Hallsford Llanwenog Sheep
At Hallsford we run a flock of Llanwenog (Thlan-wen-og) sheep, a rare breed, originally across between the Shropshire and a now extinct Welsh mountain breed. These are a medium sized sheep very suitable for our Cumbrian conditions.
The productive year starts in October when the tups (rams) are put in with the ewes. We then house the ewes after Christmas and prior to lambing (a) to give our land a break, (b) to reduce our feed costs (c) for ease of management and eventually lambing. We use Llanwenog, Oxford Down and Berrichon tups (rams). The former providing pure bred replacements for the breeding flock the latter an excellent larger ‘fat’ lamb but still with easy lambing characteristics. In 2000 we built a polytunnel for sheep housing. A very worthwhile investment, still in use today’. We lamb inside in March and turn them out as soon as the weather permits. Shearing takes place in late June, early July. The Llanwenog fleece is particularly fine and sometimes we separately process it into balls of wool. These products are available through our Online Shop. The wool from rest goes to the Wool Marketing Board. The lambs are weaned in August, separated into wether and ewe lamb groups and finished as required over the next four months. The best Llanwenog or Berrichon x Llanwenog ewe lambs we retain for breeding. In September we sort the Ewes into those that will be retained and those that end up as Mutton. The cycle starts again in October. Feed: Our sheep are grass and clover fed for most of the year. Our grass is managed in a sustainable way with minimum use of nitrogen fertilisers. Most of the nitrogen our grass needs comes from clover. When inside they are fed haylage and 6 weeks pre and post lambing a concentrate feed to ensure healthy lambs and ewes with plenty of milk. Health & Welfare: We check our stock daily. We dose for liver fluke and worms and vaccinate the flock against a number of common sheep diseases. Our view is that antibiotics are a good thing. It is their uncontrolled use in certain, not all farming systems, which is not. We use them topically and have no hesitation in doing so. Animal welfare is a priority. We keep individual computer records for every animal. Hallsford Lamb Online – Our aim is quite simply to produce a quality product. What we offer you is transparency. Your lamb is produced to the highest standards in a beautiful part of England. The animals are cared for and production is not forced. The breeds we use and way the product is processed matter a great deal in producing a product with real flavour. Our lamb is hung for a minimum of 7 days (longer as the lambs get older), prior to being butchered and dispatched to you on a next day service. Wool – We offer Llanwenog Aran coming from our flock of Llanwenogs.
