George Ellis 26 Gloucestershire
As a new entrant to the sector George is clearly keen to embrace the opportunities the NSA Next Generation programme will deliver and soak in all of the new information. His enthusiasm for sheep farming sees him spend much of his free time visiting other forward thinking farms looking for ideas he can implement on his growing flock of 100 Romney cross ewes and 200 Romney cross ewe lambs. He has also recently started a social media sheep discussion group for ex Harper Adams students to share information, concerns and ideas from their flocks. He has plans to increase numbers at home but is focussed on doing this gradually whilst improving his grassland and performance recording his current stock to select only the very best replacements. George comments: “I applied to see other sheep systems and to learn some innovative ideas to take back to the farm. I’m privileged to be selected as it is clear that the NSA invests a lot into the Next Generation programme and its ambassadors. I am looking forward to getting started!”
George kept a blog in 2022
March. I've been busy planting 560 trees for tree and shelter belts, getting a shed ready for calves to be bucket reared (the first lot came today), lambing for my aunt and looking after the ewes indoors. I’ve started measuring the grass more regularly and growth is now 9kgDM/day, compared to 4kgDM/day the week before. The grass analysis of some permanent pasture came back at 22.5% protein and 11.3ME, which just shows the power of the grass!
April. Ewes were set stocked in lambing groups with singles and doubles in separate fields for lambing this year. We hit the ground running with 8% of ewes doing the business on their due date. I was happy with lamb sizes, as that’s something I worry about getting right. Considering none of the ewes had lambed before, I couldn’t be happier with how they’re performing. I’m hoping to do a trial comparing the growth rates of weaned lambs on ryegrass and clover with those on clover, chicory and plantain this year. So far 12 acres has been subsoiled, disced twice and rolled – but with no rain on the two-week forecast, it might be May before the clover and plantain mix goes in. My mother and I got the 40 calves we were aiming to get this spring. Frustrating levels of scours early on have been confirmed as cryptosporidium by the vets, but thankfully they have gotten over it ok. Our first boxed beef came back and sold incredibly fast which was very encouraging – so we will be doing more!
May. Lambs are growing well. At four weeks of age their cocci count came back at 147,000epg, which was dealt with quickly. Ewes and lambs are mobbed up and rotating around the farm. This year is the first proper year of a rotation, as I can have 200 ewes with lambs on one-hectare paddocks. Grass growth hasn’t peaked anything like last year so fingers are crossed it keeps growing later in the year. Silage was cut three weeks earlier this time and I’m confident analysis will be much better now too. The new clover sward has taken well, although weeds are plentiful after not being able to get a weed chit prior to drilling. Hopefully, the lambs enjoy the variety!
August. It’s still very dry here. Even 22mm of rain the other day made the grass green but didn’t make a significant impact. All the cattle are in the sheds and the sheep are in confinement eating silage. I’ve just started supplementing the leanest ewes with grain to put some condition back on before tupping (as we only have about 10 weeks left to go!) The clover and plantain mix put in the spring was grazed once lightly but never got away because of the lack of moisture (our total rain for the year to date is 231mm). This exceptionally dry year and the previous summers have left some food for thought. As the ryegrass has burnt off the last four summers, should we be using more alternative forage going forward?
End of the year comment: The ambassador programme has been so much more than I expected. It has been an eventful year with great, like-minded people. I have learnt a lot and can’t thank the team at NSA enough for giving me the opportunity to be a part of this. From participating I have learnt just how many great people there are in this industry who want to help, give you advice and open opportunities to succeed. My favourite part of the programme was visiting Marc Jones’ impressive farm near Welshpool learning about his use of legumes and herbal leys to increase animal performance.
As a new entrant to the sector George is clearly keen to embrace the opportunities the NSA Next Generation programme will deliver and soak in all of the new information. His enthusiasm for sheep farming sees him spend much of his free time visiting other forward thinking farms looking for ideas he can implement on his growing flock of 100 Romney cross ewes and 200 Romney cross ewe lambs. He has also recently started a social media sheep discussion group for ex Harper Adams students to share information, concerns and ideas from their flocks. He has plans to increase numbers at home but is focussed on doing this gradually whilst improving his grassland and performance recording his current stock to select only the very best replacements. George comments: “I applied to see other sheep systems and to learn some innovative ideas to take back to the farm. I’m privileged to be selected as it is clear that the NSA invests a lot into the Next Generation programme and its ambassadors. I am looking forward to getting started!”
George kept a blog in 2022
March. I've been busy planting 560 trees for tree and shelter belts, getting a shed ready for calves to be bucket reared (the first lot came today), lambing for my aunt and looking after the ewes indoors. I’ve started measuring the grass more regularly and growth is now 9kgDM/day, compared to 4kgDM/day the week before. The grass analysis of some permanent pasture came back at 22.5% protein and 11.3ME, which just shows the power of the grass!
April. Ewes were set stocked in lambing groups with singles and doubles in separate fields for lambing this year. We hit the ground running with 8% of ewes doing the business on their due date. I was happy with lamb sizes, as that’s something I worry about getting right. Considering none of the ewes had lambed before, I couldn’t be happier with how they’re performing. I’m hoping to do a trial comparing the growth rates of weaned lambs on ryegrass and clover with those on clover, chicory and plantain this year. So far 12 acres has been subsoiled, disced twice and rolled – but with no rain on the two-week forecast, it might be May before the clover and plantain mix goes in. My mother and I got the 40 calves we were aiming to get this spring. Frustrating levels of scours early on have been confirmed as cryptosporidium by the vets, but thankfully they have gotten over it ok. Our first boxed beef came back and sold incredibly fast which was very encouraging – so we will be doing more!
May. Lambs are growing well. At four weeks of age their cocci count came back at 147,000epg, which was dealt with quickly. Ewes and lambs are mobbed up and rotating around the farm. This year is the first proper year of a rotation, as I can have 200 ewes with lambs on one-hectare paddocks. Grass growth hasn’t peaked anything like last year so fingers are crossed it keeps growing later in the year. Silage was cut three weeks earlier this time and I’m confident analysis will be much better now too. The new clover sward has taken well, although weeds are plentiful after not being able to get a weed chit prior to drilling. Hopefully, the lambs enjoy the variety!
August. It’s still very dry here. Even 22mm of rain the other day made the grass green but didn’t make a significant impact. All the cattle are in the sheds and the sheep are in confinement eating silage. I’ve just started supplementing the leanest ewes with grain to put some condition back on before tupping (as we only have about 10 weeks left to go!) The clover and plantain mix put in the spring was grazed once lightly but never got away because of the lack of moisture (our total rain for the year to date is 231mm). This exceptionally dry year and the previous summers have left some food for thought. As the ryegrass has burnt off the last four summers, should we be using more alternative forage going forward?
End of the year comment: The ambassador programme has been so much more than I expected. It has been an eventful year with great, like-minded people. I have learnt a lot and can’t thank the team at NSA enough for giving me the opportunity to be a part of this. From participating I have learnt just how many great people there are in this industry who want to help, give you advice and open opportunities to succeed. My favourite part of the programme was visiting Marc Jones’ impressive farm near Welshpool learning about his use of legumes and herbal leys to increase animal performance.
