John Martin
John Martin
John Martin farms in partnership with his parents on the Ards Peninsula 15 miles south of Belfast. The 65ha (160-acre) Gordonall farm and 16ha (40 acres) of rented land carry 400 Suffolk x Cheviot ewes, a small flock of Suffolks and 40 spring calving sucklers.
DESPITE some rain breaks, the 18 acres of Pastoral winter barley was harvested by early August. It averaged 3t/acre and was sold off, immediately – supposedly as a cash crop – with the price down 22% on last year. Despite a depressed demand for straw, ours sold readily to regular customers.
The stubble received 2500 gal/acre of cattle slurry before a run with the power harrow which was enough to create an adequate seed-bed for forage rape. Fertiliser was applied – 100kg/acre of 16.16.16 – and the gates closed until next January.
The current grass situation is good, and some areas have been topped to freshen them up. Cows and calves are being rotated to keep on top of the new growth. The cows should now all be in calf again via natural service and a few late calvers are still to be sold.
The calves are receiving home mixed creep meal to start them to feed: This will improve growth rates as grass quality falls, and make weaning less of an ordeal.
The lambs were dipped again to control fly strike, which should be less of a problem from now on. Lamb trade continues to hold reasonably steady with the last batch sold averaging over £53.
We purchased 39 breeding ewe replacements, Suffolk x Cheviot. These, along with 42 home-reared Rouge x Suffolk ewe lambs, will receive clostridial vaccinations as well as injections against enzootic and toxoplasmic abortion.
A new Suffolk stock ram was purchased, selected for his breeding and potential performance as recorded under the Signet Sheep-breeder scheme. I sold five home-produced Suffolk shearlings straight out of the field for up to £305.
Unfortunately one of our older commercial rams went to meet his maker as the result of a broken neck – sustained in a fight over a female – so this years Suffolk ram lambs have been drafted in for extra fire power.
A Dorset ram was purchased recently and had his fire power removed thanks to a vasectomy, so with any luck "he" will be a useful teaser for the next few years. *
Suffolk x Cheviot breeding ewe replacements and a new Suffolk stock ram have been bought by John Martin. A Dorset ram was also purchased – but promptly vasectomised for use as a teaser.