Isaac Crilly farms at Castlederg, Co. Tyrone. He runs a “Focus Farm” (open farm) in Northern Ireland.
Isaac runs a sheep only farm with approx 500 ewes and he also lambs his replacement ewe lambs down as hoggets. For disease purposes he runs a closed flock buying in rams only.
Isaac bought in his first Belclare ram in 2006. This year he scanned 1.89, up over 0.5 lambs per ewe on 2006 figures. He describes the Belclare ewes as “excellent mothers...hardy...adaptable...easy to work with” and "capable of rearing three lambs if required” The Belclare lambs he describes as “easily lambed...hardy...with great get up and go at birth” and a “high survival rate”.
Tomas O’Leary & his family run a mixed suckler and sheep farm in Headford, Co. Kerry.
As both the progeny from the suckler herd and the ewe flock are finished on the farm, Tomas places a high emphasis on having good genetics to compliment his management.
The ewe flock consists of approximately 150 females (ewe lambs are also mated) and lambing starts in the second half of February for the mature ewes and early April for the ewe lambs.
Traditionally the flock consisted of Suffolk and Suffolk cross ewes but litter size was stagnant at around 1.5 lambs per ewe. Four years ago Tomas purchased his first Belclare ram with a view to keeping his own flock replacements and increasing output from his ewe flock. In 2011 his ewe flock (mature ewes) had a scanned litter size of 1.96 lambs per ewe to the ram, an extra forty lambs for every 100 ewes put the ram.
The breeding policy on the O’Leary farm is to mate Suffolk type ewes with Belclare rams and to cross Belclare type ewes with Suffolk rams. This means that both the ewe flock and the lambs being born are on average 50% Belclare and 50% Suffolk thus giving hybrid vigour, easy, hardy lambs, rapid growth rate and good carcase conformation.
Tomas is currently increasing his flock to 200 ewes and intends to continue using both Belclare and Suffolk sires to produce prolific, easier care sheep.
Pat & Mark Hughes, Derrada, Newport, Co. Mayo:
We have a small flock of mayo mountain blackface sheep and we decided that we wanted to try crossbreeding and produce a better quality lamb. The Mayo Mountain Blackface ewes are known for their good mothering ability, hardiness and milk traits. We researched some other breeds such as the Texel and cheviot but felt that the Belclare was better as their litter size was 2.00 compare to 1.70 if using a Texel. Some of the other traits of the Belclare like easy lambing and quick on their feet to suckle influenced our decision. The first crop of lambs was born in spring 2010 and was sold in early August with no mortalities. The rate of lambs born per ewe increased to 1.80. This cross produces a highly prolific ewe that is ideal for lowland farmers. We are very happy with the Belclare ram and intend to continue breeding with them.