estimated that there is around £15 per animal additional lean meat yield on top performing animals.

By completing CT scanning you can clearly identify which animals have these superior carcass traits – something that is impossible to do by the human eye.  This enables farmers to make informed breeding decisions to ensure that their lambs can be produced to the right specification reducing waste and carbon dioxide production.

Feel free to make contact to discuss how the use of performance recorded Rams could help you achieve better grades and reduce the risk of your production system.

If you are a performance recording flock you can benefit from free semen from Kimbolton Voyager who is being used as a part of the Signet Ram Compare progeny test.

There are terms and conditions that apply but further information on how you can make the most of this opportunity can be found on the Signet website at http://www.signetfbc.co.uk/semen/ 

The Ram Compare Farm using Voyager is owned by the Whitehouse Family and is in the Forest of Dean and they have been pleased with Voyagers performance, so much so he has been chosen as the “farm choice” Ram for 2016 replacing a Charollais which was their choice this year.

Voyager is ARR/ARR and more details of his performance recording details and pedigree can be found by clicking here

Following numerous telephone and email enquires we have now uploaded the initial list of stock that we will be selling during 2016.

It can be found on the For Sale page located at the tab above.

Please note that this list is subject to change, plus if you cant see exactly what you are looking for please call as we may still be able to help.

The list will be updated on a regular basis as animals are sold.

Following submission of the eight week weights for the 2016 lambs we have now received the results of the first 2016 BLUP run.

Whilst it is important to point out that these are preliminary results (they are based on lambing weights and eight week weights – the scanning information will be added at 21 weeks which will increase the accuracy and value) they hopefully present a good initial picture of progress towards our breeding objectives.

A summary of the results shows that our 2016 lamb crop has an average terminal sire index of 435, an increase over the prior year (396) which pleasingly places the flock well inside the Top 1% (index of 379).

For the Ram lambs the Kimbolton flock itself bred six out of the top 20 lambs recorded so far this year (including the top Ram lamb PPK1600599) plus our genetics was also used by other breeders to great effect too meaning in total that 10 out of the top 20 Ram lambs (50%) contained our proven breeding.

For the Ewe lambs the Flock bred seven out of the top 20 itself with a further four being bred by others resulting in 55% of ewe lambs containing our breeding.

Sires producing these lambs included Kimbolton Warrior who was used as a junior stock ram (by Cambwell Trademark he now stands fifth on the senior sires list), Kimbolton Wayfarer (by Kimbolton Va Va Voom – half share sold for 1600gn), Kimbolton Va Va Voom (Sold to John Elliot for a significant undisclosed sum), Kimbolton Voyager, Wallington Vigilante plus Goldies Supreme and  Kimbolton White Knight who sold to Duncan McNiven for 1,400gn.

The next milestone is to complete ultrasound scanning at 21 weeks of age plus CT Scanning which is booked in for 5th July. Once all of this information has been collected then a further BLUP run will provide a fully rounded view of each animal in time for their sale and use.

Feel free to make contact if you would like to discuss any aspect of performance recording or if you are looking for a ram to compliment your particular ewes.

PPK1600626

An important part of performance recording is the collection of lots of data (or phenotypes). This starts by weighing lambs on the day following their birth,  again at 8 weeks of age and again at 21 weeks.

This information is then combined with scanning information (both ultrasound and CT) to produce  Estimated Breeding Values or EBV’s. These figures can then be used to determine the genetic potential of the animal and to compare it to other sheep within the Texel breed that also record (and also potentially ones that don’t but the accuracy is usually so low that this is risky).

When collecting the data we try to avoid over handling and stressing the lambs so they get weighed as a single group on the same day. For the 8 week weights this date is chosen when the lambs are between 42 and 84 days of age and when completed it is easy to calculate the 56 day weight so animals can be compared on a like for like basis (i.e. all the same age). This is particularly important as in non recording flocks it is easy for smaller superior later born animals to be overlooked in favour of the larger earlier born animals who are perceived to be better simply because they are older and bigger.

Our physical 8 weeks weights this year have been pleasing when you consider that the grass hasn’t really got going. Our decision to feed the ewes well in the first four weeks has paid off as they have milked well and in turn the lambs have grown well with several breaking the 500g/day DLWG. Weaning is approaching for the first batch and then it will be interesting to see growth rates to 21 weeks.

Pictured below is one of the top performers so far PPK1600626 who is a naturally reared Kimbolton Va Va Voom son.

The raw data has been submitted for evaluation and we await with interest to see how our lambs will compare to the other 230 Texel recording flocks.

Today we had the third visit as a part of our involvement in an Industry leading project being led by the British Texel Sheep Society that is designed to  identify the genes that are significant in both mastitis and footrot.

This is important on a national flock basis (all breeds) as it has been calculated that mastitis alone (acute and sub acute) effects up to 30% of all breeding ewes. This has a massive financial impact on its own but when combined with foot rot which costs about £5 per lamb and £7 per ewe the opportunities to improve both animal welfare and profitability are significant.

As a part of our visit all of the breeding ewes were examined and measurements were taken on a range of data point that included;

• Teat length
• Teat diameter
• Udder drop
• Udder attachment
• Udder length
• Teat position rear
• Teat position side
• Udder width
• Number of teats over 1cm in length
• If udder lumps were present
• If udder lesions were present

Each ewe also had a California Milk Test (CMT) performed to identify penside if mastitis was present and milk samples were also taken to allow an accurate somatic cell count to be understood.

Also while the ewes were being inspected the feet were checked for any abnormalities and signs of footrot and anything noted was scored.

Following today our fourth and final visit has been scheduled for after weaning when the whole process will be completed again. Then all of the data collected over both of the years that the project has been running will be passed to the geneticists of SRUC who will assess it and look for correlations that will enable Genomic Estimated Breeding Values (GEBV’s) to be produced.

As a result the Kimbolton Flock will be one of the first in the UK to be able to sell sheep with GEBV’s for hard to measure health related traits.

Pictured below is Will Sawday the Technical Manager of the Texel Sheep Society performing the data collection.

In order to ensure that the ewes produced enough milk for samples it was requested that the lambs be removed an hour before Will arrived. This was duly done but I still have the headache due to the amount of noise they made!

The attached Poster explains more about the project in summary, however if you prefer more information then you can read the attached document  that has more detail.

It never ceases to amaze me how fast the lambs grow each year. Born on average weighing 5-6Kg they grow at anything up to 600g per day in exceptional cases.

It’s fantastic to see them bouncing around the shed whilst their mums are fed and it also gives a good indication that they are fit and healthy too allowing you to concentrate on the many other tasks that need to be undertaken. But they do like to sleep too!

A critical part of our breeding programme is to ensure that we select for growth and conformation as our customers want to buy sheep that can pass these traits onto their offspring. This year has so far produced some pleasing shapes with meat in all the right places as the pictures below show – not bad for three weeks old.

Of course  we also try to ensure we retain Texel breed type too so we try to also ensure they are pretty too, in that way hopefully we can keep everyone happy!

Lambing began on 13th February (slightly earlier than the intended date of 17th February!) and the ewes are in full swing now. Due to the use of Artificial Insemination (AI) we synchronise the ewes to all come on heat at the same time, this means that we can lamb them within a concentrated period of time (typically 3 days) helping us plan labour and also meaning we don’t have to endure weeks and weeks with no sleep!  For this breeding season we achieved a hold rate of almost 80% which was fantastic. This means that the 20% who didn’t hold will lamb 17 days after the first batch as they have been caught by a sweeper ram.

The pictures below show a single and a set of triplets immediately after birth, straight out of the oven!

We have been pleased with the lambs so far and we hope that they continue as they have started.