Aberdeenshire sheep producer Matthew Seed may be relatively new to pedigree sheep flocks than most but in just 13 years he has managed to build up a strong customer base for his Texel and Bluefaced Leicester tups.
Originally from North Yorkshire, the Seed family moved to the 200-acre Home Farm Auchry at Cuminestown near Turriff in 2004 and now farm 350 acres in total.
Along with his father Michael, partner Rachel and their young family, they run 80 Simmental cross cows bulled to the Charolais for producing store cattle for Thainstone and 530 breeding ewes.
The closed flock includes 100 pedigree Texels, 80 pedigree traditional Bluefaced Leicesters (BFL) and 350 cross-bred ewes which are mostly Texel cross BFL tupped to home-bred Texels.
The lambs are finished and sold live through Thainstone.
From the Auchry pedigree flocks, Matthew sells around 100 tups every year to returned and new customers, with last year’s 100 head averaging just over £1,100 across the board.
All 180 pedigree females are AI’d to lamb late February which helps for the management of lambs, allowing the family to calve and lamb the cross ewes in March.
Matthew also shears from May onwards, with 55,000 head shorn this year.
Kelso Ram Sales has become the main market for shearlings of both breeds but Matthew also sells ram lambs at Carlisle, Lanark, Thainstone and Huntly.
The BFL flock was introduced in 2010 after buying 30 Welsh bred Grugorer females from the Ingrams at Logie Durno.
Since then, Matthew has bred many rams between £2,000 and £3,000, with around 250 lambs born into the flock each year.
“We have worked with the BFL commercially for many years so we were keen to start breeding our own tups,” said Matthew, who is heading to Kelso next week with 14 Texels and 10 BFLs.
“They have the ability to be crossed to anything and are the backbone of what we do here. The ewes are easily managed too.”
Standout BFL sires used on the flock include the £3,500 Cassington D1, which bred many sons over £2,000 and West Bolton N2, bought at Kelso for £3,500 two years.
The premier sale at Carlisle has brought many successes in the show ring for Auchry, with the both the champion and reserve honours secured in the last six years.
Matthew also enjoys competing at the Turriff and Black Isle Shows each year, winning the top tickets on several occasions.
The breed’s Scottish National Progeny show was held at Turriff in 2017 where Matthew stood reserve with Auchry F16.
The Texel flock was founded in 2015 with the purchase of the entire Culterallers flock from Biggar after the family was looking for a terminal breed to complement the BFL females.
“Our aim in the Texels is to try and breed a medium size shearling with plenty flesh that will work well for the prime lamb job,” said Matthew. “Most of our shearlings for Kelso have been used as lambs at home, with the best two used to chase the pedigree ewes.”
Texel sires to work successfully on the Auchry flock include the jointly purchased 15,000gns Midcombe Fireball; a 2,200gns Boghouse ram; and Teiglum Bandana, which Matthew loaned from Sandy Lee.
Almost half of the ewes in the flock today go back to Bandana, while the Boghouse tup bred Matthew’s top price to date of £7,500 for a shearling sold to Esmor Evans, Maerdy.
Meanwhile, tup lambs have sold to 4,800gns at the Scottish National at Lanark.
“We also bought two Texel tups down at Builth Wells, one of which was the 5,000gns Canllefaes Your The One, which stood reserve champion and bred shearlings to £4,800,” said Matthew. “He was used for five seasons so more than paid his way.”
Of the AI sires used, the 23,000gns Peacehay Ya Belter and 10,000gns Loosebeare Chief have been breeding well at Auchry.
Many of this year’s Texel pen for Kelso are by 6,800gns Garngour Everton, which bred sons to 2,600gns twice last year.
“Attending Kelso Ram Sales is not only a great advert for what we produce but it’s a fantastic social event where we meet up with breeders from all over the UK,” said Matthew.
