The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: kris on October 31, 2015, 10:58:17 pm
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looking to see what rams people are using and have used and how they got on with them?
i have use texle - great shape lambs didnt grow as fast as i would have liked
texle cross Charolais good cross small lambs at birth quicker growth than pure tex slow at the start
suffolks - good size lambs grow well found them hardy at birth
beltex big heads at birth i found them to grow slow but fantastic shape
i want to try, well im going to oxford down ram the rare breed ive researched them for a while and i know some one who breeds them they are huge sheep and wow the grow fast they get there lambs from birth to finish wieght of 42kg between 12-16 weeks of age off good quality pasture and a Small amount creep
has anyone else used them ?
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I put my Suffolk mules and a few others to my charollais ram and they are away at 12weeks On average grass alone. Killing out perfectly weight wise with a good amount of fat. Even a Shetland cross charollais was fantastic!
lambs all quick to feed and hardy. :)
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Lleyn ram on the good Lleyn ewes, Charmoise on the others, Charmoise on the Charmoise
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Romney ram on Romney ewes and all the others, (mixture of everything!). All lambs away at around 7 months, fantastic carcasses. Lovely skins to get tanned. Used a Hampshire down ram last year for the first time, great carcasses, skins not so good and had to pull a lot of lambs. Back to my Romney this year. also Romney rams very docile, not too big, easy to handle.
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Southdown bred pure and also on Badger Face. Rareley have to pull a SD, never a BF. Excellent carcase on both and up and suckling within minutes.
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Lleyn rams on Lleyn ewes produces a first class lamb that finishes on grass.
Easy lambers, loads of milk. Lambs look to get up and survive.
No wonder they are gaining in popularity.
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I'm currently using a pure, pedigree Lleyn ram, the guy I bought him from measures the Carcass index and takes the breeding very seriously. The lambs he has produced were ready at 3-4 months old, off grass, and the lambs didn't need any concentrates at all, were very strong and lively from birth and grew perfectly, had hardly any cases of pulling lambs and very few triplets. All in all a really good lambing. Am really looking forward to lambing next year :excited: It really depends on how good the ram is, how he has been bred and so forth, which am sure you all know. I bred from Charolais a few years back, even when I crossed them with Lleyn the meat was horrible, fine the lambs grew fast, but I am looking for quality over quantity (to that end I decided to breed pure Lleyn). I have found welsh x Lleyn has been very good meat, very sweet and tender. Suffolks, beltex, texels and Charolais, I have found, produce horrible meat, even just off good grass, lamb should be sweet and tender and not bland.
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Pure Ryeland. Eight tup lambs away last week averaged 26kg, range 23 - 29kg. No creep; lambed between 24th Match and about 5th April. I could have put them away amonth eariler I guess but they're all for private sale and a six month life seems reasonable to me.
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Lleyn :wave:
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I'm trying a Charolais on my Southdowns and Oxford ewes. The outcome could be interesting.
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I've experimented with many, but have normally used a pure Ryeland crossed with Charolais and commercial crosses/mules, have had some very good lambs, never give them creep, only grass. I've not tried them myself so can't comment on taste.
This year I'm trying a Texel x Lleyn and Texel x Suffolk on my ewes, just for a change to see what transpires!
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Oxfords are great! :love:
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Rocky the wonder shetland has 10 wives this year to service 9 shetland and 1Ryeland... He's currently pacing the fenceline waiting for Thursday...
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I'm trying a Charolais on my Southdowns and Oxford ewes. The outcome could be interesting.
I put some southdowns to my charollais this year and the lambs where amazing! Killed out beautifully and the carcass scored very well. I sent them for private kill and the slaughter house begged me to sell it to them for their shop!
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For less than it was worth? If not why not sell it and breed more?
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Pure BWM on BWM ewes. If I was to cross them I think I would go with a Lleyn ram or similar. I'd never use a fast growing terminal sire as I feel that would impact the taste too much. I prefer slow growing animals that are full of flavour.
I'd really like to produce a shedding black sheep ... but living in Wales I'm not sure how well shedding sheep would cope with all the rain?
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Foobar - There are already shedding black sheep, some easy cares do come out black very occasionally and I know a man who has used exlana rams across the last of his parents bwm (inherited with the farm) to produce a shedding back sheep.
R.E Shedding sheep and welsh rain . . . . . . . . the original easy care breed developed in the 60's were bred on Anglesey, and there are plenty of people (myself included) who run shedders in rainy wales!
All this talk of taste . . . . . . . . I honestly think some people are fantasists. . . . . although some rare and minority breeds give what is defiantly a different tasting meat, when it comes to most other breeds, there is far far more in the butchering, hanging and cooking that effects the taste than the ram used!
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Aberfield on Romneys
Blue texel on zwartbles this year
Aber Romneys finish on grass alone and grade really well, tex/zwa is a trial as the pure zwartbles take forever to finish
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well more on my ram front i have spoke to a couple of breeders regarding oxford downs and going to see some Wednesday i know they are pedigree but i am after the quality and shape they are reasonably priced as well they are proven shear lings which is a bonus at least they have proven they can perform
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easycares in rainy wales here too.
I'm planning on using a lleyn ram lamb this year as my neighbour has offered one for free and with 9 easycare ewe lambs from this year I've probably got enough ewe's for now, and next years crossed lambs can all go. No idea how the cross will go but as the lleyns are quite chunky I've decided not to let him near this years ewelambs - they'll wait 'til next year.
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I once had a tutorial on meat quality with a master butcher who lectured in the subject and he reckoned that Portland was the sweetest lamb, followed by Southdown.
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I used a Texel on Jacobs last year, was a wee bit worried as the Jacobs were shearlings but, though I had to assist at one birth they were fine. Big, strong lambs that grew well on grass and were sent off at 20 weeks. Really good weights and little fat and the meat is lovely!
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for the crossbred flock we use an ile de france ram on the suffolk crossed ewes, we have found this makes for a very quick growing and easy lambing and lovely tasting lamb :D
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Texel ram on various cross bred ewes mainly cheviot X Welsh or along them lines. All lambs go into a box ewe lambs included. All ewes lambed unassisted this year in the field hardy an all went beetween June/July of grass alone.
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I once had a tutorial on meat quality with a master butcher who lectured in the subject and he reckoned that Portland was the sweetest lamb, followed by Southdown.
Only the second best MF!!
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Castlemilk Moorit ram on 3 CM ewes and one Torwen Badgerface ewe, and he goes in today! :excited: .... this is a crossbred ewe lamb (one of twins) from the Torwen this year...
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We are using 2 half Dutch texel x texel, 4 pure texel and a lleyn, possibly looking for a charmoise next year tho
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I once had a tutorial on meat quality with a master butcher who lectured in the subject and he reckoned that Portland was the sweetest lamb, followed by Southdown.
Only the second best MF!!
That's what he said. I've never tasted :Portland so I couldn't possibly comment!
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well more on my ram front i have spoke to a couple of breeders regarding oxford downs and going to see some Wednesday i know they are pedigree but i am after the quality and shape they are reasonably priced as well they are proven shear lings which is a bonus at least they have proven they can perform
There were some nice OD's at the Welsh NSA ram sale this year. Very good conformation and not overfat - some of the Texels could hardly waddle into their pens and heard several instances of Texel Throat.