Owen Pritchard is the fourth generation of his family to farm Glanmor Isaf, near Bangor in North Wales and he aims to maximise lamb production with minimal input on the organic farm.
By introducing performance-recorded Welsh Mountain rams, Owen reports that they have “gone from selling light Welsh Mountain lambs grading O to finishing 95% of lambs off grass to 16.5kg to 17kg target weight and hitting the R3L spec by simply changing our flock genetics”.
“We’ve implemented a criss-cross strategy for over 10 years over our 250-ewe Welsh Mountain nucleus flock with performance recorded hill type rams and improved type rams, and they’ve all been bought from the ProHill group,” he explains. “The performance recorded hill type has maintained hardiness and a smaller ewe size – our ewes are maturing at an ideal 45kgs, any bigger and they would struggle to thrive on the mountain. To complement, the improved type rams have been selected to increase growth rate and muscle depth. Overall, we’ve achieved a very specific type of ewe which makes for a great mother, she is easy to lamb and has strong maternal instincts as well as producing a fast-growing heavy lamb.”
Owen joined the Welsh Hill Ram Scheme in 2019 and he explains that the scheme’s TSU (Tissue Sampling Unit) technology allows him to easily record more sheep in their natural environment, enabling better matches between rams and ewes based on their indexes. For example, Owen pairs an ewe with a lower growth and muscle depth index to a ram with above-average traits.
Owen annually retains 150 ewe lambs chosen for their maternal qualities, ensuring they are structurally sound and healthy. Thanks to the Welsh Hill Ram Scheme, he now keeps only those above the Welsh Breeding Index threshold, selling the rest as culls. His strict selection criteria also include structure, feet, and wool to ensure the flock thrives on a forage-based diet.
“Going forward and continuing to improve the flock’s performance with high index merit rams will be a new challenge, especially since there are very few breeders producing performance recorded hill rams,” he says. “However continued interest in the Welsh Hill Ram Scheme and ProHill should guarantee a source.”