Pedigree native breeds, focusing on the RBST watchlist and Babydolls. 
Registered breeders of Olde English Babydoll Southdowns. We are the only official breeders in Scotland (and only the 12th in the whole of the UK). 

We breed whitefaced woodlands and olde English Southdowns too.

We’ve already had inquiries from across Europe and have a growing waiting list for next years lambs, so if anyone is wanted to be added to the list don’t hesitate to get in contact! 

We have 8 different breeds at Hadden, even though rare native breeds are our focus we also run our commercial flock alongside.

This flock is mainly tupped by our suffolks but some go to our rare breeds tups instead. This is because we believe the best way to help preserve these rare breeds is by proving they are still a viable option to produce either fat lamb or hardier replacement ewes, better adapted for Scotland’s questionable weather. 

One thing that never occurred to me before I came into farming was the amount of planning and preparation everything takes. I touched on the behind the scenes physical work that goes into farming there’s also a lot of mental work that goes into it as well. 

Farming is always thinking ahead to the next season and how to get your farm and animals ready. So, once all the outside jobs are done, there’s just as much to do inside with planning, paperwork and research.  The joy of doing something you love, with a huge burden of responsibility for the animals and the business, wether you own it or not. 

At certain time of year on a sheep farm all focus is on preparing for tupping season (when the tup/rams go in with ewes). Firstly, we worked out our tupping schedule and divided the ewes up between the tups on paper. Then, there’s the fields to get ready, especially when you have so many different breeds you need to have lots of different fields to put everyone in. 

Then there’s the sheep themselves! Making sure all the ewes are in the best form they can be to achieve the best lambing percentages next spring. For us this preparation started just after weaning. Once the ewes dried up, they were moved onto some of our richest grass to make sure they recovered any condition lost to their lambs. Next step is mineral lick to make sure the ewes don’t become deficient in any of the nutrients they need to produce lots of nice healthy lambs for us! 

It’s another example of the more you put into the sheep the more you will receive as a reward. By starting to prepare early we give the ewes everything they need to produce the best lambs possible.

Every next step has been though our months in advance and there’s much more to running a farm than just driving round fields of sheep every day.