The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: littlelisa on January 17, 2011, 03:15:48 pm
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thought you might like to see some pics of our dorset down lambs. the ewes were bought through this site and we are very pleased with them :)
(http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk84/thewiseoldlady/0272.jpg)
(http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk84/thewiseoldlady/0262.jpg)
(http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk84/thewiseoldlady/0252.jpg)
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Thanks for posting the pics. How old are they?
:sheep:
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Oh fab....Dorset Downs..my favourite!!!
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they were born xmas eve
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Nice lambs Lisa...you cannot beat a DD for rapid growth and good finish off grass!
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wow there only 4 weeks old? remarkable !!!!
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Lambs with sooty noses - so cute!
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so what was the birth weight and the how much will they weigh now?
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aww thanks for the nice comments. not sure about weights, will weigh them tomorrow :)
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Hi :wave:
I am new on this site and am loving the lamb phots :love:---- please keep them coming.
Tilly
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welcome tilly what part of the country are you from?
andy
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Heck they are massive im really impressed ha , well done
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Nice lambs and you have the same feeder as myself cant beat a plastic pipe cut in half Cheers.
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I kept Dorset Downs for several years, in addition to my other sheep and had a very good flock. They are the easiest sheep to keep and in my opinion one of the tastiest! Lisas lambs are typical DDs and the growth rate is as would be expected. DD ewes usually have a single at the first lambing and then twins, very rare for more. They do their lambs very very well amd its very possible to get a single away to kill out off grass only at 16 weeks with a dead weight of 22-25kg. twins will take 18-20 weeks. They are proper grazers and thrive on good unimproved grassland...which is what they were bred for!
DDs require little hard feed and tend to fat rather than thinness, this is why they are a rare breed (RBST list!!) as they are not as lean as continentals....however that makes them very economic. They will lamb at any time of year as have the dorset gene for out of season cycling
They are not jumpers, do not like escaping, are easy to move ....I have shifted a flock of 50 with a bucket and a 10 year old! ......and are really nice charecters!......they also have small shoulders so are v easy lambing and DD rams stamp their type on cross breds so excellent for producing x bred lambs. Their wool is superb too and they make fab lambskins....
.......you can see I love em :D
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Hi Andy
---- From Norfolk
It` s making me very broody seeing the lambs --- some of our ewes are" bagging up" so hope to soon hear the "pit a pat a" of little hooves too! :)
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I don't know anything about this breed but like the look of them, wish I had a couple now I've read what thewoollyshepherd has to say about them.
Have to ask - what is the grub in the feeder? And is Blackie in the background Dad?
:sheep: :)
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these are our first DD and we love them to bits, they are sooooo easy. i have to agree with everything thewollyshepherd has said.
the ewes just get fed grass, haylage if they want it, as a "feed" they get a lightly mollased chaf and alfalf. no grain at all. all 3 ewes have loads of milk and are in fab condition (they look a bit bedragled in the photos as it had just been no stop rain for a week!)
the lambs have not had any creep feed yet. we will feed them on a bit though as we are hopeing to show them.
we also used the doset ram on some jacobs type ewes all had twins and lambs are massive!!
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i have 200 rare breeds at the mo iv got embro for the first time. the lambs are good stock just looking
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they are chunky monkeys well done they are lovely :wave:
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they are lovely. please excuse my ignorance, but why were they born xmas eve, i thought lambing seaon was march/april? ::)
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Yes, lambs are normally born in April but
1 if you want to sell lamb into the Spring market you need a few months in hand
2 if you want best in class in the breed shows then you apparently get an edge by having an older lamb
When we bought our ewes they were in lamb. Next year we aim to revert to a more conventional timetable!
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the hampshire downs can lamb twice in one year
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Urm....no sheep can lamb twice in 1 year ::)......unless by accident! Those sheep who are able to breed out of season can , if pushed and with good management lamb 3 times in 2 years but since gestation is 5 months somehow I think twice within one year is a bit optomistic!
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i read it somewhere but i don't lay to much into books
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You'll believe a lamb can fly
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Oh my goodness, I wish I'd been there to see that.
What a cutie, love love love the photos!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So lucky you had the camera to hand.
Thanks for sharing!
:love:
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those pics are fantastic, really nice to see :wave:
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Lovelly wee things ;D
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Wow :o------ They look to be strong healthy lambies ,
Are both Lambs Boys?
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aawww I WANT one !
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They certainly are boys, and because they were our first, and because one of them needed a lot of help at the start they unfortunately got named (Bert & Ernie) which we promised we wouldn't do with the boys.
They're getting used to being handled as well. At the last count eight neighbours' kids and two sons' girlfriends have had a cuddle. This is giving them a new perspective on what farming is about, especially when Bert wee'd on one of them. We're also bouncing back a lot of where do they come from questions but answering the where do they go to questions!
Got lots of pics.
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i read it somewhere but i don't lay to much into books
i read that too!!