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www.beltex.co.uk
Beltex Sheep SocietyShepherds View,
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Beltex pedigree and crossbred sheep have been breaking new ground for one of the breed’s northern most enthusiasts in the UK.
John farms 900 acres at Fearn Farm with his parents James and Janet. John and his wife Fiona have a baby son, James. Fearn Farm has been in the family for 120 years. Of the farm, 650 acres is arable growing spring barley mainly for malting. The remainder of the land is down to grass carrying the sheep flock and a suckler herd of 100 spring calving cows, mainly Simmental cross and Belgian Blue cross with 10 pure Shorthorns going back to Simmental, Belgian Blue and Shorthorn bulls finishing all but 15 to 20 heifer replacements. The main sheep flock comprises 550 ewes, mainly Texel cross and highland Mules. A further 160 ewe lambs are lambed and generally a flying flock of 200 cast Cheviot or Blackface ewes are bought in.There is a flock of 60 pedigree Texels and another of 20 pedigree Beltex ewes, both with the Fearn prefix. The cast ewes are put to the Bluefaced Leicester with some Cheviot Mules retained for the main flock and the remainder of replacements coming from the main flock. The pedigree Texel flock was founded with two ewes which were a 21st birthday
present for John eight years ago. The Beltex flock began five years ago with
the purchase of a tup and a couple of females from a Carlisle sale. John Scott was pleased with the first ram sold through a Beltex Society sale in August 2002 sold Fearn Eclipse for 2,200gns to prime lamb showman Richard Colegrave, of Guards Well, Abernyte, Inchture, Perth, who also paid the second highest price of the sale at 8,000gns for Brickrow Dazzle from John Cowan, of Ayr. Mr Colegrave had seen the ram earlier in the season when he placed it reservechampion at the Sutherland Show. Eclipse is by Longley Dependable and out of Cowerslane Beryl which has been flushed twice, producing nine and 10 embryos respectively, and is a former Black Isle and Sutherland shows champion. Beryl produced three embryo brothers of Eclipse, one of which Fearn Firestarter was used for the 2003 lamb crop. Beryl was bought for 240gns in Carlisle in 1998 and has done well for the flock. Brickrow Dazzle was also hired for the day in 2002 to do AI and ET work. Keen to fly the flag for the breed, the Scotts also won the championship at the 2002 Sutherland show with a gimmer. The ideal shape for producing prime lambs for carcase competitions, they have won the Sutherland and Black Isle shows carcase and live-dead competitions. While flock numbers are still being built up, John is keen to be selective in his breeding programme and will cull any lambs he believes are not up to standard. John likes his sheep to have a bit of size without sacrificing the extreme muscled hindquarters, as well as having style. John was the family’s original enthusiast for the breed but his father James is now converted. “I was delighted with the lambs when they were born. We helped with few lambings and they were quickly on their feet. The lambs are very human-friendly and don’t tend to be wild. With our pedigrees we get up to 150 per cent lambing,” said James Scott. Commercially, the Beltex tups are used mainly on the ewe hoggs to produce a lighter-boned lamb. They are also used on some of the better ewes to produce show potential lambs. The Beltex was also tried on some Blackface cast ewes and it produced good weight lambs which killed out well. John Scott believes there could be a good market for these lambs which has not opened up yet. The Scotts finish 1,200 lambs a year, one sixth of which are Beltex crosses.
Between 50 and 100 shapey lambs are cut and packed by a local butcher and
sold mainly through a local farmers market. John’s wife Fiona has been
dealing with the marketing of Rosshire Lamb Direct but the birth of baby
James put its progress on hold but now the family is looking at other ideas
such as Internet sales. The pedigree Beltex and Texel flocks begin lambing in early February while the main commercial flock starts lambing on March 20, followed by the hoggs on April 10 and the cast ewes in April and the beginning of May. The main flock and the pedigrees are lambed inside in a former granary and an old aircraft hangar. The pedigree ewes are fed only ammonia treated straw until 10 days before lambing when they are fed a home mix of home-grown barley, beet pulp and wheat dark grains from the distillery at Invergordon, along with ammonia-treated straw. The commercial ewes are fed 300 to 400kg a day, building up to 1kg a day along with a mineral additive. The pedigrees receive a smaller ration of concentrates. Outside the ewes are fed a similar ration through a snacker. The lambs are banded, marked and vaccinated against orf before turnout at 48 hours old. Lambs selected for showing receive creep feed. The earliest lambs are finished by mid to late June. Usually around half the lambs are finished off grass with the last to go by February and March finished off stubble turnips. The Scotts find the Beltex sired lambs are easily lambed and mortality is very low. They survive the harsh lambing time weather despite the farm being only 50ft above sea level and are as hardy as any other breed and have good, tight skins. |
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+44 (0)17683 41124
North
of Scotland farmer John Scott, of Tain, Ross-shire, bought his first pedigree
Beltex females five years ago and he has also been using the Beltex ram on
commercial ewes and hoggs at Fearn Farm. Also as a procurement officer for
Kepak’s Turriff meat plant, John Scott could see the great potential
in the Beltex as a carcase sheep which has been proven in the grades he receives
for his finished lambs sold on the hook. 
