The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Rhosynbach on April 20, 2021, 09:17:20 pm
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Hi everyone looking for some advice please, we have a small flock of 17 easy care sheep plus 2 zwartbles and a badger face, and have been using an easy care ram who is going into retirement. We are now trying to decide on a ram and decided to try something new, most of our lambs are for meat and go at Christmas to our customers. Any suggestions for a ram that would produce large finished lambs. But not to big at birth for the ewes
Thanks
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Charolais , Charmoise , Hampshire down , Dorset down , Vendeen , New Zealand Suffolk , New Zealand Texel , Bleu Du Maine
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Poll Dorset or if you wanted the option to keep ewe lambs a Lleyn would suit.
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Hampshire Downs would have a big thumbs up from me :thumbsup:
But I may be a bit biased ;D
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Charollais, but choose one that doesn't have massive shoulders.
The meat is succulent and sweet, the lambs always weigh more than they look (they are densely muscled), they are born slippery and not too huge, very active and find the milk bar quickly, and then they grow like stink whether you give them cake or not.
As you have easycare you probably don't live somewhere wild and cold, but if you lamb outdoors into weather which can be wintry, choose a Charollais tup with wool on his head; his lambs won't be too bare. And keep lamb jackets in stock just in case. (The very short close wool on the lambs makes for an easier lambing - less friction. But if they are too bare they may need a bit of protection from wintry showers the first day or two. Because the lambs are so active at birth, they get their first feed quickly, which gives them the best possible start in life. And part of the being so active at birth relates to having shot out quickly and easily. So it's a case of balancing the amount of wool at birth and your weather conditions at lambing.)
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Lleyn, Charmoise, Texel, Charolais. Personally, I would stay away from the "down" breeds as I don't like the fat they put down and how woolly they are but it's all about personal preference!
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I did not include Texel , Oxford , Suffolk as the post specified easy birth
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Lleyn, Charmoise, Texel, Charolais. Personally, I would stay away from the "down" breeds as I don't like the fat they put down and how woolly they are but it's all about personal preference!
Need a bit of fat on the chops etc and definitely through the shoulders for slow roasting. Picked up my lambs yesterday from the cutter/packer and very pleased - a typical grade and weight from our flock, lovely marbling throughout the meat as usual.
21.7U3H*2, 17.5U3H, 22.9U4L, 20.4U4L, 21.8U5(triplet topped up with bottle if that makes a difference but not as fat as graded), 23.1U3H, 23.2U3H, 21.1U3H, 23.0U3H & lastly 22.9U3H
Lambed this year from 5th-22nd December, first batch away 29th March, last batch in 12th April. They all came together pretty well other than the one smaller one who never really did......
We stumbled into Hamps due to those lovely woolly faces :love: (& larger carcass size :yum: ) and are really pleased we did. Meat is superb, lambing is certainly no worse than any other typical breed and the lambs have the well earned reputation of being good do’ers.