[silkwoodzwartbles]

Zwartbles - spectacularly quiet, tall, elegant and pretty sheep that are easily tamed and taste phenomenal. My lambs make 20kg lean carcasses at 5 months old that have tons of taste and don't dry out when cooking. You could either keep them pure or put a commercial tup over them for chunkier lambs. Easy lambing (none of mine have needed assistance the last 2 years) and mostly excellent feet (although you do have to be fussy about where they come from - some of my original stock had feet issues and were culled out for it). They do need plenty of grub though.

[Bramham Wiltshire Horns]

Hi
i have had 2 different breeds of sheep Coloured Ryelands and Wiltshire Horn
this is my experience and not Gospel

i think when looking at flavour as much grass based diet as possible and allowed to grow for longer will result in a better flavour

Coloured Ryelands
Taste:
they tasted Nice, good depth of flavour but can put down a good bit of fat, if your not careful and do take longer to get to wieght

Management; very tame when handled regular, be very careful with Fly strike so need regular Dagging at the back end etc crovect/clik regular


Wiltshire Horn
for me without doubt a great sheep, Taste Fantastic and tastes like meat used to in the good old days :-)
very hardy and coped with last years drought with no issues at all
very fine fleece that sheds well and very clean back ends
they can also make good crosses with Breeds like Charolias they Poll when using charolias tup
no issues with Feet at present

they are very prolific
i have lambed triplets my first 2 to lamb and the mothers are doing an excellent job i didnt lay a hand on when birthing the ewes did everything themselves

i stand by the Wiltshire horn

i only have a small number so cant compare to commercial flocks etc

i only wished i had your amount of land

[SallyintNorth]

Zwartbles - spectacularly quiet, tall, elegant and pretty sheep that are easily tamed and taste phenomenal. My lambs make 20kg lean carcasses at 5 months old that have tons of taste and don't dry out when cooking. You could either keep them pure or put a commercial tup over them for chunkier lambs. Easy lambing (none of mine have needed assistance the last 2 years) and mostly excellent feet (although you do have to be fussy about where they come from - some of my original stock had feet issues and were culled out for it). They do need plenty of grub though.

They are indeed, very tame, friendly sheep, and the flavour is extraordinarily good - not *quite* in the same league as Shetland etc, but noticeably better than 'regular' lamb.  And they are big enough to be away the same year, or most of them, which you would probably want with bigger sheep and a slight question mark over feet.

It was Zwartbles here when I came with my lot.  We've culled for problems and now have just one Zwartbles left - but she's a fab sheep.  I'd have more like her

The problems have included not allowing lambs to suckle (first time mum), difficult births (one strain), bad feet (most of 'em), propensity to get fly struck (one strain), propensity to triplets and not able to rear them.

We had in any case decided to cross them and bring the size down a little.  Their frame is so large, it is hard for us smaller folk (all three women who share the sheep care here!) to tip them over.  They are quiet enough to do feet like you would a horse, but you do still sometimes need your sheep on her bottom.

And as a dairy breed, on our ground at any rate, their need for additional feed is quite high.  It goes into the milk, which goes into the lambs, which grow really well - but it is something you have to watch before and after lambing, or you can end up with ewes losing too much condition and being unable to recover in time for tupping next year.

[Bramham Wiltshire Horns]

if you are new to sheep and if possible, Maybe worth getting a small number of each breed you fancy and rear in the similar conditions
and see what works best for you

also once you have a shortlist get the ones you like the look of nothing worse than not enjoying look at your sheep 

[Womble]

I feel I ought to stick up for Zwartbles, given Sally's comments. However, that's what we keep and I find myself agreeing with almost all of that, Sally!

I now believe that many of the problems with Zs come down to people selecting them for their markings rather than things like good shape and feet. We have similarly culled to get rid of ewes and bloodlines with such issues and are now really happy with our flock.

Once again, this thread shows that we all love our own individual breeds perhaps just a little too much, and really you shouldn't listen to any of us on such matters!