The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Azzdodd on December 26, 2016, 08:04:17 pm
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Well we scanned the ewes on the 18th of December all in lamb great. Mainly twins 1 set of quads an 3 singles.
My question is our Rams are now getting on the texel is 5/6 an the Southdown is 6/7. They have all the girls in lamb this year again so is it an expense buy 2 more tups I don't need?
We sell all of our lambs ewes an Rams as butchered meat boxes we don't keep daughters as it is just eaiser for us to buy in replacement ewes an I have a very good source.
How old is to old? We planned on getting on for this tupping season but we didn't for one reason or another. An the old boys did us proud again
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I would expect a Southdown that's been well looked after to keep going until around 8 years old, maybe longer. Could you consider keeping them both for another year and perhaps buy a well grown ram lamb or shearling to use as a sweeper in case either of them has a problem?
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Don't know how many ewes you have , i'm using 7yr old tex rams as part of a ram team 3 with 150+ and 8yr old nch again as part of a team 5 with 300 on the hill , so long as they are fit then I have no worries . I think you should as said ,buy a ram lamb next year as a safety ,ready to take over and then a second in 2017 , then you are not suddenly having to buy 2 rams at once
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That was the plan this year they both have pretty small numbers the texel has 20 an the Southdown has only 6.
I will most likely buy a Southdown first as I don't mind him going over the more commercial types but wouldn't want the texel crossing the Southdown as we're trying to keep them pure for the daughter cheers guys :),