SOUTH Yorkshire farmer John Key started his pedigree Suffolk flock in 1984 when he bought half a dozen ewes from a pedigree Suffolk breeder on the Yorkshire coast from a flock called Lightash . John believes the breed ’ s ability to grow fast and its ’ reliability as a finisher means it still has a great deal to offer as a terminal sire .

He now lambs 80 pedigree Suffolk ewes in the second week of January each year using AI to synchronise , using melatonin to encourage the ewes and sponging them at the end of July for AI on 13-14 August . He uses bought in semen from proven rams together with back-up from a stock ram either homebred or bought in .

John has never left anything to chance and has Signet recorded from the word go . He explains why he feels that is vital if you are going to be taken seriously .

‘ It is important that you find your best lines for traits of meat production , conformation and the ability to grow quickly . We weigh all lambs at eight weeks , which gives us an immediate indication of the fastest growing lambs and also tells you the ewes that are really milky . That all helps with maternal indexes . We then weigh again at 20 weeks and scan the lamb for depth of eye muscle and

amount of fat over it and take the top 10-12 ram lambs for CT scanning .’

‘ From those records we pick the best anticipated meat to bone ratio , giving us an indication of gigot in the lamb . It ’ s all about giving that better overall picture . When I ’ m picking my two ram lambs to use each year I will always look at the CT scanning information , as well as for selecting female replacements of which I will keep 25-30 ewe lambs each year .’

‘ I ’ m selling tups to commercial flocks . We are basically commercial ram

producers and as a terminal sire the Suffolk works very well with the Mule . The female of a Mule sired by a Suffolk is becoming increasingly popular as a commercial ewe because it is very milky , prolific . I ’ m selling to those who want to produce Mule gimmers that they want to grow quickly .’

John is particularly proud of a ram he bred in 2016 named Midhope Hans Solo , which has worked very well for him .

‘ Midhope Hans Solo has bred us rams that have gone into other pedigree flocks . That ’ s how good he is . He ’ s absolutely excellent on conformation and figures for growth and carcase . He was used on Signet ’ s Ram Compare Project in 2020 that compared breeds in commercial flocks and he came out as the top Suffolk for carcase traits . He has done me a lot of good . I bred him from semen purchased from fellow breeder Hans Porksen .’

John sold 50-plus rams and ram lambs direct from the farm last year . He will usually sell a few at the annual national pedigree Suffolk sale at Shrewsbury where he took three of his top recorded rams this year . He also normally attends the Builth Wells Multi Breed Sale with 10 shearlings and 10 lambs .

His highest price for a Suffolk tup was a few years ago when he sold one for 3000 guineas that went to Morrisons ’ Dumfries House Estate .

John culls hard to ensure his flock is all about quality .

‘ We cull anything that is not up to scratch for what we want , selling at Skipton and Holmfirth livestock markets .’

John also has a suckler herd of 50 Shorthorn X cows which he is gradually getting towards half or three-quarter Shorthorns – and he also has 5 purebred Belgian Blue cows .

‘ I started keeping a few sucklers in 2000 and originally used Limousin and Belgian Blue bulls on the cows , but I decided to keep the heifers back off the two Shorthorn bulls I had for three or four years so that we now have a Shorthorn X Belgian Blue / Limousin herd . The purebred Belgian Blues are my pet project to try and breed a quality Belgian Blue bull using AI .’

Garfield House Farm runs to 240 acres with 60 acres owned and the rest rented from Yorkshire Water . John is in both HLS and ELS schemes and has a large block of roughish land that butts up to Midhope Moor where he grazes the sucklers .

‘ We have a bird management project there and have a regular visit from an RSPB representative who checks the numbers of pairs of curlew , lapwing and snipe . We have put in scrapes for them and we encourage nesting sites through rush cutting .’

Continued on page 72