PRODUCING top quality commercial lambs with the vigour and growth rates to bolster productivity and profit margins is every sheep farmer’s goal and it’s one which Chris Blyth, manager of Gascoigne Farms, Kilbucho, near Biggar, successfully achieves on a regular basis.
With attention to detail key to every management decision on an almost daily basis - from the actual breeding of individual cross-bred ewes, terminal sires used, lambing and the day to day management of the flock - Chris, who has managed Peter Gascoigne’s Kilbucho unit for the past 11 years, has significantly improved levels of efficiency and production from this 800 acre upland unit.
Initially, the farm which was purchased by Mr Gascoigne in 2002, and was home to 400 ewes of which some were crossed to Suffolk rams with the resultant progeny finished off grass. 
The construction of a fully-equipped modern steading in 2008 meant that the farm was comfortably able to accommodate all ewes at lambing time, complete with a change in the choice of terminal sire used to a Hampshire Down, has nevertheless given the business a new lease of life, with increased survival rates at lambing and an improved crop of lambs ensuring a good market trade each year. 
“Our Suffolk lambs were always harder work when born, as they were slower to get up and sook which was more time consuming during what was already a very busy time,” said Chris.
“Instead, we looked to the Hampshire Down, which we have found produces much livelier lambs and lambs which finish during much the same time scale to the Suffolk crosses”.
Initially, two Hampshires were purchased at the Kelso ram sales, after reading an article about the benefits of the breed. These were bought from the Moybrick and Ballycreely flocks from Northern Ireland and while they both produced cracking, fast growing, easy keep lambs, the finished lambs sold through the live ring, failed to find favour in the live ring at Lanark, with most selling for less than their white-faced rivals. However, by selling dead weight through Farm Stock, Scotland, Selkirk, such penalties are avoided with the majority of lambs sold off grass to produce U grade carcases.
The Hampshire is also proving herself as a good big easy-care female breed at Kilbucho, requiring little if any feeding, and good big lambs which go on and thrive solely off grass. And, crossed to a Texel sire, the resultant white-faced progeny from the Hampshire Down female finish earlier and attract higher premiums than Texel crosses bred from Mule ewes.
Later born lambs not sold off grass are finished off rape and stubble turnips on the higher up fields of this less favoured unit which rises to 1300ft above sea level.
Now, the 800-acre farm at Kilbucho which includes 300 acres of forestry, is home to a flock of 200 Texel crosses, 110 Scotch Mules, 100 Hampshire Down crosses and 110 Blackfaces with half being tupped to a Bluefaced Leicester to produce home-bred Mule replacements and the other half to the pure-bred Blackface. To improve productivity, all ewes, including the Blackfaces, are brought in for lambing, with the crosses coming in at the end of January to begin lambing on March 24. 
This year Chris also lambed 75 Texel cross and Hampshire Down cross ewes in mid- February and were sold at 13-14 weeks to catch the early lamb trade.
To avoid buying in replacements and possible disease, Chris breeds most of his replacements but this year for the first time, he purchased 25 Llyens as an experiment with half being crossed to a Hampshire and the remainder to a Texel sire. Chris also crossed some of his Hampshire Down crosses back to the Hampshire which he said to date, has produced particularly promising looking, fast growing, dense lambs. 
Feeding the pregnant ewe at Kilbucho commences six to eight weeks prior to lambing according to their scanning results and condition scores when they are brought inside and fed concentrates and hay or haylage. Single bearing ewes are fed as little as possible to avoid heavy birth weight lambs and difficulties at lambing. 
Once lambed, ewes and their lambs are put into individual pens for up to a day and then taken outside to fresh grass, with individual pens disinfected and given fresh straw each time to reduce disease. 
Chris feels after lambing inside from day one that it is so much cleaner and efficient as lambs are protected from the elements. There are not the same losses caused by disease build up either as the shed has a concrete floor and can therefore be completely disinfected after each lambing. This compares to an outdoor lambing, where joint-ill could affect new born lambs around ring feeders due to the high levels of dirt and disease in these areas.
Scanning percentages this year worked out at an 187% for the cross ewes and 150% for the Blackfaces selling 1.6-1.7 lambs per ewe. Triplet born lambs are nevertheless split to marry up an extra lamb with a single lamb or rear them on the automatic lamb feeders introduced a couple of years ago. Most ewes run until they have produced four or five crops of lambs and then sold fat through Lanark, which is a cheapest market for transport. 
In contrast to many upland sheep units which also keep suckler cows, the farm grows 75 acres of hay and haylage which is sold locally to horse owners, to supplement overall incomes.
“We did price up a beef cattle enterprise to include the machinery and extra equipment required and it just didn’t seem as profitable when you consider how long it takes for a calf to be born and then to be sold,” Chris said pointing out that sheep farming requires less capital to start up.
Not surprisingly, he will be concentrating even more on the breeding potential of his sheep in the years to come and in particular to that of the Hampshire Down both as a terminal sire and a breeding female.
“In the early days it was difficult to find good Hampshire Down tups in Scotland, but there has been so much improvement in the breed in recent years, it is now so much easier to source good big square Hampshires with length, width and plenty meat throughout the gigots,” he said pointing out that he bought his first shearling in 2014 at Kelso Ram sales from the East Fortune flock, and returned in 2015 to buy a tup lamb from the same home.
The Hampshire Down may have lost favour over the years, but it appears the breed which is one of the UK’s oldest natives could just be the answer to a future with reduced financial support…