[smiley bucket]

You'd not go far wrong with a Hampshire Down tup.

[Jamie12]

Would it be an idea to buy some ewes in lamb with singles at a later date for fostering purposes?. Hoping I don't end up with too many multiples

[Ladygrey]

Charmoise would be ideal for ewe lambs or a charollais if you cant get hold of a charmoise

Most (well nearly every farmer I know of) who run suffolk mule ewes put a charollais tup onto them, this complements the ewe very nicely, as she has loads of milk and she is growthy and with good length and shape, also the charollais then gets rid of the black face and produces either a nice store lamb or fat lamb, very versatile!

Zwartbles would not be a good idea if you want to start a good commercial flock, they DO eat loads and loads and the people who say they dont have loads of grass/time/feed for them anyway...

Also I found when crossing them they seem to concentrate of growing legs legs and more legs, and we all know that those are chopped off and not paid for at the end of the day.

Use something that will complement your sheep! suffolk mules have loads of milk, so put something on that will grow on and flesh out on loads of milk!!

Goodluck!!

I am putting a charmoise tup to a load of welsh mule ewe lambs and crossbred ewe lambs this year and also some welsh mules shearlings, I think its 58 to the tup in total this year 

[Marches Farmer]

Any of the Down breeds would do a good job and not produce lots of leg in preference to carcase.  Better fleece on the lambs than the Charollais, less lambing assistance than the Texel or Beltex.

[Ladygrey]

I have a charollais ram that was born in January this year and put outside at 24hrs old,
never been indoors since and never creep fed, tough as nails, so I think lack of fleece may not be a problem anyway


Down breeds do tend to have a heavy amount of bone and wide heads, so I would not put a down breed onto ewe lambs especially ewe lambs that are half down breed themselves, shearlings are different,
but basically the aim of farmers who put a tup to ewe lambs is just to produce a lamb that slips out un aided and gets up and sucks, and gives the ewe lambs a good first experience, if the lamb has a good shape and meat then thats a bonus!

[Porterlauren]

And down x lambs sell badly live weight.