Aiming to breed for carcase quality and keeping the commercial man in mind is the main focus for Texel breeders, William Knox, and sons, Graeme and Andrew, of the Haddo flock from Fyvie.
Having been in the breed since 1990, the team have certainly found their feet and made a real mark in the show and sales circuit over the years.
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“Carcase quality is No.1 and it is important the breed stays that way. They are a very plain worm free clean breed being easy kept,” said Andrew.
Graeme added: “The breed has improved over the year, and it is crucial we continue that by enhancing the size and confirmation of them. The Scrapie Monitoring issue lost a lot of good bloodlines, but I feel we are getting them back now.”
With the foundation females coming in the form of ewe lambs from Cambwell, Glenside and Watchknowe, as well as gimmers from Hullhouse, Glenside and Ettrick all being purchased at Lanark.
On the male front, stock tups that have made their mark on the flock dates back to 2001 with the purchase of Craighead Hercules for 50,000gns – a breed record at that time. The following year the most expensive tup the family have bought was the 122,000gns Tophill Joe, which has bred a lot of good females as well as the following year producing six lambs to average £12,500.
More recently, Clinterty Yuga Khan, was bought at Lanark in 2016 for 60,000gns with a few other breeders and is one of the top breeding tups in the breed. Hexel Born To Be Wild was jointly purchased for 8000gns at Lanark, and has already bred well for the flock, having sold Haddo Dynamite for 34,000gns as well as a lot of good females. In 2019 he also bred the first prized ewe lamb at the Highland Show and the red ticket winner at the national show at Carlisle last year, which went on to take inter-breed champion at Keith Show this month, another ewe he has bred was Turriff Show champion this year.
“Showing is a crucial part to the calendar for us, it is a good shop window to let fellow breeders see what you have got on offer – everything is always for sale,” said Andrew, where the family take to local shows, as well as having ventured to the Royal Highland Show since 1998.
This year has been a good one for the team having taken a red ticket at the Highland with a tup lamb and a second place with a ewe and fourth with a gimmer. New Deere Show met no disappointment either having took champion with a gimmer.
Graeme added: “Although showing is becoming expensive to do, it is a crucial part of keeping our name at the forefront and we have managed to sell a few sheep privately off the back of shows.”
This year’s stock tup, Harestone Eldorado was bought at Lanark for 17,000gns, with this year’s lambs being the first crop for sale from him.
The Knox family have seven lambs entered for Lanark, four for Carlisle, four for Worcester, as well as eight for Kelso Ram Sales, with any remaining being sold at Thainstone Ram Sale.
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Tup lambs and gimmers are the main market for selling stock at the moment, with some shearlings on offer as well.
“There is definitely an increased market for the shearling rams as they will cover more ewes for the commercial man, so it is a route we are considering,” said Andrew.
The top price for the flock to date was achieved in 2010 at Lanark when the team sold their tup lamb, Haddo Ringleader for 50,000gns to Procters. On the female front 11,000gns was reached for an in-lamb gimmer at Lanark in 2004.
However, one the team will never forget they have bred was Haddo Balvenie which made his mark in 2018 when winning the Royal Highland Show and the pre-sale champion at Lanark – the only lamb to have done both – before selling for 40,000gns to John Elliot, Ken Hodge and Mike and Melanie Alford.
“We are always looking to breed the best we can and wouldn’t sell anything we wouldn’t use ourselves,” he added, with ewe lambs retained in the herd for breeding as well as buying in any additional females for new genetics that have good breeding families.
There is a strict culling policy at Mid Haddo with it becoming stricter and stricter every year. The best females that the flock do breed with need to prove their worth before being flushed.
“We don’t like to flush ewe lambs we want to see that they will produce something before we take them for flushing. A lot of our Texel work is embryo work now as it helps us take advantage of our best ewes and get more lambs on the ground from them,” said Andrew.
“There is no point in loosing our name for breeding good quality females when we can get £100 plus for lambs fat,” said Andrew, with everything going to Thainstone finished, with commercial lambs achieving £140 being born in April and the team already having some away all being grass fed along with silage aftermath.
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“The price of feed this year we just could not justify the cost, the growth rates in the Texel are extreme and can compete with any other breed when being finished off forage without any feed,” Graeme said, with the commercial flock being Suffolk cross Mules put to home-bred Texel tups.
“The Texel cross Mules are very popular across the country for commercial flocks and at the end of the day we are all breeding for those commercial traits. As long as the carcase quality is at the forefront the breed has a strong future.”
“However, the future at the moment is very uncertain, the cost of farming crisis is going to cause a lot of problems. We need to continue to keep our quality of stock as high as possible yet find ways of cutting costs.
“The biggest cost to hit us is the fertiliser prices, it is a big worry for many farmers all over and finding an alternative is easier said than done.
“Feed and fuel are of course two other indicators continue to rise this year. We need to be as efficient as we can be and become as self-sufficient as possible,” said Andrew, who grows 50 acres of winter barley and 350 spring barley – all of which will be sold for Malted barley.
Growing their own forage crop to feed cows along with buying in protein and minerals to keep them going. The herd is a mix between Limousin crosses and Simmental crosses all put to the Limousin bull. Everything is finished either through Scot Beef at Inverurie or McIntosh Donald at Portlethen. Bulls are kept entire and will leave the farm around 13-14 months of age, with the heifers staying on until 20-22 months of age, with 20 of the best heifers retained in the herd. If that doesn’t keep the team busy enough, they also buy bulls in from Thainstone or United Auctions, Stirling, to fatten.
“It is a way to split costs on the farm, we can’t have our eggs all in one basket. Managing costs and planning for the future is all we can at the moment,” concluded Andrew and Graeme.
Fact facts
Involvement: Father, William, and sons, Andrew and Graeme and Graeme's son, Archie (19).
Livestock numbers: 60 pedigree Texel ewes, 200 cross ewes and 100 suckler cows, with everything being finished.
Farm acreage: 700 acres which sits at 200ft above sea level.
History: The farm has been in the family for 80 years.
On The spot questions
Best investment: The Texel sheep, although they are not always the most financially rewarding, they have brought us friendship from all over the country, the friends we have made in the breed and the sheep industry is priceless.
Best advice: Listen to other people’s opinions but make up your own mind at the end.
Biggest achievement? Winning the Royal Highland Show and Lanark the same year.
Where do you see yourself in 2032: Continuing with the Texel breed and maintaining our standard.
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