The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Rosemary on March 19, 2015, 08:23:38 am
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Not ours though. Our friends bought 12 Mule ewe lambs, scanned with twins three years ago; they got 23 lambs. They bought our Ryeland tup and had the same(ish) last year.
This year, they were due to start lambing about three weeks ago - nothing. I feared that Leo's coat was on a shooglie peg. A cycle later, all twelve lambed in eight days - one single, four twins and seven triplets.
They thought they had a set of quads, with a set of twins but the ewes agreed on equal spilts and took three lambs each ;D
You can see why the Mule ewe is so popular :) and why Leo's safe for another year :thumbsup:
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Proud grandma! :D
I think the Mule is a cracking ewe too. I'm eagerly awaiting the first lambing with the 3 Shetland Mules - half Shetland half BFL - I bought at Lanark two years ago.
And the fine-fleeced Mules we bought last summer are just starting to lamb now - just wish we had better weather for their fine-fleeced babies!
Are they Scotch Mules your friend has, or North Country?
And do you have any pics of the lambs...? :eyelashes: :eyelashes:
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I love my Mules too! We have Wilt Horns as well but the Mules have much more character and are more friendly. They make really good mums. The first of our Mules has produced triplets yet again this year and will happily feed all three.
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Superb! :thumbsup:
I'm looking for a couple of older mules at the moment to keep our numbers up until we can build up the Zwartbles. Nobody seems to want to part with any though, which says something in itself! ;D
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Are they Scotch Mules your friend has, or North Country?
And do you have any pics of the lambs...? :eyelashes: :eyelashes:
Don't know but they came from Cumbria and would have been bought at Carlisle or one of the D&G markets.
No, no pics yet. But they usually look like little Ryelands :)
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Superb!
Great results! although I would be so pleased with the trips ::) but good they are all sorted out!
I have welsh mules and so far I havnt had to go near one when lambing, the lambs are just running out and the ewes are very maternal and follow the lambs well to the fields
The texel/mules are another story.....
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I'm looking for a couple of older mules at the moment to keep our numbers up until we can build up the Zwartbles. Nobody seems to want to part with any though, which says something in itself! ;D
I've got one you can have :rant: ::) She's a Swaley Mule and she's marked her card today. All the others have been no bother but this one has more than her fair share of hill ewe mentality :huff:
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womble is used to psycho sheep :-)
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Awww, they're not psycho, they're just..... OK, Bloomer has a point.
I currently intend to give the tamest one another year (I know it sounds like a joke, but what do you get if you cross a Manx Loaghtan with a Zwartble? ;D ), but the other three definitely have a date coming with the mutton man. It's such a shame, as they're looking fantastic these days. However, I need to be realistic - I just don't need the stress every time they need to be handled.
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"but what do you get if you cross a Manx Loaghtan with a Zwartble?"
A Manzwart? Don't think I'd like to tell people I'd got Manzwarts!! :D
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you can get a cream for them MrsJ ;) .
Zwarmans? Zwartans? Manbles?
OK, Zanx Loaghwarts it is. Perfect! :thumbsup:
(http://images.clipartpanda.com/dr-seuss-clipart-dr_seuss.png)
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Congrats well done that ram!
Love the look of the mule, but I've been told by local farmers that they wouldn't suit our area x
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What's your area like then Hellybee?
We're in Central Scotland at 200m altitude, and many of the local farmers here keep scotch mules. Those that don't keep blackface and breed mules from them for selling to other folks.
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We get a lot of mules on the moorland and very poor ground hereabouts in marginal moorland/upland Cumbria / Northumberland. They are hardy but they do take a lot more looking after than the hill sheep ;)
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Every farm locally had mules ,now you won't find a single one , they don't like 80"+ of rain and cost far too much to feed
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Interesting, shep53... remind me where you are? And is it now wall to wall Texels?
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Pembrokeshire coast, we get told they re not hardy enough to live on the headlands. Do love them though!
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Every farm locally had mules ,now you won't find a single one , they don't like 80"+ of rain and cost far too much to feed
I know loads of people who have given up mules and gone to lleyns to improve hardiness
But then again I know of many flocks of lleyns that have gotten fed up of bunny sized lambs, flighty ewes and skinny sheep and actually gone back to mules ::)
I keep getting tempted by lleyns but then the farmer down the road from me has 150 of them, they lambed at 230% and weaned 200%, lambing in january but then every single lamb was only ready to go the following january :o tiny bunny lambs
I am tempted to keep back some charollais lambs out of the mules to use as ewes but so far still thinking about it :thinking:
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I have had Scottish mules in the past and they are great mums. Produce strong meat lambs.
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We've tried Lleyns but too many triplets and worse, and it's tough for any sheep to rear three on our ground. Most years we can keep the mules' output reasonable by not flushing (the opposite of flushing, in fact) but this year everything's having nothing but triplets due to the extraordinarily good long summer.
The Swaley Mule can take any tup, lovely roomy ewe, mostly fairly placid to handle, fantastic mothers, usually plenty milk. I can't imagine how they were found to be not hardy enough for South Wales - what mothers were they from? For very hardy mules, you have to use a BFL with not the very finest of fleece and a mother from a tough location and a fleece to go with that ;) They will need feeding through pregnancy, mind, which some farms don't want to be doing.
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We use our Wiltshire Horn ram on our North Country Mules - the lambs are great. Very quick to get up and don't seem to suffer from the same foot problems that the mums do.
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they don't like 80"+ of rain and cost far too much to feed
That's why I thought a couple of them might run well alongside the zwartbles, and produce some interesting crosses using our zwartble tup.
Any thoughts on this, or any other ideas worth considering as a stop-gap until we can build up the Z numbers?
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Some farms sell draft (usually 2- and 3-crop) North Country Mules; there are sales are at Carlisle, Cockermouth and Penrith in August. We bought a pen (with lovely fleeces :spin: :excited:) last year, after I saw their fleeces on sale at Woolfest! :D
The other way you might be able to get hold of some is if anyone has any pet ewe lambs to sell.
I'd be interested in how the Zwartbles on Mule comes out, if you do try it. It'll mow you down for cake, that much I can predict! :D
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Interesting, shep53... remind me where you are? And is it now wall to wall Texels?
ARGYLL , no not quite 10yrs ago 5farms maybe 2500 mules plus SBF ewes as dams now more blackies / hill northies / tx x bf and some now trying aberfield ( tx x bfl ) yes less lambs but easier kept and longer lasting .