The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: m3joeEm on August 30, 2015, 09:04:10 pm
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Hi guys i have quite a large hill area that has not been grazed all year and was thinking of buying mule ewe lambs to keep and sell as hoggets next year. my question is Are mules hardy enough to stay on the hill all year ? and would hill nutrition be enough to keep them healthy and happy all through winter?
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theres plenty of shelter in bushes and trees, its more a question of nutrition i guess
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What sort of 'hill' are we talking? Feet above sea level? What sort of mule, scotch? Welsh?
Without lambs to support, I'd say mules do fine out on a hill, but obviously don't know your specifics. But why mules especially? Other breeds that'll 'do' better and fetch £££ sold as hoggs.
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thanks for replying, The hill is mossy, with a mixture of wild grass, heather and mixed vegetation (rushes, win bushes trees etc) ) They would be north of England mule types. 750 feet above sea level. I thought mules may have a certain hardiness about them, or else go for a hill breed entirely.
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I was previously on a moorland farm at about 600' in Northumberland. No trees but plenty of reshes for shelter from the wind. Some very boggy / mossy and some drier 'riggs' with reasonable hill grass.
We had Swaledales (mostly) and a smaller flock of their Mule daughters.
We did winter the Swale ewe hoggs out bye, but we found they needed some cake over winter to really do well and be fit to be tupped as shearlings and make a good job of their first lambing.
I wouldn't have entertained the idea of running the Mule ewe hoggs out bye.
All the sheep got hay after about Christmas time. The hoggs were caked, just lightly, through the winter, and the pregnant ewes in the last two months of gestation.
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I wouldnt want to have mule ewe lambs on a hill over winter
They aren't hard enough, I know mule ewe lambs who have come off lean after being over wintered on dairy keep
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I would imagine herdwicks or similar would be better suited. (hard as nails)!
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Most folk in Cumbria do winter hoggs, even Swaleys and Herdiwcks, on lower ground. But I don't know the climate where m3joeEm is - it may be milder/drier.
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COnsidering how variable the qeather's been not only throughout the UK but also from day to day this year I don't think you can rely on a "normal" pattern of Winter weather for your area. It's the time of year when my neighbour across the valley sucks in his breath and says he reckons it's going to be a hard Winter, immediately propelling me to the telephone for cake and straw.
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COnsidering how variable the qeather's been not only throughout the UK but also from day to day this year I don't think you can rely on a "normal" pattern of Winter weather for your area. It's the time of year when my neighbour across the valley sucks in his breath and says he reckons it's going to be a hard Winter, immediately propelling me to the telephone for cake and straw.
We are also stocking up, weather pattern is similar to the winter of 2012 where we had 4' of snow and nothing moved properly for weeks in this area (west Yorkshire)
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The upside of a harsh, snowy, brutal winter. . . . is that it shows you your best ewes. As heart breaking as it can be, it exposes those that are weak.
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Great points everyone thanks, the weather where I am is always very wet and cold we usually have a bit of snow and the odd year we have very bad storms, I'm edging towards the idea of hill breeds instead, what h specific one I am not sure , or else but store hill lambs and sell them again at Christmas
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all right joe, i'd have thought they'd do more than ok. we farm at 1100 feet with cold wet weather with a selection of mules and texels. only time they come in is at lambing time or blizzards. just make sure they have a supply of hay. upside is mules sell for decent money
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Yes, we had a Winter where it snowed in early December - not deep but it stayed put for six weeks. Had to start feeding hay and romped through the stocks pretty fast.
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Height above sea level is so variable in the uk , iv'e helped harvest cereal at 1100ft , spread fert and grass seed at 1500ft . The highest iv'e run sheep 2,500ft 36" rain deep snow blocking the roads digging sheep out -10 regularly but now 1000ft 80"+ rain snow and ice very rare and it is much much harder on the sheep . Mule ewe lambs spread out on a good hill would probably survive , but since you say you would sell them as hoggets , if for breeding they wouldn't compare with ones wintered and fed on good ground and if for killing I doubt they'd be fit enough to sell
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There would be about 40 on 70 acres , could spend a month or two on grass next year before selling as hoggets, hard to know what to do :-\
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I did mean mules sell well as shearlings btw lol
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It's hard because we don't know your climate. Clearly, from the posts in this thread, there's a heck of a difference between moorland in North Yorkshire and in southwest Northumberland, which are nearly next door to each other, but N Yorks is further south and east and enjoys significantly easier conditions than southwest Northumberland.
Best thing would be to ask local sheep farmers. ;). Also about which lambs to buy, and from whom/where - some producers will produce hardier sheep than others.