Ventonglidder

Luxury self catering cottages on a working farm, located in the heart of Cornwall.

Website - DMC IT

Ventonglidder

Contact Details:

Ventonglidder Farm
Ladock
Truro
Cornwall
TR2 4QE

Telephone:
01726 882204

Mobile:
07769 706975

E-mail: holidays@ventonglidder.co.uk
or
sheep@ventonglidder.co.uk

Jean and Eddie Burke have lived and farmed at Ventonglidder since 1977, initially rearing beef cattle and finishing store lambs. The all grass farm is managed according to an Entry Level Stewardship agreement, now in its second term.

The Ventonglidder Flock of Wiltshire Horn sheep (769) was established in 2004. Foundation stock included rams from the Kislingbury, Cynfarwy and Creedy Wiltshire Horn flocks. Female lines were sourced from the Boxes, Grafton and Slapton flocks. Ours was the winning flock of the New Members' Class (Southern Area) Wiltshire Horn Sheep Society Flock Competition in 2006. All stock from our 60

breeding ewes have been performance recorded with Signet Breeding Services since 2007. Top quality pedigree breeding stock is usually available often including proven and shearling rams; proven and shearling ewes and ewe lambs. All animals over one year of age are Heptovac P Plus vaccinated. We welcome anyone interested to learn more about Wiltshire Horn sheep to visit and to view our flock without any obligation to purchase.

Ventonglidder lamb is available from late August until December. A limited amount of mutton produced to the Mutton Renaissance Club standards (See www.muttonrenaissance.org.uk) from ewes that have

reached the end of their productive life is available between October and March annually.

For enquiries about the Wiltshire Horn sheep breed and availability of breeding stock or sales of lamb and mutton contact sheep@ventonglidder.co.uk

Jean Burke has been a Wiltshire Horn Sheep Society Council member since 2006, then in 2008 became a Director of the Wiltshire Horn Sheep Society Ltd.

The Ventonglidder flock has been performance recorded with Signet Breeding Services since 2007 as part of a project led by Jean and part funded by the South West Rural Enterprise Gateway to increase the

number of performance recorded Wiltshire Horn flocks . The Wiltshire Horn Sheep Society are keen to encourage more flocks to start recording and continue to offer some financial start-up support. see www.wiltshirehorn.org.uk/news.

Why did we choose the Wiltshire Horn Breed?

Today demand for wool is low so its production is uneconomic. The Wiltshire Horn has a short fleece that naturally sheds in the spring leaving a short hair coat. The fleece grows again in the autumn to provide protection during the winter months. This shedding ability

	eliminates the time and cost involved in shearing, dagging and bellying out for slaughter

	reduces the incidence of fleece related problems such as fly strike

	and so aids reduced use of animal medicines

USEFUL LINKS

Wiltshire Horn Society

Mutton Renaissance Club

Eblex/Signet

National Sheep Association

	reduces risk of sheep becoming tangled in hedges or becoming cast when heavily pregnant

	enables continuing assessment of condition of breeding stock.

	contributes to improved animal welfare

Generally Wiltshire Horn sheep have the harder, dark hoof horn and so good feet. At Ventonglidder incidence of lameness is low so any cases that arise can be treated on an individual basis. As a result regular foot-bathing of the flock is unnecessary – again reducing the use of animal medicines and further safeguarding animal welfare.

Wiltshire Horn ewes have large frames and are good, milky mothers which lamb easily. Lambs have remarkable vitality at birth and are born with a thick hair coat which protects against the elements. The short hair coat of the ewe means that the udder is clearly visible and easily accessible to the lambs. The breed is equally suited to indoor or outdoor lambing systems.

The Wiltshire Horn breed produces fabulously full flavoured meat as now demanded by an increasingly discerning public. Lambs have the ability to grow to heavy weights without putting on excess fat to meet modern grading requirements and are able to finish

off grass. The exceptional quality of the meat is ideally suited to niche market outlets.

The Wiltshire Horn is an ideal crossing breed. Rams are used as superior terminal meat sires producing lambs which are lively at birth and finish quickly. The large framed Wiltshire Horn ewe accepts rams from all the widely used terminal breeds producing top quality prime lamb. Wiltshire Horn ewes are now being used in many commercial flocks where, with careful selective breeding, they are able to produce wool shedding replacements.

For those farms which enter into Natural England's stewardship schemes, the Wiltshire Horn is a listed

native breed which qualifies for payments. With it's low maintenance and low input costs the breed is the ideal choice for such enterprises. For more information about the Wiltshire Horn sheep breed see www.wiltshirehorn.org.uk and Entry Level and Higher Level stewardship schemes see www.naturalengland.org.uk.

Wiltshire Horn flocks are eligible for entry onto the Breeds at Risk register, providing a degree of security against compulsory slaughter in the event of a major disease outbreak. www.defra.gov.uk/fangr/breedsatriskregister

Wiltshire Horn Performance Recording

Performance Recording provides an assessment of the breeding merit of animals in the flock using Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs) to indicate the genetic superiority or inferiority for a specific trait. EBVs enable informed breeding decisions and are a valuable marketing tool adding value to breeding stock. It is now possible to research details of any individual performance recorded Wiltshire Horn Sheep included in the Signet Breeding Services Recording programme at http://www.egenes.co.uk/bascosearchsheep/search/quick

The Wiltshire Horn Breeding Index has been designed to enhance the productivity and profitability of Wiltshire Horn sheep by

	increasing the weight of lean tissue in the carcase, whilst

	minimising any associated rise in carcase fatness and

	enhancing the maternal ability and prolificacy of ewes retained for breeding purposes.

The Breeding Index is calculated by combining EBVs, using appropriate economic weightings, into a single figure that highlights an animal’s breeding potential for a specific breeding objective. The EBVs for an animal are influenced by measurements relating to the trait, related traits and information collected on relatives. The Wiltshire Horn Breeding Index provides EBVs for:

	Litter size (lambs born live or dead/ewe)

	8-Week weight (kg) (selection on high 8-week weight EBVs result in faster growing lambs to weaning)

	Maternal ability (kg) (component of 8-week weight measure; high figures indicate females performing well as mothers – maternal care and milking ability)

	Scan weight (kg) (selection on this trait will increase growth rate to scanning at 21 weeks of age)

	Muscle depth (mm) (selection for high muscle depth will increase lean meat content of carcase)

	Fat depth (mm) (selection for low or negative measures will reduce fat levels or enable lambs to be taken to higher weights without becoming overfat)

	Mature size (kg) (gives breeders chance to influence the mature size of their flock)

Signet is working with Wiltshire Horn breeders to investigate the genetics associated with shedding, identify the optimum time and way to score the trait and over time identify whether or not high scoring animals produce the highest percentage of shedding progeny in pure and cross breeding programmes

The Signet Breeding Services Wiltshire Horn dataset now includes detail from 14 flocks and a total of 432 ewes and 800 – 900 lambs per season.

For more information contact www.eblex.org.uk/betterreturns or call Sam Boon of Signet Breeding Services on 0247 647 8829