Making ends meet as a new entrant without the Basic Farm Payment can be a huge challenge, but bring in the Hampshire Down as a terminal sire to produce finished lambs straight off grass, and the sums soon start to add up.

For Jack Shaw of Lochfer, farm manager at Inverdunning Limited, Stirling, the introduction of the Hampshire over a handful of his 1000-strong commercial ewe flock in 2024 has been such a game-changer, that last year (2025) he doubled the numbers put to the native breed.

“Hampshire Down cross lambs are quick to get to their feet and suckle. They can withstand all weathers outside and they’ll finish two weeks earlier than anything else we’ve tried here,” said Jack.

“The ewes are easy lambed to a Hampshire Down and they’re fine going outside to grass at a day-old once they’ve ‘sooked’, even in wet, cold weather.”

More importantly, they produce the goods at the end of the day, being finished solely off young, red and white clover-rich grass leys, with just one worm drench and occasionally a dose for vitamins and minerals.

“You can make money with Hampshire Down lambs because they’re so much easier finished, but they need to be sold deadweight for the best returns. We lamb from the end of March onwards inside and our first lambs are away, weighing 45kg upwards, by the first of August through our local slaughterhouse at ABP, with virtually all producing R3L and R3H grades,” Jack added.

“We have sold the lambs through the live market at United Auctions, Stirling, but the buyers prefer white faced sheep, which is disappointing.”

The first year Jack experimented with the breed, he put 200 home-bred Texel cross Mule ewes to Hampshire Down shearling rams bought privately from his neighbours, Roy and Sheena McFarlane of the Lecropt flock, Bridge of Allan. Scanning percentages were an impressive 200plus – the same as those that were crossed to Texel and Beltex rams.

In November, the same number of ewes, along with all the Texel cross Mule gimmers, ran with the Hampshire rams which, notably, are also a lot easier to buy than other breeds or crosses and are renowned for being fit enough to go out and work until they are five, six and seven-shear.

In previous years, Jack would cross 400 traditional Scotch Mule ewes – bought privately  – to a Texel to produce home-bred replacement Texel cross Scotch Mule ewes. The remaining 600 home-bred Texel cross Scotch Mule ewes were tupped with Beltex rams in a bid to breed better quality carcase lambs for the butcher.

“We can finish the Hampshire and the Texel cross lambs solely off grass, but the Hampshires grow the fastest, and are therefore more environmentally friendly than the continental cross lambs. All the Hampshire and Texel cross lambs will be away by the end of October, whereas the Beltex cross lambs, although shapier, don’t reach the weights until November and they have to be finished off concentrates to get the premium prices.”

It’s a far cry from Inverdunning’s previous farming enterprise based on Blackface Blackface ewes on the 1600-acre hill unit at Dumyatt, Bridge of Allan, which was sold in 2019. However, since joining Inverdunning Limited the same year Jack has changed to a more intensive low-ground flock with regular reseeding and the construction of a 160 x 120ft multi-purpose shed to house the ewes from mid-January onwards. As a result, 80% of the lambs born are finished with the remaining 20% kept for replacements. Jack has also introduced a 25-cow pedigree Simmental cattle of which bulls are sold privately for breeding or sold at the Stirling Bull Sales.

The new shed can accommodate up to 700 ewes which from eight-weeks pre-lambing are kept in straw-bedded courts of up to 120/pen and are fed a tailored total mixed ration (TMR) according to their condition, breed or cross and the number of lambs they are carrying. It’s a policy which is not only proving healthier for the sheep, but also more cost-effective than feeding silage/hay during the winter and ewe rolls after scanning, on heavy wet ground via a snacker. Jack also rents a neighbouring building to house the remaining ewes.

“The ewes are a lot easier managed when they’re wintered inside from January onwards and it saves the grass for when the ewes go out with their newborn lambs. You can get a bit of lameness inside, but we put lime down on the feed passage and a new bale of straw in the pens every fourth day which does help.

“Feeding a TMR is a lot less stressful for the sheep as having adequate feeding space in each pen means there is less bullying and the ewes have constant access to their mix.”

Furthermore, since a mycotoxin binder from East Coast Viners was introduced to the TMR, Jack no longer sees the same number of abortions or prolapses. The ewes have a lot more milk on them too, having been fed a more nutritionally balanced diet throughout their pregnancy. The system is also a lot less labour intensive.

“I can feed all the ewes in an hour in the morning, allowing me more time in the day to get on with everything else, which is a great help when lambing kicks off at the end of March when we bring in two lambers – one for during the day and another for lambing at night.”

Ewes are lambed over two cycles. The first 700 lamb in the new shed which can also accommodate up to 130 individual pens, followed by the remaining 300 that have been housed in a neighbouring shed, 10 days later. The second lot is moved up to the new shed as soon as space becomes available.

It’s the start of a chaotic time for all, ensuring newborn lambs get the best possible start to life when so many ewes are giving birth daily. For Jack, who carts ewes and lambs out to grass after they’ve been in individual pens until they’re up and suckled, it kicks off that monumental challenge of continually monitoring their health and welfare while headage numbers virtually triple within the space of four or five weeks.

Lambing is a challenge for all at the best of times and the losses incurred in adverse weather conditions can be heartbreaking. It can, however, be a lot less stressful and more profitable by relying more on the hardy, easy fleshing, easy lambing characteristics of the Hampshire Down.

Jack also believes it is the ideal breed for crossing over Scotch Mule ewes bred from traditional Bluefaced Leicesters. Just watch this space … there are likely to be a lot more Hampshire Down cross lambs being sold from Lochfer in the near future.