Flock management

We manage our flock in a very "commercial" manner.  All of the stud stock is farmed at Danengate, near Hamilton.  The bulk of the ewes are mated in January and February to lamb down in June and July.  Ewe lambs are also put to the ram.  Because we are a stud flock we utilize a fair amount of AI and ET so that more of our progeny come from what we deem to be the better stock.  All ewes lamb in the paddock and lambs are tagged at birth.  Supplementary feeding is hay, barely and lupins as and when required (not much 2010 - 2011 fortunately!).

The very easy lambing nature of Charollais means that very few ewes need assisting, usually about 1 in 100 for breech births or a leg back.  Any ewes needing assistance are noted and removed from the stud flock.  Any stock that is fly struck is removed from the stud flock although thankfully this is already a very low percentage.  A large commercial flock is run 10 km away at Nigretta East where Charollais rams are used over 1,500 ewes annually.

Lambs are weaned at 12-14 weeks of age and when the feed begins to hay off, they are moved onto summer crop.  All lambs are ultra sound scanned by Stephan Spyker in January.

Lambs are then grown out at pasture until sale the following August.  Prior to being accepted into the stud flock all lambs are subjected to individual inspection for sound feet and legs, good body muscling and good growth rate and eye muscle depth.  Only rams with large testicles are included as breeding sires (check out the testicle size on the ram photos).  We operate a no foot trimming policy, any sheep needing foot trimming are removed from the stud flock.

Ewes for embryo transfer are selected on both their carcass traits and growth rate along with their ability to perform as a mother (weaning weight of lambs).

Health

The flock is Brucellosis Accredited, Johne's disease monitored and vaccinated (MN1-V).  All stock is vaccinated using Glanvac 6:1.