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Easy Care Sheep

Well bred Easy Care sheep for sale in Buckinghamshire are hard to come by.

However, our 1100 ewe breeding flock enables us to carry enough lambs over for our own breeding purposes, although leaving enough ewe lambs to sell as breeding sheep to those that want to buy in to a very easy and relaxed sheep enterprise.

Easy Care Sheep are a revolutionary breed of sheep which requires minimal attention and veterinary care, sheds its fleece in the summer (and therefore does not need shearing) and yet offers very good lambing ratios and meat yields. When the fleece sheds it rapidly decomposes as a natural soil conditioner.  The breed rarely succumbs to heat stress yet the dense nature of their fleece means they can also withstand very harsh weather.

The ewes seldom require any assistance at lambing. Out of our 1,100 we breed from, we rarely assist (the lambing process) with more than 30-40 sheep. They have strong maternal instincts, and in most cases milk well and will rear their lambs without any human intervention at all.

Our whole lambing operation is done with one man, one quad and a trailer, and a few indoor pens and heatlamps. We arrive at first light, and usually leave as soon as it gets dark, unless a major problem arises just before we go home!

Our Lambing:

• Rams go in on 1st November
• Lambing begins on 1st April
• Lasts 3-4 weeks
• 175% scanning percentage
• 160% lambing percentage

Please note: our lambing percentage will seem less to that of a more traditional breed of sheep such as a Texel or Suffolk.

Traditional breeds might also achieve £10% more than the Easy Care breed at whatever the current market price might be on that day.

However, because we lamb outdoors with only one man overseeing (on a maximum daily 12 hour shift), there are huge cost savings where employment is concerned. We have not had to employ further staff on a 24hr basis during the 4 week lambing period. Therefore we believe the cost and time savings far outweighs a traditional system and breed, and you allow your sheep to get on with their own lambing while you can turn your attention to other areas of your business. The lambs are all born in their natural environment on fresh clean grazing, as opposed to bedded down sheds, where the risk of disease to new born lambs in some cases can be prevalent.

There is no ringing or marking, and the first time we gather the lambs is for weaning.

Our experience in breeding sheep is extensive with over 50 years’ experience collectively within the partnership, and we cannot be more positive that our decision to change 12 years ago from a traditional Texel/ Mule flock flock to an Easy Care system was the right choice, and we are excited for the future as our flock is now going from strength to strength.

If you would like any more information on Easy Care Sheep for sale in Buckinghamshire, please do not hesitate to contact Richard or Edward Shires.