Few Texel breeders have achieved as much in recent years than Alan Clark of the Garngour flock from Lesmahagow, whose focus on breeding superior quality sheep has not only enabled him to sell several five-figure priced sheep but also export embryos and semen worldwide.
In all, the 340-acre farm which relies on a further 250 acres of rented ground is home to 30 pedigree Texels, a commercial flock of 450 ewes and a milking herd of 130 Holsteins.
Garngour has been home to the Clark family since 1984, with the three brothers, Alan, Andrew and David splitting the business in June 2021, which led Alan to take on Garngour, now in partnership with his wife, Marla, and mum, Helen.
Alan now aims to breed tups for the lamb and shearling markets – two very separate jobs.
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“Everything needs to have the growth rates, size and conformation and if they have character that is a bonus to us. They are both different markets, and it is important to know their attributes.
“We cull hard on our flock, we wouldn’t want someone to buy something we wouldn’t use ourselves,” he said.
They have already achieved several high prices, with the top being Teiglum Young Gun which sold for 70,000gns at Lanark in 2016, Garngour Craftsman made 65,000gns in 2019, and went on to breed the record breaking 350,000gns Texel, Sportsmans Double Diamond.
Since the brothers split the business, Alan’s top price was 52,000gns achieved in 2022 with Garngour First Class.
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On the debit side, Midlock Flockstar was purchased last year at the Kelso Ram Sales for £22,000, to target the shearling job.
Another purchase last year was, Sportsmans Gran Slam which Alan bought for 20,000gns at Lanark.
“Lambs were in a good place last year, so we sold them all, so this year we do not have any shearlings for sale,” said Alan, who hopes to have eight lambs for Lanark, four for Worcester, four for Carlisle and six for Kelso. He also aims to have lambs for the second sales at Lanark and Carlisle.
All tups are fed a Galloway and Macleod tup and lamb mix alongside beet pulp to get them in sale condition.
Two tups that have made an major influence on the flock are the 15,000gns Knock Yardsman and the 15,000gns Procters Chumba Wumba.
“Yardsman put the base in the flock and has bred really well on the male front, and most of the females will trace back to him still. He really was a master of all trades.
“Chumba Wumba has been an exceptional breeder, particularly on the female side, with the majority of our show and flushing team being sired by him,” added Alan.
Garngour also sell a large number of females privately and at the Select Seven sale at Lanark in December, with 10 gimmers retained for breeding.
Some of these females are cashed through enquiries on social media, specifically from young breeders looking to buy into an established bloodline.
To boost genetics, Alan flushes the top end of the flock twice through Ovibreed.
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The flock is also scrapie monitored: “While it comes at a cost, the main reason for being scrapie monitored is, it opens up our export market for live sheep, semen and embryos which has allowed us to send live animals to France, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland and Romania. Getting our genetics out to the rest of the world is really special.”
This year Blue Tongue restrictions are a huge issue for all exports
“There are protocols that could be in place to make it work, however there is not enough appetite for it from the powers that be,” added Alan, who works with AB Europe for exporting embryos which have been sold to Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, in the past.
Garngour usually exhibit at four shows, their local, Lesmahagow, Royal Highland, Great Yorkshire and Biggar Show – which for the last few years has been the Scottish National Texel show.
The winning rosettes from them have been piling up too having won all four in 2022 with two different gimmers sired by Procters Chumba Wumba. Last year, another gimmer by Chumba Wumba stood supreme at the Great Yorkshire Show.
“Showing is a great aspect of the breed, and it is good to have strong competition to see where your stock is on a national base,” said Alan.
Alan is also immediate past chairman of the Scottish Texel Club and has previously served time on the national board as treasurer and chairman of shows and sales.
Of the remaining 450 commercial ewes, the older females and unused recipient ewes lamb outside mid March, followed by 120 hoggs, with the hill ewes a month later.
Roughly 150 ewe lambs are kept for breeding, with a further 200 kept round for sale as gimmers.
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Mostly Milford tups – a west of Ireland breed described by Alan as 'easy lambed, good mothers that cross well with the type of ewe we have'.
Their own Texel tups and a small number of home-bred Suffolk tups are also be used to keep a good mixture of crosses and bloodlines through the flock from which the progeny are mostly sold through the prime lamb ring at Lanark.
“We aim for 46kg plus lambs when weight has been paying, but lambs need to go through the market as abattoirs penalise them. I think there is a demand for those heavier lambs when the vast majority are finished off grass. Our lambs do generally grow well, and we can get our commercial lambs away from July onwards,” said Alan, who added that the last lot of lambs are hopper fed to get them away before lambing.
Last year Alan brought the lambs inside and fed them Harbro lamb fattening pellets, alongside silage and felt they did a lot better than normal years outside.
Alan is also a former Master Holstein breeder, having won the Holstein UK award in 2012. He now milks 130 Holstein cows through two Fullwood M2erlin robots installed in 2019, which produce a rolling herd average of 13,000litres at 4.09%BF and 3.46%P. All milk is sold to First Milk.
Dairy heifers are mostly wintered away from home to calve on average at 23 months. Being a closed herd and reliant on sexed semen, Alan can also sell heifers annually, with a big percentage of them going privately to John Forrest, Hurkledale.
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Beef bullocks and heifers are housed on slats and cubicles no longer used by the cows, then sold store at 18-months-old through Lanark. The best investment recently has been a 2.5m gallon lagoon, which has already paid its self back, having been installed 2019.
“We now use very little fertiliser which is a huge saving. The slurry compliments the digestate brought onto the farm and supplies pretty much all the nutrients required for good crops of grass,” said Alan who takes four to five cuts of 150 acres of silage.
A multi-purpose 150ft x 50ft shed has also been constructed recently which at present is used to store silage, but come the turn of the year when it’s empty can be used to house sheep.
“The future of the sheep industry as a whole is strong, it has been one of the best farming industries to be in the last five years.
“As for the Texel breed, I think it is time to focus on the basics and what has made the Texel the most popular terminal sire in the UK. We need to produce a balanced, medium-sized sheep with plenty meat on it,” concluded Alan.
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