The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: dizzydaisy on January 03, 2012, 02:06:06 pm
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I am looking to start a small herd of sheep and would like some advice on which breeds to consider. I want to involve the grandchildren in looking after the sheep so would prefer a breed without horns and not too big but not too flighty! The males would be sold for meat and the ewes keep for breeding. They would share the grazing with my 3 horses and we live in the fens in Lincolnshire. It would be nice to consider a rare breed as I would like to help endangered breeds. Showing would also be something I would like to involve the grandchildren in. There will be no problem in caring for the sheep as my son in law has a cattle/sheep farm and has in excess of 500 sheep at the present time.
I would be grateful to hear your suggestions and also where to purchase the initial ewes from.
Thanks
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This is a question that is asked quite a lot and it usually has many people promoting they favourite breed, What I would say is pick a breed that you like the look of and do a bit of research. Your son in law should be a good help when you decide as he will be able to help with picking good stock. If your grandchildren are young I would be carefull with them as sheep will send them flying. Best of luck.
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What about the Lincoln Longwool? It's big though, but very endangered and local to you. It's also stunning :)
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For your needs I would think the Shetland would be best. They are not exactly rare any more, but not too common. The meat is tasty and if the carcase is not big enough you can use a larger tup and have cross-bred lambs. They are good lambers and mothers, very easy to handle, halter train quickly and many children show Shetlands. To look at they are very cute and the lambs are super cuddly. They are hornless/polled, except for tups, most of which are horned. The breed society is very active and friendly so you are sure to find someone in your area to talk to about the breed and to give good advice. Shetlands can be roo'ed, so they don't have to be shorn, and the fleece can be used in a number of ways, or sold. They come in white, grey, fawn, brown (moorit), black and a variety of patterns, so they are never boring :sheep:
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Coloured shetlands are quite rare and its good to keep the genetics alive. Maybe the Shetlands you have down south are a bit less wild than the ones we have up here but I would defineately describe my Shetlands as flighty. The breed that springs to mind as best meeting your requirements is the Ryeland. One could argue that in Lincolnshire you dont really need a sheep as tough as a shetland and you will benefit from faster growth and better carcass from a lowland breed.
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Everyone has their own breed that they will champion! I have a young family who help out with the flock and have kept Balwen, Hill Radnor and Llanwenog sheep. Balwens are lovely, but are very flighty and the tup we had was evil. Hill Radnors are docile, rare breed and easy to keep. Llanwenogs are a native breed and fit in very well with a more commercial set up as the lambs finish early, the ewes are prolific and good mothers, they are also docile.
The main thing is to do your research and go and see the sheep!
Good luck in your search and let us know what you decide on.
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I'd say coloured Shetlands too. Good small size, interesting colours and markings.
I was told they were flighty and certainly they are more so than my Rough Fells (everything is more flighty than Roughs :D) but they're training to a bucket well, four will already eat out of my hand and three of those will be scritched behind the ears and under the chin - since Oct.
If you can get ones that have been fussed - bottle reared, show trained or whatever, they'll be more people friendly and they then help the others feel calmer around you.
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I think Lleyns are pretty docile, although they aren't that small. I still think Wilts horns are a pretty decent choice for smallholders, given that they ought to be much less prone to flies, have sound feet, shed fleece and produce a nice, commercial-sized carcase. However, they do have horns and are pretty big. I personally don't mind a horned sheep and can't really understand the fuss over them - as long as you are gentle, they make a nice 'handle' for holding the sheep. They can be a git to handle but, on the other hand - you really don't need to handle them that much at all, so its swings and roundabouts. I wouldn't handle livestock with children who weren't under very close supervision - ie on the outside of the handling pen, but it has been said that I am a grumpy old bugger. :P
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Thanks for the suggestions so far. I would love to have a herd of Lincoln Longwools but they are bigger than I would favour. I know someone who shows these and the grooming pre-showing is extensive. I have looked at lots of breed society websites and it seems that many of the smaller sheep are in Wales which is a fair distance from Lincolnshire. Does anyone know of any breeders in my area of the country as buying and transporting the sheep would need to be a consideration. As far as the children are concerned they would of course be under close supervision, I am well aware of the dangers of little ones near livestock. Growing up with 3 horses they are learning about safety from an early age. No cuddling my 16h percheron cross unless sat on board on the lead rope.
I would appreciate any further suggestions.
Thanks
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Well another idea is to start with some wether lambs of a breed you think you might like so you can see how it works out. They'll be to eat anyway (maybe after taking a fleece, depending on the breed and whether you want a fleece) so if you decide that breed's not for you, you can get a different one next time.
I suspect there will be Southdowns and Ryelands in Lincoln, both of which I hear people talk about as being good, meaty, docile sheep, good for smallholders and children. The Southdown would be smaller, I think. Neither of them is a rare breed, however - but looking at the RBST Watchlist, there doesn't seem to be anything on there that meets your spec, except maybe the Hill Radnor or the Dorset Down if they aren't too large for you.
Most breed society websites have a 'marketplace' or 'for sale/wanted' page, and would put you in touch with breeders in your area.
Good luck, have fun looking and choosing - and let us know how you get on, please! :)
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I suppose the other thing to do could be to decide how much you'd really like a rare breed and if it isnt your main priority go for something fairly ubiquitous: Lleyn, Suffolk, etc. My general dislike of mules prevents me from recommending them, but I realise in the sheep-farming world I am in something of a minority in this regard.
That way, you could at least ensure that you are likely to find some nearby.
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I only have 6 but I think the Ryeland sheep are great. I have 5 girls and 1 tup and they are all very easy to deal with and apart from some random events a few weeks ago very sturdy and have required very little vet treatment. They are easy to handl;e to trim their feet and their short legs mean they don't climb/jump or run very fast (always a bonus when try to catch them ;D) Before having them I was very nervous of sheep as I was trampled on by a flock racing to get food as a child :o infact at one point I nearly failed one of my modules at university because I was actually sweating and panicing about injecting the sheep on the farm in an enclosed area. As I got older I did get used to sheep on my friends properties and helped out with lambing occasionally but really wasn't a fan. The girls arrived under the instruction from my OH who decided we needed to cross graze the horses paddocks to improve the pasture :-\ Any how they arrived and I have never looked back, I think they're fabulous and this spring we are expecting our first lambs ;D Hopefully some will be sold and a couple will be raised to go in the freezer as apparently they are very tasty although slow growing. I vote for Ryelands every time, we got ours from a lovely lady in Welshpool and another lovely lady in Cheshire. Both sets have turned out to be lovely sheep :wave:
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We have Ryelands and love them - I just didn't want to appear biased ;D
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Thanks everyone. I like the look of the Ryelands and there seem to be quite a few breeders in this area so a definate possibility. What time of year would be best to start this enterprise. Do I buy a few lambs this year and wait for them to grow before introducing a tup? Apart from looking for them being registered are there any quick pointers you can suggest when looking for well bred sheeep.
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how about soay realy enjoy looking after these they do it themselves just a bag of nuts and hay thats all they need this weather even these wild creatures can be tamed with food care and love
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Rosemary you did better than me, I'm totally biased towards the Ryelands ;D
Dizzy Daisy they are a slow growing sheep so we have waited until their second winter to introduce the tup, think the girls will be two in April. Not sure if this is what everyone does but we were advised that this would be for the best. When we went to choose them the person we had them off gave us lots of advice for choosing a good sheep but after that it was all up to personal preference... I like to go by personality once they have been checked for the basics. Then you need to decide if you want coloured or white ones ::) I have three white ones and two coloureds and they have all been put to a white tup. I think but you might want to check that there is a greater market demand for white ones? Ideally I think its probably best to have one colour and then you can always use the same coloured tup but that just didn't happen here ;D Hope you find some lovely ones, I think Ryeland breeders always tend to be really helpful :wave:
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Yes, I'm not usually unbiased, so here goes ;D
The white / coloured Ryeland thing is a pain. I have coloured ewes i.e. a coloured flock but bought a white tup last year. I couldn't find a coloured one and panicked a bit. Leo is, however, a great tup. He threw 50% white lambs but they have to be registered as coloured. It's probably better to decide if you want white or coloured and stick with that unless you want to run two flocks, which some breeders do. The RFBS "discourages" breeders from mixing white and coloured.
White fleece is worth more if you're selling it to the Wool Board or commercially; coloured has a more limited market. I think the whites have a more "commercial" build and breeders of white Ryelands seem to be more commercially minded. Coloured Ryelands seem to be owned by hobby breeders. We got coloured Ryelands because we loved the look of them. The lamb is fabulous, regardless of colour ;D
Ours are lovely sheep. The heavy fleece can be a bit of a pain - they suffer if the weather is warm in spring, before shearing, and they can suffer from wool blindness, where the wool grows down over their eyes. But that's easily rectified with a pair of scissors and a steady hand. In my experience, they have good feet, are good mothers and the ram lambs finish off grass at about 7 months. Our five this year had a combined deadweight of 105kg.
Ryelands have become more popular over the four years we've ahd them and prices have risen quite a bit. White will cost more than coloured; if you want to show them, you'll find more classes for white than coloured too.
They don't really "do" jumping and running away means ambling to the next patch of grass.
So there you are, a completely biased account of Ryelands ;D
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I wanted our Shetlands to be coloured but since we eat the boy lambs I really struggled sending off coloured lambs as they are all different and individual and I got too fond of them! Hence we now have a white ram and he has two castrated companion wethers which were the ones I failed to send off!
So whatever breed you choose, if you want to eat the offspring I recommend going for all white initially, to avoid this problem; if you find you are tougher than me you can always move to coloured ones!
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we had a few wensleydales at one point and they were very friendly. quite tall and happy to feed from the hand - and amazing to watch when they run cos of their fleeces. they are in a league of their own.
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i would definately consider balwen, never kept them myself but look really nice and a small and fairly rare i think!!
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We are new to sheep and chose the Lincoln longwool ( as now near lincoln - no longer Norfolk newbies, but Lincoln intermediates) .
Rosemary is correct, they are gorgeous and have a lovely temprament ( and fine with the kids), but they are BIG, there is a definate knack to turning for foot trimming. I have to get my husband to help, and we are both 6 foot. We have not tried showing, but looking at them now, I would not know where to start trying to prep the fleece for show condition ( I thin they have been swimming in the lick).
I would definately recommend a smaller sheep for a novice to get their hand in.
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More by accident than design I have 4 Shetland x Ryeland ewes. They are easy to handle and great mums. Putting them to a Shetland ram has produced great, small hornless lambs (tups eventually grow horns but you will be sinding them on), and they all lambed without batting an eye (famous last words). The main thing is choose something you like.
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Get the best that you can aford the more you pay the better the price i have 200 dorpas very good selling price.
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We are new to sheep and chose the Lincoln longwool
Rosemary is correct, they are gorgeous and have a lovely temperament ( and fine with the kids), but they are BIG
I would definately recommend a smaller sheep for a novice to get their hand in.
Tilly told me she was cornered by her LL ram and had to call her dogs in to distract a sheep double her weight.
i'd recommend going round some shows to see how they handle and talking to owners. And if you're going for something a bit rare make sure that there are others nearby because otherwise getting rams etc is tricky. is it wool or meat or both that you want. Try making a soft scarf from GFD wool! Southdowns are good natured and compact non-jumpers but make more fat on the carcass
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First and foremost get a breed you like and want to spend time with.
If you want to discuss suitable rare breeds then contact the Rare Breed Survival Trust. The representative for the South (and I think the border in RBST terms is beyond Lincolnshire although I may be wrong) is a sheep man and I am sure he would be happy to discuss the pros and cons with you. The RBST website is a good place to start because it has links to many of the breed societies.
Ryelands and Shetlands are both great choices. I have to say that top quality Shetlands will cost a fair amount less than top quality Ryelands. Both breeds contain many examples that are relatively easy to tame and ideal for children.
Balwens look very cute but they are flighty and the registration process also put me off because there are very precise requirements about their markings.
Always remember there are good and bad temperaments in all breeds so if you are looking for pedigree sheep it is worth researching the breeders a little. Having said that I bought my first Black Welsh Mountain sheep at auction having fallen in love with the style and presence of a certain lamb who now captures hearts at every show she goes to. Mind her temperament is so fantastic we went back to the same breeder for more. The most unpleasant sheep I ever met was a Devon and Cornwall Longwool ram who was frankly dangerous, but I am in no doubt that there are some very good natured examples of that breed around.
I think you are right to look at smaller breeds especially with the children even if that does rule out a number on the watchlist. Sadly it also rules out Victorian Farmer's Dorpers as they are a very large heavy breed. Going to a few shows and talking to the breeders is a great way to see more if you can contain yourself until the summer. Bear in mind though that what you see there will generally be very well handled indeed.
And good luck - have fun choosing!
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Whether its cars, partners or sheep people are reluctant to admit their mistakes to others, and sometimes to themselves. So my lesser spotted dogwinkle sheep may bite, kick and attract every fly in the county but I'm not going to tell you that because I can only see their good points.
We have a mixture, because what we originally bought hasn't worked out for us. Lots of others love them, so I won't identify the breed. But they were our second choice when we knew stuff all about sheep. Our initial choice was abandoned before purchase when we went to see the breed show at RASE and met lots of owners wrestling hundreds of sheep. They all talked very fondly of their sheep and had encyclopaedic knowledge of the breed. They were also all built like Charles Atlas, and that was just the women!
A friend has at least six different breeds and that's ridiculously complex when tupping. I think he still hasn't found one he really likes, but he started with big Oxfords and is gradually downsizing.
I'd say take your time and enjoy the animals. Two of ours are commercial crosses with good feet, good skin but they're less friendly - and less trouble.
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We have a mixture, because what we originally bought hasn't worked out for us. Lots of others love them, so I won't identify the breed. But they were our second choice when we knew stuff all about sheep. Our initial choice was abandoned before purchase when we went to see the breed show at RASE and met lots of owners wrestling hundreds of sheep. They all talked very fondly of their sheep and had encyclopaedic knowledge of the breed. They were also all built like Charles Atlas, and that was just the women!
I don't think anyone would be offended if you didn't like their breed of choice, its horses for courses -and now I'm curious, of course. ;D
and re the post elsewhere in the thread about Balwens and markings, I concur. I would steer a mile clear of breeds that actively prioritise traits that have nothing to do with the 'usefulness' of the sheep. In the wrong hands, that kind of thing can (and in some cases, does) lead to very pretty sheep that are lacking in other areas. I remain surprised, now that the technology is available that things like maternal indices and EBVs are not used to add weighting to a particular animal of a particular breed. I actually think these are particularly salient in the more primitive breeds in order to improve/maintain the genestock.
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I am familair with terms such as coefficient of inbreeding and average relatedness but not maternal indices and EBV so you have further information?
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EBVs is 'Estimated Breeding Values', which the sheep and cattle industries (at least, maybe others too) use to help select breeding stock.
Based on the animal's own genetics and the measured performance of its ancestors, estimates are made of how it will perform.
Typical measures would be gestation length, birth weight, 40-day weight, back fat, for instance. Milkiness of dams, mothering characteristics, number of progeny, etc, for female offspring.
The industry can use these to improve stock, of course. And to put focus on particular characteristics in a given breed - for instance, I understand there is work ongoing to come up with a temperament EBV for Limousin cattle.
I am not familiar with the term 'maternal indices' myself, so we'll have to wait for SteveHants to come back and tell us more.
I wonder if some of the breed societies for the less commercial breeds have ever thought about doing some measurements and recordings? You make a good point there, SteveHants, and I am of the same mind that with many breeds of all kinds of livestock, too much emphasis can be placed on looks / colouring and not enough on fitness for purpose - we can end up selecting for colour over conformation; form over function.
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Shropshire Sheep Soc uses EBVs, signet, etc :)
OP - are there any farm/country parks/petting farms near you where you could go along and see some different breeds in the flesh but not in a show/sale ring? :)
In terms of sheep I have worked with...
Hebridean: small, "easy", usually good feet and good mothers, produce excellent lambs with bigger tups (a shropshire tup on heb ewes produced a lot of fat twins ;D ). Horned - which I like for handlebars! Can jump, can be flighty, wool is tricky to get rid of as it's quite coarse. Common in conservation grazing projects, so should be easy to get hold of. Good breed society. Thrive on rough, scrubby, rubbish grazing, with or without teeth.... ::)
Shropshire: like wrestling huuuuge clouds compared to the hebs! Big, slow, sweet. Good mothers again. Feet needed more attention than hebs. White wool easier to sell on. Good breed society again, and seems progressive in terms of breed improvement, developing markets for export. Good in tree plantations, need *actual* grass to eat ;D lambs should be docked - would this bother you?
North Ronaldsey: Disgustingly cute, many colours, rare breed. Good on rough ground again, and the breed needs help - interesting back story. Prone to copper toxicity, so need special versions of feed/mineral buckets. New tups can sell for ££££ if they're fresh off the original island(s). Small though - not productive in terms of meat. But probably very tasty!
Manx: Bigger and a bit stroppier than the hebs, good milky mothers, I like the fleece colouring. Fleece tends to be denser than the hebs. Haven't had much contact with breed society.
As a rule of thumb, the more primitive breeds are bright and fit enough to look after themselves on rougher grazing. It also means they're a bit more independent / bloody-minded. Different flocks/bloodlines usually have slightly different traits depending what the owner is breeding for :P
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Maternal indices are a component of EBV.
You have terminal sire index - to enable selection for a good meat carcase (muscle depth, fat content etc)
Maternal index (litter size, 8 week weight, mature size, maternal ability)
Often, a breeds EBV is made up of these two combined (meatlinc and wilts horns for example) but sometimes one or the other are used, Suffolks and Hampshire Downs use the terminal sire index, Lleyns and Poll Dorsets use the maternal sire index.
There is also: Longwoll index, Hill - 2 index and Welsh index.
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With reference to using these types of criteria in primitive breeds.... whilst I can appreciate from a production point of view these types of improvements are of value they are not necessarily the be all and end all in the conservation of primitives breeds.
perhaps more in line with conservation of endangered animals there should be a careful eye kept in maximising diversity and genetic variance not streamlinning it.
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I would suggest that animals with high vigour (and therefore good EBVs) are probably genetically varied, and inadvertently, breeding using these tools selects for a wider gene pool.
I am all for hybrid vigour - my commercials will end up all being composites and the SufTex is rightly becoming a popular terminal sire.
Unfortunatley in order to have the breeds available to hybridise, animals need to be bred pure - and I think using these tools help avoid keeping poorer animals in the breed, which I feel is a real danger if your ram selection is based on 'looks pretty at a show' alone.
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I agree with Kanisha. Whilst i admit the Hampshires have made great inroads into improving the breed, and marketing them for commercial flocks, i am still very worried that constant use of ARR rams is contracting our genetic pool, I have been shouted down at many a meeting over this but it is my personal view that we should maintain a varied genetic pool to pull from whatever breed we are breeding.
I feel the EBVs and figures can be misleading and too many people are picking their rams on figures and not using their most valuable asset their eyes and hands if your rams look good and feel good then generally they are good don't breed from a three- legged- sheep because it has good figures.
Just a personal view, we went down the signet root and found it to be very expensive with little return, we also bought a high figured ram and he was a big disappointment
So to cut a long story short, go with the breed that " grabs " you the most because you are the one who has to look at it every day, a bit like choosing a husband, you have to wake up next to him every morning.... :o.
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Has anybody got an opinion on Jacobs?
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perhaps more in line with conservation of endangered animals there should be a careful eye kept in maximising diversity and genetic variance not streamlinning it.
And also: Endangered animals have their own selection pressure; natural selection. With domestic animals, that selection pressure is removed, so we must apply our own selections based on whatever we decide 'fitness' to mean within a breed.
Feldar: I wasn't suggesting one only used EBVs in order to select a ram, just that it ought to be a component. If no data is available when you look at the animal, then all you have to go on is 'looks right', and we all know that the best ram in the show ring aint nescessarily the ram we want. Who knows, for example what he has been fed - if its a cereal and concentrates diet, what use is he to people wanting to produce fat lambs from grass alone?
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SteveHants; believe me i wasn't susggesting you were. It is only my personal view and i do think in certain areas of farming especially big commercial farms there is a place for them.
I wholeheartedly agree with you about the show senario even seasoned showers like ourselves have been caught out by buying a ram , and watching him melt when we get him home.
But even with the data and the fact he's a good looking animal what comes out the ewe can always be a suprise, i think it's the fun part of breeding, when we put the tups in to the girls in July we think we've chosen the best ram for the job, we checked the genetics and matched the rams to the ewes,But when the lambs come in December it can be a shock when they are consistantly small or not was expected but hey; thats breeding for you.
All i can say though is that the hampshires had to have a long hard look at the way they were going because for a while they were breeding them too lean and many were finding they couldn't finish off grass. Thankfully breeders realised that a certain amount of back fat is needed to maintain flavour and finish an animal, so a lot of breeders changed their selection of rams to include animals with higher back fat scores and this is where the figures do help. but i will say a lot of breeders had already used leaner rams accross their flocks in an attempt to increase their flock scores. These breeders had to then do a U turn to correct this and it can take a couple of years to get back on track.
Sorry i've hijacked this thread and we are going off the original subject so i will shut up now
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errm Perhaps all this could have a thread of its own?
I think the original question was which breed, I found it interesting reading the different advantages/ disadvantages of each breed (unbiased of course ;) ) rather than the genetics etc, it's getting a bit heavy going for someone who's still only considering which breed (ie me) :)
ooops just read the last line of feldars post but I'll press post anyway ;D
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I think you should go and visit some breeders and see the sheep first hand, to see what takes your fancy. I have an eclectic mix of crossbreed ewes, purebred Charollais, Zwartbles, Gotland, Herdwick, and a Ryeland ram.
Of all my sheep the Gotlands are by far the most friendly sheep I have ever encountered, apart from my cade lambs! They are a medium sized breed with beautiful lustrous silver/grey fleece and black legs/faces. However there aren't many of them in the country, so breeders tend to be rather far and wide.
The Zwartbles are another pretty friendly breed, large size, with a dark brown thick fleece and white facial markings.
The Herdwicks were wild off the fells and very flighty, but attractive sheep.
My Ryeland ram is a lovely chap, quite laid back but he has a very thick fleece and prone to fly strike. He is brown in colour but his ewes are all white and the lambs end up white too (although some have the odd brown spots when born).
I plan to mix and match the different breeds to see what I come up with - so far, my Ryeland has mated with the crossbreed ewes and Charollais and has produced some cracking lambs.
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Portlands ;D
Small/medium breed, very pretty to look at, slow to mature (so your lambs will be with you for some time to enjoy them), ladies have half spiralling horns, boys have double spirals. Faces/legs are brown. fleece is a browny creamy colour, lambs are the cutest thing I've ever seen. Really nice natured sheep.
Oh, and I own some ;D
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Must admit I fancied Portlands before we got the Ryelands and if I had room to run two flocks, they would be my next choice. Or maybe Castlemilk Moorits. So many to choose from ;D
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In answer to Penninehillbilly we have Jacobs.
Plus factors are looks, temperament, fantastic mothering abilities.
Minus factors for us are slow maturing, prone to foot problems.
They are without a doubt different in temperament. I don't like where some people are trying to take the breed at the moment and it is clear from comments in the latest Jacob Journal that I am not alone in thinking biggest isn't necessarily best. If you get hooked on the jaunty Jacob air they are addictive.
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I've got Wilts Horns and I find the ewes very easy to handle because of the horns. Our first ram started well tempered enough but as he got older and bigger he turned into a right git. Needless to say he went to the market. The ram we have now seems pleasant but I will be keeping a careful eye on him. I had to inject my Wilts yesterday and my dads Beltex ewes and I have to say that the Wilts were far more relaxed about being handled. The Beltex panicked and one almost hyperventilated. Plus Beltex are damn ugly sheep. Wilts are very handsome looking.
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I thought you weren't supposed to handle sheep by the horns? Or am I wrong about that?
Ours don't have horns so it's never been an issue.
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Hi - I currently have no sheep , having sold my Wiltshire Horn as they were just to big for me to handle. 5ft tall bad back and over 60 - me that is not the sheep
For 20 years or so I had a flock of Black Welsh Mountain, which I selected after looking at the different breeds at the Three Counties Show, and speaking to the breeders, plus buying a book on sheep breeds. I found them good for me, They were small and intelligent enough to be biddable, but not so strong minded as some.
They were reasonably easy to tame down, though some individuals were more awkward - mainly the ones bought from the Society Show and Sale which had been brought down from the mountains. I bought from a selection of sources, but if I was to buy again I would get from another small holder or a showing flock, simply because the sheep will have been handled more, and it makes for an easier life
BWM are easy lambers and excellent mothers, never lost anything too much once I got organized. Generally twin after the first year (I always let my ewe lambs go the to tup and they all got in lamb with singles)
I found the rams quiet and easy to handle and allowed them to run with the ewes year round. It made lambing a bit of surprise and it often went on a bit long, but with a small flock it made for an easier time.
They will lamb outdoors fine, but wet weather isn't good for any animals really and in the end I rigged up hurdle pens in the barn - one for each ewe - I rarely kept more than eight. The ewes got to know their own pens and a quick whistle would send them into the barn for some nuts. Doing it that way you know who is eating what and get them quiet. Generally they lambed alone, though I watched the ewe lambs as they tended to have one big lamb
They have good feet and even on wet clay never had foot rot. There feet were checked when they were shorn, but rarely needed attention
They are supposed to be fly resistant, but I did them twice a year anyway - I can't stand flystrike.
The meat is excellent. Sweet and fat free (as long as you don't feed the lambs- they do fine on just grass) The joints are small and the bones light and springy so more meat to bone ratio
I don't think you would do well trying to sell at market, but if you had private customers, and sold a few on for breeding they would be great.
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I thought you weren't supposed to handle sheep by the horns? Or am I wrong about that?
Ours don't have horns so it's never been an issue.
Agree, you wouldnt want to catch or restrain a sheep by its horns, but when holding it in place I think it's fine to hold the animals body with one hand and the horn in the other, just holding not restraining with the horn ie as a secondary point of contact. More to stop eg our ram shaking his head and horns and whacking you while you do his feet or whatever needs doing.
But catching it by the horn alone, no, that wouldnt be ok as it might break.
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I thought you weren't supposed to handle sheep by the horns? Or am I wrong about that?
Ours don't have horns so it's never been an issue.
Agree, you wouldnt want to catch or restrain a sheep by its horns, but when holding it in place I think it's fine to hold the animals body with one hand and the horn in the other, just holding not restraining with the horn ie as a secondary point of contact. More to stop eg our ram shaking his head and horns and whacking you while you do his feet or whatever needs doing.
But catching it by the horn alone, no, that wouldnt be ok as it might break.
And definitely definitely not dragging it along by its horns, as I have seen done. >:(
Show horned tups are often 'led' around the ring by their horns - but they're trained, the handler is just using the tip of the horn to control the direction.
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I never hold the horns on any sheep under a year old as they are definitely more liable to break. However I do use the horns as a steadying device when injecting or drenching. However my wilts are alot more amenable than my dads Beltex!
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I twice had a problem with the BWM rams being handled by the horns.
First time just after shearing one of the young rams died. He looked sad after shearing and around 3 days later was dead. I reckoned they damaged his neck.
Second time someone was "helping" me with the sheep - grabbed a young ram by the horn, and the horn sheath just came off in his hand. Bled like mad, but put on some purple spray and it was OK but never grew back properly, so I would say, don't handle by horns.