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Beltex - the carcase breed key to expansion at Castledawson

Beltex rams are instrumental to the expansion plans of Londonderry lowland sheep producer, Liam Mawhinney. He aims to quadruple the size of his cross-bred flock over the next five years and believes that the Beltex has an important dual role, not only as a terminal sire producing efficiently the type of well finished lamb required by his buyers but also in breeding high quality half-bred replacement females.

Dominic and Liam Mawhinney

Mr Mawhinney, along with his brother Dominic, plans to rent extra land in and around their Castledawson base and breed the majority of their own replacements by retaining Beltex cross ewe lambs from their current 350 ewe flock, while the Beltex cross male lambs will continue to be sold at an average 22kg deadweight.
“To remain viable we have to grow our flock size significantly. However, while we want numbers we also need to keep carcase quality high and get lambs away earlier to receive best prices at the auction marts. The Beltex has produced more twins and several sets of triplets, and Beltex crosses have proved to be faster finishing, therefore we’ve been able to get the lambs away earlier which has allowed more grass for the remainder of the flock,” he says.

About a quarter of his current flock were put to a Beltex ram for the first time last year and their lamb performance compared with the Continental cross and native cross bred lambs. Based on the evidence of better lamb conformation from the Beltex crosses, particularly the double-muscled hindquarters, he has invested in another Beltex ram to help cover more of the flock when tupping begins towards the end of this November.

To reduce labour costs at lambing next year, he plans to switch to 100% outdoor lambing and also lamb in late April when higher quantities of good quality grass will be available. Previously, the brothers have experimented with both indoor and outdoor systems. Mr Mawhinney believes that the ewes are fitter, they give more milk on grass and there is less disease threat with an outdoor system.
“The downsides of outdoor lambing are obviously the weather and the threat of predators. However, we can use buildings as backup in the event of severe weather.”

The flock is split based on scan results. Ewes carrying twins move on to ground with greater grass on the run-up to lambing, with singles given lighter grazing. Past experience has shown that ewes with singles are prone to lambing problems if overfed on grass coming up to lambing. In addition, his records show that lamb mortality and lamb output were similar in both systems. However, less time was spent feeding, catching and moving ewes in the outdoor system compared with the indoor system.
“A major part of the success of keeping lambs alive outdoors is by firstly producing big, strong lambs. The Beltex cross lambs were great to lamb, they didn’t need any assistance and they were born with tight skins. They also proved to be lively and were up and away sucking immediately.” As a consequence, the Beltex lambs helped keep his reared lamb percentage above 150, a figure he believes there is real potential to improve.

While admitting to continually learning and adapting, Liam Mawhinney says he is looking toward the future, confident that his simple, straightforward system combined with his measured flock expansion of good quality sheep will deliver a profitable enterprise.
“Both my brother and I are young men with energy and enthusiasm. We believe there is a strong future for dedicated sheep producers and are confident we can grow the size of our flock in a sustainable way. Using good quality breeding stock is a major part of our plan.”

He adds: “We’re always prepared to experiment and try different approaches to improve production and efficiency and meet the requirements of our buyers, and we believe that the Beltex has a major role in helping us achieve those goals.”