Direct route pays for Charlie Armstrong

The price of breeding sheep seems to have lived up to everyone’s expectations, but bubbles don’t go up for ever, they either burst or come down.

However, we have sold more than 1,000 ewe lambs direct from the farm, with no dressing or pampering and the buyers are all happy.

The necessary evil – double sheep tagging – went without a hitch using our tag gun. We ordered 2,000 double red tags for ewes missing tags and we are well through that pile already.

For the first time ever we have clipped all our ewe lamb replacements, which went far better than I imagined, and there is a small possibility we might have a small profit left over after the shearers have been paid. Unfortunately, they want to be paid now and the Wool Board doesn’t pay us until next year.

For once we have managed to establish some excellent green crops, hence no lambs have been sold for maybe 10 weeks and we have started buying-in store lambs, which will leave us with some profit if all things go well.

Baling straw is now finished and all the cattle are inside. The potato harvest is looming and, going by the water in the rows, a tracked harvester is on standby.

Livestock farmer focus: Charlie Armstrong