Annual Locks Farm Ram Sale
As usual, after the main annual Locks Farm Rale Sale date, Rams will be available from our Scotland and Wales Ram sellers; Jim Logan, Scotland & Phil Preece, Wales. For all the info please see the details in the flyer.
Ed & Rhian Bray
I’m fortunate with my work through the year I visit farmers on a daily basis and in both hemispheres.
Every country I visit has its own unique challenges, as farmers we embrace and adapt to never ending changes.
I get to visit a number of our clients who have embraced such change but occasionally you meet one that stands out.
Ed & Rhian Bray from Lincolnshire are just that, Ed from a small family farm (his father still farms the family farm) & Rhianna who had no connection to farming, decided there pathway to farming was through sheep & rented land.
Ed started farming a few years about 2010 which was when he purchased his first Romney Tups from Locksfarm.
He secured what ever grazing he could get & learnt to shear aswell going out shearing in addition to shearing his own sheep to supplement income.
As more land became available they have purchased & retained as many ewe lambs as needed, today the flock totals 1500 ewes & 400 ewe lambs to join in 2023.
Over this time they have purchased & rent out 2 houses over & above the original family homestead which they rent off their family.
It’s great to see that sheer hard work & determination makes it still possible to succeed in farming even if you’re starting from scratch.
It’s so important that family farming & the role it plays in food production is congratulated & encouraged, it remains the lifeblood of our rural communities.
Ed & Rhianna & there 3 children are a great team & the Hodgkins family feel fortunate to be the genetics providers to this growing family business.
Rory & Mel Stirling
Mel Stirling along with his nephew Rory run 1100 Romney Ewes & 200 suckler cows just north of Galashiels. The farm ranges from steep hill to rolling downs up on the tops.
The flock consistently weans over 150% of lambs to ewes mated. All ewes are lambed outside & male & cull ewe lambs finished & sold over the hooks at an average weight of 19.5 kgs.
Mel & Rory enjoy the Romney’s for the easy fleshing post weaning setting them up for consistently high scans.
Mel & Rory annually sell surplus Shearlings (350 available in July 2023), these shearlings have an extremely good reputation for shifting on & have helped transition a number of our clients into Romney’s within Scotland.
References are available on request or any enquires can be fielded to Pierre our Sales Manager.
What’s in a name?
You may have noticed that we have adopted a new name for the sheep breeding side
of our business.
‘Locks’ was chosen because it has been our home farm since 1982, a name that everybody knows,
and the operating base for our ram selling. Our email address remains the same.
locksfarm@googlemail.com.
The reason for the change is to reflect the developing business model. For those of you who may not
be aware, in 2020 we decided that after 13 years of using exclusively Wairere NZ genetics, we felt
that we needed to become independent and to take advantage of the opportunity to dovetail top
genetics from different top NZ flocks that complement and enhance traits we would like to fast track
within our flock. An example being the 2020 import from NZ, which in addition to the Wairere NZ
rams also contained 2 of the best rams on SIL for FEC. By using these rams, we are speeding up our
already well-established worm resistant breeding programme, whilst not undermining the excellent
Wairere based core structure of the flock. Not being exclusively Wairere has give us the ability to
cherry pick top NZ breeders best blood lines.
The name change also encompasses the fact that our youngest son Andy, Laura and family have
come back to the home farm (Locks) to take over the day-to-day management allowing Caroline and
I to have an easier time now that I am in my seventies.
This does not mean that you cannot contact me as we will still be very involved.
Everything else remains the same, our ram sale will be in August, Pierre will be coordinating ram
sales. He will be happy to visit you on your farm to discuss your requirements (he has a vast
knowledge of southern hemisphere farming).
Summer Newsletter 2023
Scotland & Wales Ram Sales
As usual Rams will be available from our Scottish and Welsh Ram sellers after the Annual Locks Farm Ram Sale day. This year Rams will be available for purchase from the 10th August. Please see the flyer for more info and do feel free to get in touch with Phil Preece (Welsh Sales), or Jim Logan (Scottish Sales) if you have any queries!
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