The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Hillview Farm on July 25, 2014, 07:38:43 pm
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:wave:
Hello all,
Been a while since I've posted due to cutting hay and working all hours :relief:
On Sunday we are going off to sunny Kent to a very good breeder with exceptional stock with amazing EBV's and he carefully selects his breeding and from a grass only system, to potentially purchase our first ram. In the past I've sent my ewes on 'holiday' (yes I was stupid) but since going pedigree we need our own chap.
Apart from him having a nice set of daggling parts with no lumps or bumps and feeling firm, Good feet and teeth is there anything else I should look for? Any tips??
Excited :excited:
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Be it horse or sheep, I look to see a good front, plenty of heart room, strong backend that doesn't slope away but with good well sprung hocks and strong quarters. good length of back but not over long or too short either. Good strong limbs with well balanced/ tough feet.
Temperament is important too I think x
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Pedigree is totally different to commercial you are constantly searching for a ram to correct any faults in your ewes long /tall for short blocky ewes or maybe more bone , tighter whiter fleece or maybe very dark colouring if ewes are pale , know the breed standard spend a lot of time at shows /sales the ram must look masculine and don't expect to get it right first time often a ram and ewe don't click geneticly
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In general - good feet, level back, leg at each corner, good gigots, nice temperament
On EBVs I like a good mark for easy lambing, lamb activity, and for growth rate of lamb once born. I like a terrible mark for birthweight - I like small lambs that are very active and grow very well once they're born. ;)
But remember the 'E' is for 'estimate' - they are educated guesses ;) - unless you are buying a proven tup and can see his lambs.
For pedigree breeding, you'll also be interested in the maternal characteristics he passes onto his daughters.
Charollais-specific, for up here I'd want a carpet on his head, which mostly translates into the lambs not being born too bare, but where you are I imagine that facial wool is not required and indeed is probably undesirable. I'd be looking for a well-filled but not over-ballooned backside, and shoulders narrower than hips. (These characteristics in terms of ease of lambing and the meat lambs he sires, rather than with any reference to the breed standard.) Given that you probably get more sun than we do, you'd probably want him to not have too much pink skin showing, or he'll be getting sunburnt all the time.
Oh, and one that isn't too tame. They grow big!
It's great fun choosing a tup, and waiting to see his first lambs next spring :excited:
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Thank you all for your comments. It's good to have others back up my thoughts.
Sally I know your a fan of the charollais and highly value your input. I had forgotten material traits!!
I forgot to say in my post our aims. We aim to breed our high ebv ewes to a high ram and improve s few trails. Keeping the lambs to register and retain if they meet the grade and sell our rams for commercial breeding and have them recorded :)
And wool isn't a massive issue for us in sunny Surrey, we have a ram lamb that is as wooly as a mamoth but so is his mum! His sire is bred in north Scotland by one of the best breeders of pedigree animals so there is proof that charollais are not all soft and bald! :D
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What Sally said! And i'd also, if it were me, be very keen to hear about the breeders culling policy. If I was looking for a ram to breed replacement stock especially, i'd want to know that the breeder did not pamper the animals too much.