The weather eventually picked up in July, which started to put a bit of pressure on the grass. After vaccinating the lambs for a second time, historically we would wait around a month before weaning. Over this time, we would often fin d their growth rates would drop off or they would stop growing as well, so this year we decided to wean earlier. We also find weaning the ewe lambs earlier gives them time to recover over summer. The growth rates of the lambs this year have been behind those of last year, which could be down to the weather or the increased worm pressure we have seen this year.

July also sees the annual trip for the Performance Recorded Lleyn Breeders (PRLB), a great group of Lleyn breeders from across the country. This year we headed to Northumberland and were kindly hosted by Richard and Jen Oglesby and then went to visit George Burrell, you can find out more about the trip here.

Harvest kicked off halfway through July, it’s been a challenging year for crop growth so yields so far, a back a bit and there are large volumes of straw. Once we start getting a bit more ground cleared, we can start to establish cover crops for winter grazing.