Adamatic Automatic Applicator

At Denton Park Estate, Ilkley, North Yorkshire, the large pedigree Lleyn flock lambs in as tight a period as possible and all lambs are ear tagged at birth.

Over the four-week lambing in March up to 200 new-born lambs a day are tagged to identify the flock and the individual number of the ewe for pedigree purposes.

For the last three years, estate manager George Bush and his shepherd son Richard have been using the automatic sheep tagging system developed by Scottish Borders manufacturer Roxan ID - which they says is fast, efficient and welfare-friendly for baby lambs.

Among those already who have also taken up the system are The Royal College of Agriculture at Cirencester, SAC, Roslin, and many leading sheep producers and breeders.

In the 12 months to April 2005, Roxan tag sales have trebled to five million in the UK thanks to the popularity of Adamatic. This represents one in five UK lambs/sheep.

The 2,600 acre Denton Park Estate has been owned since 1976 by the NG Bailey Organisation, a private company whose business is based on engineering, electronics and telecommunications.

The farming enterprise now concentrates on beef and sheep with the dairy herd being sold three years ago.

Both farm-assured cattle and sheep are fed off a principally home-grown ration from the farm's grassland acreage and during the winter on a complete diet feed incorporating home-grown wholecrop wheat and this year a mix of lupins and triticale.

George Bush joined the farming operation in 1986, taking over as farm manager in 1988 and 14 years ago the Lleyn was first introduced to the predominantly in-hand farming operation's - 130 acres is a tenanted farm and there are 360 acres of woodland- which skirts the southern boundary of Ilkley Moor, rising to 1,200 feet above sea level.

“We have been tagging all our sheep for more than 10 years and we have the UK flock number, the pedigree flock number and an individual number for the ewe so that we can identify the pedigree of the lamb,” said George Bush

“All this information is very important to us as pedigree breeders but the problem we were finding with some other tags was that the printing was not staying on the tags.

“We started using the Adamatic automatic tagging system three years ago and it is marvellous - all the printing stays on the tag and Roxan ID will print any information you require on the tag. Roxan has worked on perfecting both the tags and the gun,” he added.

“With over 2,000 ewes we want a tag that's going to stay in the ear and, importantly, one that we can read during the sheep's lifetime.

“Richard was keen to try automatic tags - these were the first - and now we're very glad we did. We're now considering trying Roxan's automatic electronic system.”

Richard Bush, who tags the new-born lambs, said: “The percentage of tags lost is very small - probably around three per cent. Roxan has been keen to consult with tag users and has worked on the system improving the tagging fun and strengthened the tag pins which are still very thin, making them very welfare friendly for small lambs.

“The tag gun is quick. When we tag the lambs we also make a record of its breeding but now with the automatic system we can do about 200 lambs in two hours and one person can do the tagging operation rather than have to rely on someone else to keep filling the pliers with individual tags.

“It can be done in an hour less which frees me up to get on with other jobs.”

He says the tag gun has a minimal failure rate during use and this mainly tends to be through operator error.

All lambs from the MV accredited and scrapie-monitored flock are tagged with the Adamatic system, with males retaining the same tag until slaughter.

When the females become shearlings they are tagged with the larger Babe tag, also from Roxan ID, and these too have a high level of retention in the ear.

These tags have also been used for three years and the original tags can still be read easily.

This autumn around 700 shearling ewes will be sold with the tags bearing the Lleyn society flock number, the UK flock number, the individual ewe's number as well as a number for the year.

Different colours are used for the flock to represent the year of birth which helps when shedding ewes into age groups.

The Denton Park flock of Lleyns was established 14 years ago with 150 mixed ages of ewes and 20 shearlings bought from Welsh breeder Bob Lloyd-Roberts, beginning the transition from breeding North of England Mules from the Swaledale.

Further females were bought from Mr Lloyd-Roberts over the next four years at which point the flock was closed.

As numbers were gradually built-up, larger quantities of breeding females have been sold over the last few years.

Now between 350 and 500 shearlings are sold each autumn along with 500 gimmer lambs through Carlisle and Skipton marts.

In 2004 at Skipton's first pedigree Lleyn sale, a level lot of 150 gimmer lambs averaged £93 a head and topped the market at £120 for a pen. The 100 shearlings sold at Carlisle in 2004 averaged £116.35.

Denton Park's suckler herd is also closed. The herd was established with cross-bred cows from the dairy herd and crossed with Charolais, Blonde and Angus bulls.

Both ewes at lambing time and the 184-cow now predominantly Aberdeen Angus suckler herd are fed a grass silage based diet to include home-grown wholecrop wheat grown on 38 acres with, for the first time this coming winter, a mixed crop of lupins and triticale incorporated into the ration. Bought in wheat is crimped and ensiled on the farm for the mix.

The move is increasingly towards finishing three-quarter Angus calves which are sold deadweight to Kepak in Wakefield.

However, the estate is currently considering the option of directly marketing its beef and the possibility of running a farm shop.