The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Emmett on January 29, 2014, 10:33:20 pm
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I am just wondering what the best sheep breed for a large smallholding? I am very drawn towards Suffolks because of their fast finishing rates, good prices, and general look (they look class!) any input on this is greatly appreciated :sheep:
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You will find that a lot of people say negative things and that they are dopey lambs. But personally I like them, I have Suffolk cross ewes and last year I put them to Pedigree suffolks and the lambs were lovely. They finished at about 3-4 months on grass alone.
They got up and on with it as lambs, crossbred suffolk ewes are sort after for breeding as shearlings.
Go for it if you like them, no point in having an animal you don't like!
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Ditto. Crossbreds are brilliant. Pure breds can be difficult to lamb but they are lovely sheep.
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I personally do not like pure suffolks, I find them too large and cumbersome, lack of a nice rear end (apart from NZ suffolks), lambs can be dopey and not as hardy as some others and I know of pedigree breeders who feed them full of turkey growers pellets to get them looking good for the sale :o (I could go on.... but I wont :)
Suffolk crosses as a ewe are better as they have a bit of hybrid vigor and are a popular cross with downland farmers in the place of the mule, although I had suffolk mules and on the same grass as my other ewes they couldnt keep the weight on and were always too skinny, and I dont know of anyone who lambs then outside and doesnt feed cake so they just didnt suit me :)
But if you really like a breed then go for it :) as suffolks may just catch your eye and really suit your system so they could do well for you! ;D
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Apart from crossbred Suffolks, what breed woul you guys reccommend?:)
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it depends on your system :)
do you want sheep to just live off grass? do you want to do indoor or outdoor lambing? how good is your fencing?
I keep shetlands and shetland crosses, they are very friendly and cheerful, have a large range of colours, good quality wool and a main reason for me having them was the size! my ewes are between 40-50 kilo, as I shear them myself this is important as I cant handle nigger breeds as easy.
Also I have various blocks of land but I have no barn for lambing! so I needed a hardy breed that can lamb outside and do well on my grass. My input is very low and ewes never get fed apart from grass and a small amount of hay when snowing etc, and when crossed with a charollais or similar they can produce a good lamb which also allows me to produce a higher output from a low input ewe :)
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I'll be making hay myself in our two acre meadow just to supplement them with if it snows. We have an oldish cattle byre which i plan on lambing them in (for the time being as we have plans to put up a proper shed for them) and we have full sheep wire fencing with a strand of barbed wire on top so fencing is not an issue. I was also considering Border Leicesters and have heard good things about them and their lambs :)
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Lleyns are one of my favouties. Manageable size, very marketable lambs that will normally finish on grass alone, pretty easy lambers and hardy. Not really a fan of Suffolks and not sure how experienced you are but I wouldn't recommend them if you are a complete novice.
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Lleyns I have also considered and right now I am not sure what to do. After hearing bad reports on Suffolks I've leaned away from them so now its down to stats :s Im also aware of what the market would be for the different breeds over here (Northern Ireland) :sheep: :sheep:
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Where are you going to be selling them and are you looking to sell fat lambs or breeding stock?
Would you rather go down the intensive, indoor lambing and using hard feed or extensive outdoor lambing / forage based system?
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Might be worth asking your local livestock market for their opinion. If shepherding doesn't suit you you know you'll have a ready market for them. Good idea to buy off farm if you can and a Down-type breed is a docile one to start with. Suffolks were originally a cross between a Southdown and a Norfolk Horn (which brought the black bits and the comparatively poor rear end to the party). Get tough little Suffolks from poorer ground if you can, not the overstuffed show types. My own theory is that the big, showy rams produce lambs with big heads and legs and the poor old ewe is often too tired to finish the job herself, let alone mother up quickly.
Mountain types (and I would include Lleyns here) are often skittish and difficult to handle if you're inexperienced.
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What we'll be doing is breeding and keeping the ewe lambs to expand the flock and then sell the ram lambs as fat lambs. We would be keeping the pregnant ewes outside until a day or two before their lambing date and feeding them meal and hay.
I'm heading to the mart on Tuesday with my school so I'll ask there. Was wondering does anyone here keep Kerry Hill sheep? I know they aren't the heaviest of sheep but they're nice to look at which is a plus for when I start showing :)
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My neighbour had Kerry Hills and they looked beautiful. He did say they were flighty and they have now been replaced ::) . Have a good look at what is being shown in your area and if there are local breed society groups - great for advice and practical help. Remember we all like different breeds :roflanim: (here we go again ;D ).
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Warning on keeping the ewwes outside until just before their lambing date.- mine all lambed 6 days early last WInter! (No, I didn't get the dates mixed up.) Kerry Hills are very pretty to look at - IF you can get close enough.
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The ewes will have access to the byre at all times with straw on the ground so If they do start to lamb a few days early, I will put them in the lambing pens. My neighbor also had Kerry Hills and I remember walking my dog through the field and the sheep came right up to me within touching distance, not afraid of the dog or anything!! :P not that my dog would ever worry sheep he's been trained not to ;) .
I want a breed that produces decent lambs and would be good for showing? Do Kerry Hills fit the bill? :)
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I keep Kerrys. They are beautiful, and stone mad. I love them, but you do need excellent handling facilities, they can jump anything. They will tame, and become friendly with time, but still have that self preservation instinct which can take you by surprise even with the tamest ones. They will easily take on a dog, I can only take one of our dogs to work with the Kerrys, the one who will nip the ends of their noses when told to. Showing them is fun. They are great mums and need minimum input at lambing time. The meat is delicious, but if you are selling them through the mart, you'll get a lower price per kilo than many breeds as they don't kill out so well.
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We wouldn't really be keeping the tup lambs, just the ewe lambs. My idea was to raise the lambs up a wee bit and sell them at the mart, which is why my mind first sprang to Suffolks. We have two fields next to eachother which totals about 6 acres, out of our 20, I was going to keep the ewes and their lambs in those fields one week at a time and just move them across. I will take the tup lambs away after they are weaned and keep them with the ram on the other side of the farm. The just keep the ewes and the ewe lambs together
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It's amazing what you learn through here :thinking: . I've just had a read-up and The Kerry Hill Society is obviously a very active showing group in NI ;D . If you like the idea of showing and the look of the breed, then I'd say give it a go. :thumbsup:
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I've only been on here for about a half a month and already I'm a Smallholder dictionary thanks to you guys! :) I'll have to thank Rosemary for such a brilliant site! :)
Even though I'm only 15 i really hope to be showing sheep by next summer! :P To be honest, I'm hoping that starting the smallholding will be a stepping stone to becoming a full blown farmer! I only have 20 acres at the moment, and to be honest, the only thing I could see making decent money is cattle! But I love sheep so thats why I want to get a pedigree flock up and running alongside the cattle enterprise. There is always land available to rent next to us so that will not be a problem when it comes to expanding! :D
Even just thinking about it gets me excited! :excited:
The shortlist is now down to Suffolks, Kerry Hills and Border Leicesters! :thumbsup:
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I would see if you can visit a flock of each of those, and see what your gut feeling is. It sounds to me like to have the right attitude to make it work whatever you pick. Good luck!
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Thanks Mowhaugh! :) I'm going to visit my uncle tomorrow and as luck would have it he keeps both Pedigree Suffolks and Kerry Hills! I'm finding it difficult to find any farmers who keep Border Leicesters though, maybe thats a sign? ???
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if you like suffolks get some - there wouldnt be any of the popular crossbreds if the originals werent around. they are very beautiful, a bit too big for me though.
ladygrey - why would they feed turkey food instead of sheep food? strange.
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Shygirl I was wondering the same thing too!
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I love my texels and cross them to the suffolk to get big decent shaped heavy lambs, the crosses do well and we keep the best for breeding. we also have lleyns (they are mental) and NoE mules both of which have scanned well this year. i know white faced lams always do better at market than darker ones where i am and most of our crosses come fairly white.
in my experience leicesters die a lot. we used to have them years back when breeding mules, they were a right pain! very soft and pretty dim, but they did milk well.
HTH
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Benny how many acres do you have? :D Thats some amount of sheep! haha For u, flighty sheep wouldn't be too much of an issue, we have full sheepwire and barbed wire fencing around every field and neither would handling as we're getting a lock of sheep panels for a race.
Around us, I'm not sure about what sells better, white or dark faces but I'll head to the mart on Wednesday! Up in Ballymena, the mart is great for sheep, and they are the official auctioneers of The NI Society of ; Suffolks, Blueface Leicester, Dorset Horn, Hampshire Down, Lleyn, Charollais, Beltex, Blackface Sheep, Border Leicester, Texels and Rouge!
They have a good range! :P
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have about 60 acre (shortly gettin more), lambing about 80 ewes end of march. id say look at lots of sheep amd choose your favorite, its easier when you love em ;D
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They're certainly eye-catching. Might be worth trying to buy ex-show stock as they'll be well handled.
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My cousin breed pedigree Suffolk and Blue faced Lessies spend his days trying to keep the stupid things alive.
20 years ago they were ok, but have been ruined by stupid breeding practices, as have a lot of animals and fowl.
I bred Llyens and cannot fault them. Ready market for ewes and lambs and just sold 20 in lamb at a very good price.
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Shygirl and Emmet I dont know!!!
The creep in the troughs looked really small and odd! so upon asking what it was, the answer was a kind of turkey creep, as its salty or something they get addicted to it and eat lots of it, it contains growth hormone which produced a big fat chunky lamb or ram before a sale rapidly fast!
Apparently though after the sale if they get put on grass they never look as nice again!! so its rubbish really IMO
This is what the reply was! I cannot be quoted or anything but this is what it was!
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Ladygrey that does sound about right haha!
Castle Farm, how are the Lleyns with lambing as I've heard they don't give too much bother! I'm not too sure about them, however, they aren't really that good for showing I've heard.
Benny, there was me thinking I had a lot of land for a smallholder lol ;) Id love to end up with a flock of that size with that land :excited:
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my plan is to sack off the day job, but need more income first!
i hope lleyns lamb well as its their first go in april!
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I'm only 15 but even thats my dream! :P
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I'm only 15 but even thats my dream! :P
ahh, do you know connor then ? i find it so admirable that you both are so keen and enthusiastic with farming etc. well done to both of you :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
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ahh, do you know connor then ? i find it so admirable that you both are so keen and enthusiastic with farming etc. well done to both of you :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
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Yep! :) Me and Connor live basically right beside eachother and were good mates!
Its all I really want to do to be honest, but as my da says, I'll never make a living out of it, so its better to get a good job and build up a good pension with the farm on the side so I can retire young and live off the land! :) :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
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Can I suggest a Newzealand Suffolk? :thumbsup: People do lamb them out (late) even in Scotland. Each to their own but if you are new to sheep and go for Ped. UK Suffolks be prepared..... :unwell:
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Have to start somewhere ;)