The 'Bramble' flock of Portland Sheep

At Beer Mill Farm - Beercrocombe in Somerset U.K.

Our Rare Breed Survival Trust number is 1200

The Bramble Flock in Somerset

Below: Beer Mill Farm.

In 1997 we moved down to Beer Mill Farm situated in a small village called Beercrocombe near Taunton in Somerset. We settled in well and have grown to love Somerset and the West Country. Nice people and a really lovely part of the world.

The house was built sometime around 1600 and was, until about 1700, a water mill. A comprehensive history of the farm has been written and will be added to these pages at a later date.

Beer Mill Farm is only 25 acres and was very run down when we arrived. However after about a year of work on the buildings and a concentrated effort by the Portlands plus a ancient tractor with pasture topper, everything was put in order. The buildings are in good order and the fields produce extremely lush grass growth with a very long growing season. The hay cut is normally 100 bales an acre without any fertiliser.

At the present time we have just under forty Portlands including lambs, less than we normally have, so the ground is not really overworked. During the summer months the pasture has to topped about every three weeks to keep it at the right length. This has the twin bonuses of strengthening the grass growth and preventing any weeds becoming established. An additional plus is that Brian loves driving the tractor! Portlands, like most sheep, do not like long grass so we top the pasture a few days before they go in. We normally rotate them round four or five paddocks, a week at a time for maximum worm control.

Two single lines of electric fence wire are used to keep the stock in. This is run off a mains fence unit. The sheep are quite used to this and very rarely test it, indeed we often find that due to a break somewhere it has not been working for some time! We never use electric netting because of the danger of horns getting caught in it.

We normally lamb at or just before, Easter and aim to keep all the ewes out until about a week before lambing. Mostly we produce singles but we usually have at least one set of twins and always hope for more. To identify those carrying twins, we usually have the flock scanned so that the correct management decisions can be made. Any ewes found to be carrying twins need to be managed slightly differently. Most Portlands only have a single lamb but those with twins need more supplementary feed before lambing. If you do not do this there is a risk of twin lamb disease but on the other side, too much feed for a single lamb can cause problems at birth.

Portland flocks vary to some degree according to which area they are kept in and how much grazing and supplementary feed is available. Certainly in our situation we find that Portlands are capable of producing a reasonably sized carcase with outstanding flavour. It is sometimes said that Portlands are always a small, light framed animal. Our view is that they adapt to the conditions they find themselves in. We have purchased quite light animals in the past and found that within a season they have bulked out and look different sheep. Still not large sheep, but animals with reasonable shape. In our experience there is no magic formula for producing good sheep. If they are kept in poor conditions you get poor sheep.

Although Portland lambs are slower to finish than most commercial breeds they can achieve good weights given the right grazing conditions. It is possible to finish lambs in the same season but we often hold them back until the next spring which we find gives a good carcase weight with outstanding flavour.

Fertiliser is never used at Beer Mill Farm and all medical treatment is kept strictly to the minimum necessary for a healthy flock. Homeopathic methods are used wherever possible and we have had some very encouraging results by going down this route.