[Gunestone]

Hi,

Just got a few questions about Ryeland sheep as we are considering them for our new sheep venture.

How much more susceptible to fly strike are they than other breeds?  We have had a horrible experience with this in the past on our Hebrideans and the Ryelands look so woolly! 

Do they usually have singles or twins?

How much grassland/pasture do they need in comparison to other breeds and will they be okay on rougher ground? Do they need much concentrates/hay?

Thanks for any help you can give!

[Marches Farmer]

We have Southdowns, which are a similar Down breed.  Provided any that need it are dagged until they're shorn we've found them no more susceptible to flystrike than the other breeds we've kept (Badger Face and Lleyn).  About half our first-timers will have twins, then almost all have twins for several years before tending to have singles as they get older.  They utilise grass very efficiently and eat probably 40% less grass and hay than our Badger Face.  Depends what you mean by rougher ground - ours are on ancient meadow, so no high sugar Italian rye grass/white clover mix, and do very well.  You're welcome to a copy of our Flock Plan, which includes the pre-lambing feeding regime we've found effective at producing healthy lambs, maintaining the ewe's condition score and supporting good milk yield.

[Gunestone]

Thank you Marches Farmer, that is very helpful. Would love a copy of your flock plan if possible.

[Bionic]

I only have 6 sheep, 3 Ryeland and 3 coloured Ryelands so probably not very helpful, but we are coming up to our 5th year of having them and only ever had flystrike in one lamb the first year we lambed


We have had a mix if singles and twins.


The adults do well on grass and we don't have the best grass here in Wales


Come winter we give hay, usually after Christmas and some concentrates but that's mainly to keep them friendly. They only get enough between them to make a noise in the bucket.


We only have 2.5 acres which works fine for the six but when we were lambing it was getting quite tight.

[Gunestone]

Thanks Bionic, that's good to know

[Liz Kershaw]

We have 9 Ryelands and so far have never had flystrike (in 3 years). They are such friendly sheep it's easy to check them over for any problems and most of mine will proactively come over for a fuss and a scratch. We have just about enough land for them and they do fine - they get a handful of coarse mix in the summer and hay plus coarse mix in the winter. I think they're a great breed.