Securing a rare council tenancy has come at the perfect time for Will Roobottom to branch out and establish a low cost grass based system with rotational grazing for his flock of EasyCare sheep.
Will began establishing his own flock on his parents’ farm in Staffordshire while still studying at university. The 500 acre home farm grows 170 acres of Italian and perennial rye grass leys for hay and haylage production, so there was plenty of additional grazing land for him to build his flock up.
“We got to 380 Lleyn ewes, of which 200 go to a Lleyn tup, 100 to Aberblack cross Suffolk and 80 ewe lambs to Charmoise. However, for the system that I wanted to develop on my own farm I chose to buy EasyCare sheep and this year there will be 300 going to the tup,” he says.
His council tenancy came just in the nick of time and he moved the EasyCare flock in August 2026. Pear Tree Bank Farm, near Gnosall in Staffordshire, extends to just 50 acres but Will has rented a further 40 and has additional land at his parents’ farm should he need it.
“Thankfully the land had hardly been grazed for months and, because it had seen a little rain over summer it was still green which was a miracle because everywhere seemed to burn off this year,” he says.
The conditions in summer meant he had to supplement the home flock and EasyCare ewes which he had begun to purchase before moving to the new farm. He buffer fed with readily available hay and used Rumevite All Season during the later stages of lactation and post-weaning to help the flock make the most of any available forage.
“It’s been a tricky year, and aim was to maintain ewe body condition before moving the flock to the new farm. Rumevite All Season has high energy and protein and because they contain urea, I found the flock didn’t gorge on the blocks which meant they lasted well and helped to balance the flock’s diet,” he says.
He says it’s the first time the flock was fed almost entirely on hay and that this was not ideal for maintaining body condition.
“The hay acted as good rumen fill, but I didn’t want the ewes losing condition. Also, as I only have two creep feeders, it would have been hard to supplement all the lambs pre-weaning with concentrates without buying additional feeders. The blocks offered a much easier, cost-effective option to provide the lambs with extra energy and protein just before weaning, and there was relatively little competition among the flock” he says.
His ambitions for his new farm are extensive, and he is already beginning to fence out a rotational grazing system with carefully managed leys that will be kept at the optimal height.
“I performance record and only keep replacement ewe lambs that are twins doing 250g/DLWG off grass. The lambs should do well off this grass alone and the mothers are milky. The plan is to sell them from 21 weeks, so I want to get the weight on them earlier. The feed conversion rate of younger animal is much better, and I have found with EasyCare sheep that I can have an extra ewe per acre because they are a smaller, more compact ewe,” he says.
In a perfect year he hopes to single sire mate the sheep, which will enable him to see how rams perform individually. His rotation will allow leys to recover for 21 days between grazing rounds and for 100 days pre lambing. He intends to stock at 5 ewes to the acre for those carrying a single lamb, those with twins will be stocked at 3-4 to the acre and any with triplets at 2-3 to the acre.
“This will mean that we don’t have to move them off grazing when they are lambing. I intend to improve the leys and may stitch in some herbs and clovers, but I want to see how the current perennial rye grass leys perform in this rotational system first,” he adds. .
Despite seeing lush grass for the first time in months, Will still maintains that the flock requires supplementation if the ewes are going to be in the best condition for the tup.
“I can’t assume anything and so will be using Rumevite Sheep Super in autumn to help ensure ewes are in a body condition score of between 3.5 and 4. I’ll send groups of 50-60 to the tup and I’m hoping for a scanning percentage of 170-190. I’ll then be targeting a live weight gain of 300-330g per day for the lambs off grass that I will have tested to ensure it has the dry matter, protein and ME levels needed,” he concludes.
