Farming Connect’s Welsh Sheep Genetics Project (WSGP) is facilitating major change in a large-scale sheep flock.

The Rhug Estate had been running a flying flock of 3,750 North of England-type mules but is now transitioning to a closed flock of Welsh ewes.

It is using performance recorded tups to produce crossbred replacement ewe lambs and the type of finished lambs the business sees as key to future profitability.

Electronic identification (EID)-based technology is playing a significant role, providing data to help manage breeding decisions while allowing the farm to close its flock and breed its own replacements.

Farm manager Emyr Owen says an advice surgery with independent sheep and beef adviser Matt Blyth, arranged and funded by the WSGP, has been integral in the decision to overhaul the whole EID performance recording system.

“That meeting was a massive help,’’ Emyr recalls. “It has been fantastic to have that support.’’

Making the switch to a Welsh ewe was in part because the breed is proven to thrive in the region in outdoor lambing systems.

Historically the lowland Rhug flock has lambed indoors from 15 March but going forward only triplet-bearing ewes will lamb indoors.

The remainder will lamb outdoors, from the end of March to 15 April, to better match the estate’s grass growth curve.

The Rhug flock has also joined the WSGP, and lambs are tagged at weaning and data including daily live weight gains and slaughter weights are recorded and monitored.

The benefits of this are already evident, says Emyr. “We have a young shepherd in charge of lambing the Welsh ewes and he has been using the stick reader to add comments about any ewes or lambs he has concerns about so that we can avoid breeding from problem animals.’

The ambition is to run the flock in three groups in an ABC system. The sheep in the A group will be those that are ‘faultless’ as they will produce the replacements for the nucleus Welsh ewe flock.

Emyr says the trait that is being most closely monitored is ewe body condition score.

In the 2024 lambing season the scanning percentage in the indoor lambing ewes averaged 185% and 160% in the outdoor lambing flock. For the Welsh ewes it was 135% but, as two thirds of these were yearlings, the goal is to increase this to 150%.

500 pure bred Welsh ewe lambs will be retained this year as replacements while a big proportion of fat lambs will be processed on-farm and sold through the Rhug Estate farm shop. The remainder will be marketed through Pilgrims, ABP or Ruthin livestock market.

Although the journey to improving flock genetics and profitability is in its early stages, Emyr says his confidence in the targeted outcomes is embolden by support fomr Farming Connect and the WSGP.

“One hour workshops are such a good idea from Farming Connect, for most people an hour is all that is needed but there is more support available from other parts of the Farming Connect programme if required.’’