'The Welsh ewe is the mainstay of what we do here and they do incredibly well on the mountains'

He has used terminal sires in the past with great success and is now involved in a project with the Charollais Sheep Society, which is looking at the merits of using Charollais on Welsh Mountain ewes.

Gareth is one of six Welsh hill farmers who have been involved in the project and the first crops of lambs are now beginning to be drawn.

Emma Mellen, breed development and promotion manager for the Charollais Sheep Society, explains the project’s main aim is to change the perception about the breed’s hardiness and suitability for use on this sort of hill flock.

She says: “Ultimately we want to increase the sale of Charollais rams throughout Wales. We will run the project for another two years and are keen to see how the rams fare on different Welsh hill farms with differing types of Welsh sheep.”

At Tyn Llwyfan Farm, three shearling tups were selected by pedigree breeder Huw Roberts from his 100-ewe Bachymbyd flock, based at Ruthin. Mr Roberts explains he chose tups with good head cover, conformation and tight skins, which he thought would be suitable for use on Gareth’s ewes.

Results

Scanning results were largely in line with previous year’s results, with the first batch of 185 ewes put to the ram returning a scanning result of 98 singles, 85 twins and two triplets.

Gareth concedes lambing conditions and subsequent grass growth were particularly favourable this

year, and he would be keen to investigate the Charollais cross further to see how they would get on in more challenging conditions.

“We do not feed any concentrates over lambing, and afterwards we feed some concentrates, usually for about three weeks, and then they are solely on grass.

Gareth says: “From my perspective, the lambs have to grow fast, but also have a great meat tasting quality.”

He adds the majority were lambed outdoors and the lambs were quick to feet, which he was pleased with.

“They were up and sucking straight away, and I was pleased with how much vigour they had.”

These ewes and lambs then spent the summer on what Gareth described as ‘not the best type’ of lower in-bye land, before moving onto silage aftermaths.

They receive no concentrates and were finished off grass, the first batch were drawn in mid-August.

The bulk of lambs are sold to Dunbia, but Gareth will also send some to St Asaph and Gaerwen markets later in the season.

While the weights of the lambs picked in this first draw was mixed, the level of finish was fairly uniform.

Glynne Jones, from Dunbia, says: “We have a market for these lighter lambs, and there is little waste on these lambs.”