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Author Topic: Ram lamb from a Suffolk x mule  (Read 2435 times)

Shire1980

  • Joined May 2018
Ram lamb from a Suffolk x mule
« on: August 07, 2020, 09:24:52 am »
I have a lamb there that was born from a Suffolk x mule to a texel tup.
Can these types be used for breeding?
Its turned out to be a good big lamb but I'm wondering if there would be problems with the lambs it produces if I used it next year.

shep53

  • Joined Jan 2011
  • Dumfries & Galloway
Re: Ram lamb from a Suffolk x mule
« Reply #1 on: August 07, 2020, 09:38:02 am »
Non at all ,the lambs will be fine , they could all look different depending on the the mothers as the father has  Texel /Suffolk / Blue Face Leicester / Swaledale or Scottish Blackface  genes

twizzel

  • Joined Apr 2012
Re: Ram lamb from a Suffolk x mule
« Reply #2 on: August 07, 2020, 10:28:42 am »
As above, no reason why you can’t use it for breeding yourself. The market for selling him as a breeding ram will be limited as he is a crossbreed as as shep says potentially could throw lambs that are not uniform. Most farmers buy pedigree or purebred tups for that reason.


If you’re breeding for fat lambs I wouldn’t worry, but if you’re breeding to keep the ewe lambs I’d not use him.

landroverroy

  • Joined Oct 2010
Re: Ram lamb from a Suffolk x mule
« Reply #3 on: August 07, 2020, 10:31:16 am »
There will be no problem in breeding, but but bear in mind that the conformation of the offspring will not be as good as a from a pure Suffolk or Texel. If you only have a few sheep and are eating some, or all the offspring yourself then it doesn't matter. But if you have say a dozen or more and are planning to sell the offspring in market, then you'd be better selling your ram lamb and putting the money towards getting a pure Suffolk or Texel ram lamb. You can get a well bred but non pedigree pure Suffolk or Texel for about £100, or a bit more, and it would be worth it for the increased value of the lambs you produce. Bear in mind also that he will work for several years, so if you have to put say £40 or £50 extra to get a pure bred terminal sire, over what your own lamb fetches in meat, then it's well worth it in the end.
« Last Edit: August 07, 2020, 10:34:51 am by landroverroy »
Rules are made:
  for the guidance of wise men
  and the obedience of fools.

Shire1980

  • Joined May 2018
Re: Ram lamb from a Suffolk x mule
« Reply #4 on: August 07, 2020, 10:43:18 am »
The last 2 years I've bought in shearling tups and they've died. One after shearing and the other a month after I got it from a breeding sale at market. I might just go to market and buy a cast tup rather than spend good money on one again as its for producing fat lambs

twizzel

  • Joined Apr 2012
Re: Ram lamb from a Suffolk x mule
« Reply #5 on: August 07, 2020, 11:09:20 am »
Don’t buy cull rams  :tired:  they are in the cull pens for a reason. You might get away with it but equally you may buy in all sorts of problems. I sold a perfectly good looking one in the cull pens a few weeks ago, on the face of it he had 2 good balls and his feet and teeth were good. But he had a bad eye problem that settled down and then flared up (not pink eye) and a bad temper to go with it.


Why have your tups died? Did you pm them?

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Ram lamb from a Suffolk x mule
« Reply #6 on: August 07, 2020, 02:18:02 pm »
Tups dying after shearing sounds like a tup with a full belly getting sheared?  Our shearers prefer all sheep to have been hungered for a few hours. if not overnight, if poss. 

Tups sold in excessively good condition (aka "show condition") then put to work can "melt". 

Better if you can to buy direct from the breeder, and buy one "in his working clothes", ie., not fed up on high protein rations to look powerful in the ring.

Don't buy a cast tup, but some breeders will sell aged tups who would otherwise be coming onto his daughters.  It's a good way to get good genetics into your flock, aged tups (usually 3-4 years old, maybe 5) cost a fraction of what he would have cost as a shearling.

Or, buy an unwethered lamb of the type you want in the store or fat ring.  No guarantees, of course, but lots of people do this for home production.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Shire1980

  • Joined May 2018
Re: Ram lamb from a Suffolk x mule
« Reply #7 on: August 07, 2020, 03:33:51 pm »
Don’t buy cull rams  :tired:  they are in the cull pens for a reason. You might get away with it but equally you may buy in all sorts of problems. I sold a perfectly good looking one in the cull pens a few weeks ago, on the face of it he had 2 good balls and his feet and teeth were good. But he had a bad eye problem that settled down and then flared up (not pink eye) and a bad temper to go with it.


Why have your tups died? Did you pm them?
.

No I didn't bother getting a Pm first was stuck on its back between a fence and a rut when I got to it first think in the morning the crows had taken its eyes out luckily it had covered  all the ewes before it had died. I got some cracking lambs off it.
This years tup was just dead in the field about a week after being sheared. Both texels

landroverroy

  • Joined Oct 2010
Re: Ram lamb from a Suffolk x mule
« Reply #8 on: August 08, 2020, 12:33:42 pm »
Well the one that got stuck wasn't any reflection then on the quality of rams bought at market.  :thinking: You got some cracking lambs off him so what's to stop you buying again at a breeding sale or privately? You're never going to get the same quality offspring from your mongrel tup lamb however well he looks. He'd look equally well in the fatstock market! 
Rules are made:
  for the guidance of wise men
  and the obedience of fools.

Shire1980

  • Joined May 2018
Re: Ram lamb from a Suffolk x mule
« Reply #9 on: August 10, 2020, 11:39:10 pm »
Well the one that got stuck wasn't any reflection then on the quality of rams bought at market.  :thinking: You got some cracking lambs off him so what's to stop you buying again at a breeding sale or privately? You're never going to get the same quality offspring from your mongrel tup lamb however well he looks. He'd look equally well in the fatstock market! 

Got the lamb sold at market today for £120.
I'll just buy an aged ram this time and be happy if it lasts the season.
I only need it to cover 12 ewes so it was probably daft of me spending £600 on the first one.

bj_cardiff

  • Joined Feb 2017
  • Carmarthenshire
Re: Ram lamb from a Suffolk x mule
« Reply #10 on: August 11, 2020, 07:19:12 am »
I'd have a look on preloved, or similar sites, most smaller flocks will have to change ram every couple of years so you might be able to find a decent 3yr old for not much money. I sometimes buy rams off one of my neighbours that way, or failing that buy a decent ram lamb

twizzel

  • Joined Apr 2012
Re: Ram lamb from a Suffolk x mule
« Reply #11 on: August 11, 2020, 07:34:17 am »
Plenty of good commercial rams around the £200-350 mark, does your local market have breeding sales? Sellmylivestock is also very good for sheep for sale.

 

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