[Me]

A group of Charmoise rams going East from Brynwerydd to their new home with Keepers

[Keepers]

The rams all arrived fine 

Alot of power to them! they wouldn't get out of the trailer and so had to climb in and push them out, took some doing 

[Me]

Good work Keepers!

[Hellybee]

Fabulous, I hope you ve got some left Me ! 

[Porterlauren]

Put good shape into a lamb.

[waterbuffalofarmer]

although am not a fan of Charmoise, your boys look stunning. Porterlauren are those Lleyn's? and why the tails? If you don't mind me asking. Do charmoise have a nice fat layer on them Me? and do you sell them privately or through commercial/private sheep sales? Sorry for all the questions am just curious

[Porterlauren]

WBF - All of the ewes in the photo apart from the one who has her arse to the camera, the ewe lamb whose flank you can see to the right of her, and one other to the left of the picture, are Exlana.

All the lambs and most of the ewes here have tails. Why? Because it's one less job to do and easier, given that i'm lambing outside. From my own observations and from reading recent studies, I am pretty sure that having a long tail does no harm to a sheep, other than possibly putting folk off in market. The need to dock, to reduce issues around scouring or strike etc, are I think, a fault with the sheep, rather than the tail.

[waterbuffalofarmer]

I dock my lambs because when they're Shearlings/ewes come tupping time its easier for the ram. I lamb outside too, April/may,  better for the lambs immune systems I think to lamb outside. They're beauts though. I apologize if I offended you.

[Porterlauren]

Don;t worry matey, i'm not offended in the slightest. I just think I come across badly on the internet (and quite possibly in real life to). One thing I will say, is that as I keep wool shedders, I don't really think about the tupping issue. All of the x bred lambs (wooly) are meant for killing. I do actually plan to possibly dock all of the suf-tex cross lambs next year, as I may sell some for breeding, and people like to see them docked. Also may sell better live?

[Me]

Hellybee - nope! All shearlings gone now, even "tripod" the once three now four legged ram spoken for (don't ask), a few ram lambs gone too.

WBF they are not a lean sheep, they finish easily and are more adapted for harsh treatment/slower growth in a rough place vs. Charollais adapted for fast growth in an easy place

[Hellybee]

Aww ok, will have to wait a year or two then 

[waterbuffalofarmer]

How much do you sell the rams for registered? And do you sell and ewes at all? I was just wondering as a friend of mine keeps them

[Me]

Yes we sell some females too, who is your friend?

[waterbuffalofarmer]

Well he's not so much a friend but an acquaintence who I happened to meet a couple of times when I was at a ram sale a few years ago. His sheep were really nice, but I can't remember who he was, all I remember was that his sheep were nice and the impression I got was he was a nice guy. I saw his sheep and admired them, however I wasn't in a position to buy any sheep and they were nicely priced. That's why I wondered how much you sold yours for as I might consider keeping some in the future to cross with my lleyns. Do they make a good cross with other sheep?

[Keepers]

They make a very good cross with other ewes

I have crossed them to

Welsh mule
Texel/mule
Shetland
Shetland cross hebridean
Charollais cross shetland
Wiltshire horn cross

All with good effect, bulk of the lambs were gone this june/july after being born in March/April, all off grass, never seen any cake, I sold them all live, the auctioneers sold them off as texel lambs or beltex lambs  oh well they sold very well 

Had people come and feel them in the pens and ask to buy or hire the ram that produced them, always a good thing, bad thing is I have turned away around 10 inquiries this year, at least I have some booked for next year already

Any left now are out of the ewe lambs that I put them to, ewe lambs breeds were welsh mule, charollais cross, shetland and welsh mountain cross, the ewe lambs lambs weigh from 36-42 kilos at the moment, the others all went off at an average of 40-42kilos