The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: mowhaugh on September 20, 2014, 07:23:00 pm
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We went to Carlisle today with the intention of coming home with one Shetland tup, and also a Kerry Hill tup I had arranged to collect (he is a son of an aged tup I bought last year, but who was unfortunately infertile, so this was a replacement).
We came home with 3 Shetland gimmers, 2 Shetland ewe lambs, 1 Shetland tup, 2 Kerry Hill gimmers and the Kerry hill tup :excited:
I am really pleased I didn't sell my original Kerry Hill stock tup, as the gimmers I've bought are sisters of the new tup.
Angus chose 2 Shetland gimmers from the Forsterfield flock, 1 from Glenwood (didn't manage to meet the seller of that one), 2 lambs from Broadwath, and his tup is a shearling called Bay Rigg Ken, who seems like an absolute corker to me with my limited experience of Shetlands, and was a steal at £40. The Glenwood gimmer is grey (pale grey body same colour everywhere, much darker grey face, again same colour all over), everything else is grey katmoget.
Our wee tup trailer was a tight squeeze on the way home, but we are very happy with our purchases.
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Well done Angus! Obviously an expert at the Mumbuy accent already- mum, buy me this, mum, buy me that!
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yay for more shetlands!!!
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I like your sons style, seems like he is building a good little flock. Long may it continue! :thumbsup:
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Well done Angus, a young shepherd award already :trophy:
Sounds like you had a great day :hugsheep:
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I am really pleased I didn't sell my original Kerry Hill stock tup, as the gimmers I've bought are sisters of the new tup.
Why is that? & Why buy the new tup / gimmers comb?
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Congratulations Angus on your new sheep and to your mum of course for parting with her Penny's ::)
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Great news :)
Piccies please, at your earliest convenience... :eyelashes:
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I am really pleased I didn't sell my original Kerry Hill stock tup, as the gimmers I've bought are sisters of the new tup.
Why is that? & Why buy the new tup / gimmers comb?
Rack Beck Adam, the old tup I got last year was the best example of a Kerry Hill I have ever seen. Unfortunately, he had very low fertility (it was a chance I took at his age) and only left me 3 lambs. However, his breeding is exactly what I want to improve and develop my flock, and buying his daughters (I bought one last year as well as the 2 this year) is a solid way of getting started. I can use my Gargellwyd stock tup on them (had I sold him, I do have a tup lamb I could have used on those 3, but I prefer to wait until they are shearlings), and use the Rack Beck son on my existing ewes. Then, in a couple of years, most of my ewes except the oldest will have his blood, and I can go back to having just one, unrelated tup. Also, the old Rack Beck tup bred very true, in that there is absolutely no doubt from 100 yards which are his offspring, and I like looking at them! This is what I want my whole flock to look like, and I reckon I have got more of a chance using both male and female blood, although not in combination! Hope that makes some sense.
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Angus chose 2 Shetland gimmers from the Forsterfield flock, 1 from Glenwood (didn't manage to meet the seller of that one), 2 lambs from Broadwath, and his tup is a shearling called Bay Rigg Ken, who seems like an absolute corker to me with my limited experience of Shetlands, and was a steal at £40. The Glenwood gimmer is grey (pale grey body same colour everywhere, much darker grey face, again same colour all over), everything else is grey katmoget.
Our wee tup trailer was a tight squeeze on the way home, but we are very happy with our purchases.
Your choice of tup has just been described as 'impeccable' by one of my Shetland-savvy friends ;) She saw him and was very impressed with him.
Sounds like Angus is favouring the pretty grey girls! They should be nice fleeces if they're from Forsterfield and Broadwath - don't go sending them off to the Wool Board, now, will you?! Juliet was after a nice grey fleece a year or two back... ;)
And thanks so much for the bumper bag of Cheviot fleeces. There are certainly some nice ones in there :) I'll be sorting through them this afternoon, but that soft grey one off the top is definitely already home ;)
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do we get pictures, i want to dribble over more shetlands
keeping track of nice new tups as well for future reference :-)
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Angus chose 2 Shetland gimmers from the Forsterfield flock, 1 from Glenwood (didn't manage to meet the seller of that one), 2 lambs from Broadwath, and his tup is a shearling called Bay Rigg Ken, who seems like an absolute corker to me with my limited experience of Shetlands, and was a steal at £40. The Glenwood gimmer is grey (pale grey body same colour everywhere, much darker grey face, again same colour all over), everything else is grey katmoget.
Our wee tup trailer was a tight squeeze on the way home, but we are very happy with our purchases.
Your choice of tup has just been described as 'impeccable' by one of my Shetland-savvy friends ;) She saw him and was very impressed with him.
Sounds like Angus is favouring the pretty grey girls! They should be nice fleeces if they're from Forsterfield and Broadwath - don't go sending them off to the Wool Board, now, will you?! Juliet was after a nice grey fleece a year or two back... ;)
And thanks so much for the bumper bag of Cheviot fleeces. There are certainly some nice ones in there :) I'll be sorting through them this afternoon, but that soft grey one off the top is definitely already home ;)
Pleased you are liking the fleece so far, and that is great to know about the tup - I was good to pay quite a bit more than I did for him, but honestly didn't expect to get him for what I was prepared to pay, I nearly fell off my stool when I got him for £40.
I must say, the Shetland sheep people could not have been more helpful and friendly, the whole experience was super.
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do we get pictures, i want to dribble over more shetlands
As soon as I can get outside without the boys, can't control them and operate a camera at the same time.
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Mmmmhhh.... :thinking:
Feeling that seller got a bit of a rough deal - a new breeder or someone who doesn't show? But it is precisely the reason why I don't sell males at breeding auction, and if I were to sell I would always set a decent reserve. I got more than 40 quid per animal for a couple of 2 year old-Shetland wethers at the mart this summer...