With near disaster averted as foot and mouth restrictions are lifted just in time for the start of the autumn sale season, leading Scottish Mule breeder John Park believes the tight margins earned by prime lamb producers this summer have focussed even more attention on the need for ewes that are prolific, milky and easily managed.

John Park, who runs 1000 Blackface ewes, a pedigree Bluefaced Leicester flock and 100 suckler cows at Dalpeddar, Sanquhar, Dumfriesshire says prime lamb producers haven't had it easy this summer.

“It has been a difficult season for anyone selling prime lambs. Prices have been hit, the weather has been bad and the foot and mouth outbreak brought more problems.

“But with Mule gimmer lamb sales about to start, the next few weeks will be critical for hill farmers and their annual incomes – with all the implications that has for the environment as well as for individual family businesses,” says John Park.

Like all hill producers heavily dependent on earnings from Mule gimmer lambs, he's aware that the Mule market in recent years has had to cope with some buyers retaining their own flock replacements in the hope of saving money.

“But it hasn't worked and the ewe lambs they've retained as flock replacements haven't matched the performance or been as easy to manage as the Mules produced by hill flocks. And with prime lamb prices under pressure this summer it's made people realise just how much difference Mules can make to a flock's overall profit.”

John Park believes the diversity of UK lowland sheep production and the range of management regimes that have to be employed to fit different farming systems, hinges increasingly on ewe performance.

“The Mule ewe is the key and her versatility is critical to how much money she can make for a lowland prime lamb producer. And just as important is the income she generates for hill farms that breed Mule gimmer lambs; producing Scottish Mules keep these hill farms viable.

“Lowland farmers who believe there are alternatives to match the Mule are undermining their own profitability and breaking the vital link between hill and lowland farming that must be maintained for the long term profitability of the entire UK sheep sector.”

The Blackface ewes at Dalpeddar are bought-in as ewe lambs and run for four crops on the hill and up to two crops on lower ground. All ewes produce Mule lambs with most sired by home-bred Bluefaced Leicester tup lambs; these tups are then sold as shearlings at association sales.

Bluefaced Leicester sires from the Midlock and Shafthill flocks have been among the most influential in recent years at Dalpeddar in terms of conformation.

“The last 10 years has seen a significant improvement in the conformation of Bluefaced Leicester rams and while the breed continues to be the most influential producer of commercial female breeding sheep in the UK, conformation is a trait that breeders have been steadily improving,” says John Park who will be selling shearling tups at the breed association's sale at Castle Douglas on September 21st.