The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Introduce yourself => Topic started by: Gmh1976 on October 12, 2019, 09:13:16 am
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Hi. Have got 15 3/4 texel gimmers and was going to borrow a neighbours tup but unfortunately that can’t happen now. Have seen a Hebridean tup not far from me within budget so made initial enquiry. Any reason not to cross? Have seen online folk using texel tup to Hebridean ewes but not the other way. Thanks in advance :thumbsup:
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It depends what you are wanting from the lambs. If it’s meat for your own freezer, and you don’t mind them taking a bit longer to grow and being a little less muscley, then fine. If it’s store lambs to sell, you will get a lot less for Heb x.
You will probably get some horned lambs, if that’s an issue for you? If you don’t usually castrate, might be better to as these will be slower growing plus might have horns.
Not sure if the offspring will all be black? Depending on whether you expect to keep any until shearing this might be an issue?
On the plus side, using a primitive tup on first timers is a good idea for gimmers, in my opinion. I always use a Shetland if I can. Small, active, hardy lambs, come out running, know where the milk bar is and are very persistent in getting onto it. You shouldn’t have any birthing issues (although don’t overfeed the ewes as horned ram lambs can have big heads with the horn buds), and by the time they’ve reared these, your girls will know their job for next time :)
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Texel tup on Heb ewes is a cross we have done with great success - we won a first in their meat lamb class! All were white and ready for the freezer that autumn. Heb tup on Texel ewes we've not tried but I can't see why they should be any different.
The skin colour will depend on if the Heb is black recessive (80%) or one of the 20% which are black dominant. If the latter is the case, then 50% of the lambs will be black, if the former then all lambs will be white. That is actually how they discovered that not all Hebs are black recessive, using them over white ewes. It is also why cross-bred Heb lambs are a commercial success story.
For birthing, your way round is easier, as Texel heads and pelvises are both bigger than Heb, although Heb pelvises are proportionately generous for the ewe's size.
For selling, the Primitive portion of the parentage will add to the value (taste and meat quality) of the Texel, while the Texel portion will add a bit of plumpness to the Heb.
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I've used my heb tup on texel cross ewes, and the lambs have been fab, they've popped out and really thrived due to the hardiness and small sleek heads of the tup. They've then grown on fine and been very marketable in the store lamb ring (my local mart advise not to bother with the fat ring unless qms etc)
I've had a split of black and white (I think depending on the tup as I'm sure one must have had a white gene) lately they've all been black, but all polled and confirmation hasn't seemed at all bad for a cross!
I'll keep using my heb tup on my pet ewe and selling her lambs through the mart
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I've used my heb tup on texel cross ewes, and the lambs have been fab, they've popped out and really thrived due to the hardiness and small sleek heads of the tup. They've then grown on fine and been very marketable in the store lamb ring (my local mart advise not to bother with the fat ring unless qms etc)
I've had a split of black and white (I think depending on the tup as I'm sure one must have had a white gene) lately they've all been black, but all polled and confirmation hasn't seemed at all bad for a cross!
I'll keep using my heb tup on my pet ewe and selling her lambs through the mart
It's not a white gene fsmnutter, if it was then your tup would be white, just that your Heb is black dominant rather than recessive (usually 1x bl dom + 1x bl recess). White sheep are white dominant on both sides usually, so lambs may have a wh dom + a bl dom which can fight it our amongst themselves to give 50% lambs of each colour.
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I had read it such that if the tup has a black dominant gene, it can be hiding a white recessive gene which combines with a white gene to give a white sheep in half the offspring and the dominant black gene causes the other half to be black.
Bw X ww = Bw or ww.
Genetics are fascinating!
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Is white ever recessive? Are Texels white recessive? I can only find information on white as being always dominant over black recessive, but equal to black dominant. My genetics knowledge is fairly rudimentary and I had only heard of a dominant white gene hiding a black recessive, which explains the occasional black lamb that pops up in most white flocks from time to time. A black Heb can be BB, Bb, or bb I believe, but white sheep are either WW or Wb. Apparently the blue colour of blue texels is a recessive gene.