The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: thenovice on January 25, 2013, 08:36:45 pm
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Wondered what you folks on here rated as a top meat sire breed, and the rams qualities. Thanks all :thinking:
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My absolute favourite for ease of lambing and wonderful lean tasty meat that grows on grass alone with no creep etc has to be Dorset Down.
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I Like suffolk's personally. They grow extremely quickly and theres always a market for them :)
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I vote Charollais - easy lambing, lambs grow really well, great conformation, weigh well for their size, tasty succulent lean meat :thumbsup: Lovely fleece too, if you spin. Tups generally pretty placid - although very greedy and can knock you over in their greed ::) Only downside is the lambs can be fairly bare-skinned (which is one of the things makes them easy-lambing) - if this is an issue where and when you lamb, get a tup with plenty of wool on his head, and keep those plastic lamb jackets handy ;)
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Interesting the breeds mentioned above have the Southdown in their background! It was probably the first breed to be improved (by John Ellman of Glynde in Sussex around 1780). A friend of ours who's hugely knowledgeable about sheep and butchery says he can never decide whether Southdown or Portland is the most delicious.
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Did you ever try a southdown tup on a portland ewe?
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Nah, I breed pedigree, registered Southdowns as my main breed but also put them on a breed that the farmers around here will recognize and sell the crosses at market. SDs give a good carcase without lambing priblems.