Independent sheep consultant Nerys Wright, sheep vet Phillipa Page and Scottish Texel and Lleyn breeder Neil McGowan joined AgriSearch project farmers for an evening covering ewe management, disease prevention and breeding decisions.
Ewe body condition and flock health
Maintaining ewe body condition throughout the production cycle was a central theme. Nerys Wright highlighted the link between ewe condition, reproductive performance and lamb survival. She encouraged farmers to score ewes regularly so they can spot problems early, adjust feeding ahead of tupping and lambing, and manage thinner ewes separately where needed.
Phillipa Page, of Flock Health Ltd, discussed how underlying disease can affect ewe performance. She encouraged farmers to work with their vet to investigate persistent condition loss and to plan bluetongue vaccination ahead of the seasonal risk period.
Nerys illustrated the impact of bluetongue through a Devon farm case study. The farm treated 600 of its 1,300 sheep within two weeks, and its veterinary bill for August reached £10,000. Four of its 30 rams were infertile ten weeks after the outbreak, showing how the disease can disrupt tupping. Disease severity and recovery time also varied between groups of ewes in different body condition.
Foot health and parasite control also featured. The speakers discussed taking a planned approach to lameness, with appropriate treatment and steps to reduce the spread of infection, and using monitoring and veterinary advice to guide worming decisions.
Farmers share what works on farm
GrassCheck farmers Paraic McNeil, John Martin and Roger Bell shared their experiences of putting research into practice during the AgriSearch farmer roundtable. They discussed producing red clover silage without chemical nitrogen fertiliser, managing multispecies swards and using targeted selective treatment for parasite control.
The panel explained how weighing and recording technology can help farmers track lambs’ daily liveweight gain and decide which individual lambs need worming treatment.
Breeding for a system that suits the farm
Neil McGowan, of Incheoch Farm in Perthshire, shared lessons from 25 years of developing his sheep enterprise, his Nuffield Scholarship and his time in New Zealand. He encouraged farmers to identify what their farm does well, choose a market and set breeding objectives that suit both.
In his self-replacing maternal flock, Neil aims for ewes that conceive, lamb and rear twins with minimal assistance and continue doing so for many years. He records lambing assistance, the number of lambs reared and ewe longevity to identify maternal lines that perform consistently.
His terminal sire objectives focus on lambs that finish sooner and meet market specifications, as well as hardy, active rams that last. He summed up the balance between performance and appearance with the advice, “Breed the ram your client needs, but make him look like the one he wants.”
The evening closed with an audience Q&A, giving farmers a chance to ask the speakers how they could apply the advice to their own flocks.
Measure to manage
Flock Focus followed AgriSearch’s dairy and beef conferences, bringing attendance across the three events to more than 700 over the past 18 months. Over the same period, more than 12 on-farm events attracted 600 attendees across the beef, sheep and dairy sectors.
John Morrow, Agriculture Manager at AgriSearch, said, “We have been overwhelmed by the support for our conferences and on-farm events, and I want to thank everyone who has attended. That turnout shows the appetite among farmers for practical information and opportunities to learn from each other.
“A clear theme throughout Flock Focus was ‘measure to manage’. Whether through body condition scoring, monitoring flock health or performance recording, gathering and using information helps farmers make informed decisions about their own flocks.
“Bringing specialist advice together with farmers’ experiences helps turn that information into practical action to improve productivity and profitability.”
The Flock Focus 2026 conference recordings are now available on AgriSearch’s YouTube channel. Watch the full Flock Focus 2026 playlist, including the speaker presentations, farmer roundtable and audience Q&A.