[PhillipWillie]

Seen these sheep on the rbst website and quite like the look and sound of them, any one any experience with them?

[Marches Farmer]

Any Down breed will be likely to be docile, have a good carcase and fleece and be hard to keep slim if the grazing's good!

[beagh-suffolks]

 friend of mine keeps and breeds theses, very very quiet and easily worked with..and don't give much hassle in the way of lambing and feet

[littleacorn]

Love mine    We only have 4 ewes and a ram but they are great.  I decided that if I was going for a down breed I may as well go for the biggest !   

[smiley bucket]

They are absolutely lovely sheep, but some of them are huge, I remember rolling wool for some and the tups were bigger than the shearers when they'd tipped them up to shear!  Hampshire's are also lovely and a bit smaller, and Dorset's too, smaller still.  As I get older and less able, smaller seems better, but if you're big and strong go for the Oxfords, I would have, back in the day!!

[Marches Farmer]

sb makes a good point.  Down sheep are absolutely solid, like a filing cabinet on short legs.  If you want to catch and turn them, rather than use a race and turnover crate when they need attention, you'd be better off keeping one of the smaller Down breeds like a Southdown or Ryeland.

[PhillipWillie]

Thanks for the advice folks    size doesnt really bother me, tbh it was their size that was the main attraction! Age is on my side as im only 21 and hopefully won't find any taller than 6ft3 when sat down! The fact that there are only 2 flocks in Northern Ireland means I would have something a bit different!

[Marches Farmer]

Your gene pool will be very limited when you want to introduce new bloodlines, unless you're willing to ship from England or use AI, if available.