[Glentarki]

Hi Folks………Well at last Ive made up me mind and decided to go for Shetland Sheep. Can anyone recommend a breeder who has mixed coloured Shetlands?. Never had sheep before so hopefully a breeder that I can nip their head a bit for advice and visit beforehand I'm located Perth/Fife borders in Scotland.

Thanks in advance
Dave

[Andrew]

The Shetland sheep society web page has a list of breeders and there are a few near you. We have a small flock of 1 Tup, 1 wether, 4 ewes and 6 lambs of mixed colours and you are more than welcome to come see them. We are about 12 miles north of Glasgow

[Fleecewife]

Hi there.  Rena Douglas is in Ceres, the Arbuckles are in Bathgate - I can give you their contact details if you wish. Both breed beautiful coloured Shetlands and are helpful and pleasant.

[shetlandpaul]

so much choice. get a shetland sheep colour guide there are loads of diffrent ones all diffrent. we have spotty coloured shetlands. our ram that ran off last year was a mix of 4 or more colours. he was extremly colourful. excellent for spinning as you can get multi coloured wool.

[Glentarki]

Thanks very much for your reply’s. Andrew you’re little set up sounds similar to what I would like here ground permitting….. thanks for the invite to pop over and see them I may just drop you a pm when were next over your way, cheers for that.

Funny you should mention the different colours S/Paul I found a sheet on the Shetland sheep society page that Andrew mentioned, didn’t realize the choice !….Your Ram sounds very striking………My main goal is Lamb for the freezer but without sounding too twee a hardy breed with colour variation so also pleasing to look at.

Fleecewife the contact details would be great I really appreciate that ,were less than 30 Min's from Ceres and have family in Bathgate.. So I'm def spoilt for choice

Thanks you three
Dave

[shetlandpaul]

in that case maybe a cross or something if your mainly after meat. they have lovely meat but not a lot.

[Glentarki]

Yeah I  thought about that S/paul have a few neighbours around here with a variety of tups so may just experiment with pure and crossing.................Having said that as long as we have enough lamb for our own needs thats fine too

Cheers
Dave

[shetlandpaul]

have coloured ewes and then throw anything in.

[egglady]

Dave, we are between Newburgh and Cupar and have shetlands, just had 9 lambs so prob will have some for sale if you are interested?

Also have pals nearby in same situation.

and we originally got ours from Rena Douglas - not far from us.

pm me if you want to come and see them.

laura

[Anke]

I wouldn't breed shetland gimmers to a larger tup for their first time lambing, but after that they are usually fine. Just don't choose a really broad shouldered texel.... I use some shetland txl cross ewes for breeding, and they are great. Good size, good temperament (not highly strung like my sff/txl X!) and easy lambers.

[Glentarki]

Laura.........Thanks for that Ive sent you a pm ...........Anke thanks for your post and I can see where your coming from. I think until we are experienced enough at this end we will keep to the pure breeding of the Shetlands, we have a lot to learn...... However its informative to know just how the breed has been versatile in your breeding program and certainly in the future we will experiment, thanks for sharing that

Cheers Dave

[egglady]

9 lambs (5 tups and 4 ewe lambs)
2 last years ewe lambs (to goto the tup this year)
5 ewes

[shetlandpaul]

it does make sense to breed from a smaller breed the first year as they tend to have singletons. then try a cheviot/suffolk cross. we are down to 5 ewes so will be keeping the only ewe lamb the caddy wether and the 3 boys are going to be chopped in time. we will then need to find a tup for next autumn. may just borrow one.
the shetlands have not had a problem lambing. the cheviots have.

[poppajohn]

Interesting thread folks. Pauls comments are true, second year for cross due to size. Ever tried a Jacob / Shetland? An accident happened on our patch a while ago the lambs were a treat though! Well muscled and some lovely meat. The shetland keeper has not spoken to the Jacobs owner for six years, some folk aint got a sense of humour............

[shetlandpaul]

well it can have a massive dent in there income. we are waiting to see how many coloured lambs next door has. we promised to buy any that our tup fathered. i hope its not too many as prices are high.