The Harmse family runs a sow, beef and sheep farm on Uitgezocht. “We plant maize and soy, as well as fodder sorghum, to supplement the natural grazing on the farm,” explains Wilco.
As there is limited natural grazing on the farm, 40ha of fodder sorghum is planted for the animals and land is leased for grazing for the cattle. “We also use a neighbour’s fields in the winter, where his cattle have already grazed, for the sheep.”
According to Wilco, all the maize planted on Uitgezocht is used for finishing sheep for slaughter. “This is one of the aspects that makes it possible for us to farm profitably with the sheep. The fact that we don’t have to buy corn makes the sum add up, as I produce it for significantly less than we can buy it for .”
Sheep branching
The sheep branch caught fire when Regina decided in 1996, with the birth of her son, that she did not want to go back to work and was going to do something else so that she could be with her children.
“I then took my pension and bought a bunch of sheep. At first I was only involved in commercial crossbreeding. When a former Ile de France breeder, Flip Snyman, lent me his rams for a crossbreeding experiment, I real potential of the Ile de France. I still believe that there is no better breed of meat sheep.”
Regina made more and more use of Ile de France genetics and bought her first pure Ile de France ewes in 2006, as well as registering the RCH Ile de France stud.
Outstanding animals
“We focus on breeding superior animals for our own use, as well as making genetic material available to fellow stud breeders and commercial farmers,” says Regina.
With the registered stud animals and the commercial animals, an attempt is made to breed animals that meet the highest breed standards. That is why the selection process is an important component of the selection process. “We also focus specifically on male animals with outstanding musculature and female animals with good maternal characteristics and milk production.”
A very important criterion is that ewes give multiples. “If a ewe in one lambing season can give 80kg or even 120kg of meat, in other words two or three lambs, instead of 40kg or one lamb, it makes a very big difference to the ultimate profit margin. Top fertility is therefore for us an essential characteristic.
“If we select strictly for these characteristics, ensure that ewes are in good condition all year round and apply good nutritional management at all times, we achieve very good results with the Ile de France. This includes a high percentage of multiples and lambs that at four months between 20 and 25kg. In cases where we had a lot of food available, we even slaughtered earlier,” says Regina.
To really ensure that the right traits are selected for, the necessary indices are taken into account and weak animals are culled. “We weigh all stud lambs at birth. Birth weight is mostly accompanied by nutrition, and by weighing problems can be identified. Then we also weigh at 42 days to measure the ewes’ milk and identify ewes with poor milk production, as well as at 100 days to measure the growth of the lambs and thereby identify poor growers and outstanding animals.”
The advantage of lamb pens
The sheep farming on Uitgezocht is semi-intensive with lambing pens that are used for two weeks in lambing time. “For all the stud ewes and commercial first-lamb, yearling ewes, synchronization and artificial insemination (AI) are used, and they lamb in the lambing pens. The older commercial ewes are mated naturally and lamb in the field,” explains Regina.
The advantage of the lamb cages for the control of lamb deaths, as well as ease of management and successful selection, is indisputable. “Especially if there are many multiples, the lambs are severely exposed to foxes and other predators than the ewes lambing in the field. We do not corral the animals at all, so the use of lamb pens during lambing time is very important.”
Wilco and Regina agree that the investment in erecting lambing pens is worth it, as the weaning percentage has increased markedly since they started using lambing pens.
Use of creep feeding
Regina says another important management measure for better results is the use of creep feeding. “The lambs are fed creep meal from an early age. In my opinion, this is the cheapest way to bring lambs up to slaughter size. A young lamb in its optimal growth stage can eat 1kg to put on 1kg of meat. The older it gets, the more he eats to put on 1kg of meat.”
Furthermore, the creep ration is also the same as what the lambs will receive in the feedlot after weaning. So there is no initial weight loss due to adaptation. “We wean the lambs at three to three and a half months. There have been cases where we started slaughtering the second day after weaning, where the lambs already weighed 45 to 48kg. Every day you have to feed less is money in your pocket. Because the lambs can be slaughtered at such an early age, they generally grade as A2 carcasses, which is ideal.”
According to Regina, the market is looking for an A2 carcass of 20 to 22kg, which can easily be achieved within four months with creep feeding and the Ile de France breed.
Feeding must be managed very carefully with the ewes. “The correct feeding of multiple ewes is of the utmost importance. As ewes are sonared for pregnancy and multiples, multiples can come aside to get additional nutrition.”
Wilco says the most important thing is to always keep an eye on things. “It is of inestimable value that you are with the sheep every day. Ewes must be kept in good condition at all times, and you must therefore be able to notice immediately if there is a problem that causes the opposite so that you can make the necessary adjustments.”
Be involved
Apart from ensuring that top animals are bred, says Regina, marketing and maintaining a good reputation for stud breeders is essential. “The best advice I can give other stud breeders about marketing is to always be involved. Go to fairs and farmer’s days, be part of a club, take part in carcass competitions and fairs.”
She says carcass competitions provide invaluable marketing value, as this is what a meat breed is all about – to produce high quality meat for the consumer. Selected regularly enter Ile de France animals for carcass competitions and several top performances have already been achieved. One of the highlights was when RCH was named the winner of the European genetics division and overall winner at the Royal Show Carcass Competition in 2015.