Case Study: Andre Vrona
Andre Vrona and his daughter Jo farm A C Farms as a family
run farm at Langham, Rutland, near Leicestershire, that breeds pedigree South Devon
and Beef Shorthorn cattle for breeding stock, showing and sale. They also have pedigree
Ryeland and Hampshire sheep as well as arable and grassland. AC Farms were looking
for quality in numbers for starting their own pedigree Suffolk flock. “Although we
have a great belief in performance recording, it was important we also found a sheep
type of length, style, with less heavy bone and performance growth rates to match.
This is why we chose to buy from Essie flock for both our foundation females and
a ram. “We purchased 25 core females and one ram, Essie Uther, in June 2015 to establish
the Langhams Flock. The lambs have been all we wished for – thrifty, with good growth
and weights. We have just weighed and they are all in the top 10% UK Suffolks. “We
look forward to building on this foundation. We of course are continuing with performance
recording as we are confident of this tool to measure progress in the development
of the breed.”