Author Topic: Blue faced Leicester sheep? (Read 8997 times)

littleacorn · « **on:** November 05, 2011, 08:44:34 pm »

Does anyone keep Blue faced Leicester sheep? Would they be suitable for a novice? What, if any, are the negatives of the breed? Many thanks in advance.

Hazelwood Flock · « **Reply #1 on:** November 05, 2011, 09:43:05 pm »

I've never kept them as I have been put off by their lack of hardiness, they are not built to withstand the extremes of the weather as we know it!

Hopewell · « **Reply #2 on:** November 05, 2011, 09:47:36 pm »

I recently discussed Blue faced Leicester sheep with someone whose father has kept them for years. He told me that the breed is diverging into two lines. One is the traditional blue faced sheep which are not hardy at all and have a greater tendency to die than most sheep! These are the more show type and certainly my experience in the past was that they were not good doers. There are however another line which has a more brown face and is preferred for mule sheep breeding. In general I wouldn't have thought they would suit a novice.

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #3 on:** November 06, 2011, 02:33:32 am »

Hi Julie. I don't know where you are but previous posters are right, the Leicester is not very hardy - fine-woolled and thin skinned.

An Exmoor breeder of BFLs is the farmer I often quote as saying, "Sheep's only got two hobbies. What they can eat and what they can die of." Exmoor is a wet, cold place...

Hopewell's dad is right - the show type, with the very blue face, is likely to be less hardy than the crossing type. However, some of the crossing types will also be quite soft, as the fine wool is a desirable trait to be passed to the mule ewe daughter and fat lamb grandchildren. Some mule breeders require a hardier Leicester however as their conditions demand it, hence some of the crossing Leicesters will be a bit less soft.

If you have mild, not too wet winters where you are, and would have some shelter for them in the worst of any wet cold weather (and, if you were breeding pure, somewhere indoors for lambing ewes and newborn lambs should the weather be wet and cold at lambing time) then the Leicester would probably cope.

They are delightful sheep, very friendly and usually not at all aggressive (although I have been knocked over by a tup who knew I had a bucket of food on me which I was refusing to put down for him!) The BFL ewe is a fantastic mother with a lot of milk for her lambs. Not a bad carcase when purebred, and they'll produce good fat lambs crossed to a Texel. BUT, as well as the lack of hardiness, the other problem for a novice is that the mothers are prolific and will frequently have triplets, sometimes quads - which will mean more work at lambing time and knowing when and how to take lambs off the mother and hand-rear, or whether and when to leave three with mum and top up from a bottle.

So, if you are where the winters are wet and cold, or if you don't have shelter for them in any cold and wet weather you do have, or if you couldn't lamb them safely indoors should the weather at lambing time be wet, then this breed is definitely not for you.

Because of the multiple births, it's not the easiest breed for a novice, even if you have the climate and shelter for them.

However, their delightful nature does mitigate some of the downsides of them for the novice.

Hope that helps
Sally x

littleacorn · « **Reply #4 on:** November 06, 2011, 08:08:05 am »

Thank you for your fab replies.

I am in North Shropshire and yes would be able to lamb indoors/provide shelter if required. We have only just purchased some land (although we have rented a little for a while now) and were favouring a down breed such as the Shropshire (for obvious reasons!) However, I am a noviceish spinner and went on a felting course yesterday and all my fellow spinners were waxing lyrical about the wool from the Blue faced Leicester - which made me ask the question.

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #5 on:** November 06, 2011, 08:37:01 am »

Well the wool is beautiful, yes - although I'm not a spinner so I don't have experience of using it.

If there are farmers with Leicesters about, any of them would let you have a few fleeces in exchange for some help wrapping the fleeces as they come off at clipping time.

humphreymctush · « **Reply #6 on:** November 06, 2011, 05:40:49 pm »

The main reason for keeping blue faced leicesters ewes is to produce rams to use on old blackfaced sheep that have been draughted down from the hill. This is how mules are produced. Mules are a cross breed that produce butchers lamb when put to a terminal sire (eg suffolk or Texel) To command a good price for your bluefaced leicester rams you need to develop a reputation over a number of years.
Blue faced leicesters would not be a good breed for a beginer to keep to produce lamb for the table because they are hard to look after and do not produce a good carcass. If you wanted to keep sheep for wool then any long wool breed such as blue faced leicester, teeswater or wensleydale would be good but you might do better to keep some wethers (castrated males) and avoid all the other hasstle.

If you want to produce lamb and get good wool you could consider the Masham (TeeswaterXdalesbred) or my favorite the Wensleydale shetland cross and use a Suffolk ram to produce your lamb.

morri2 · « **Reply #7 on:** November 08, 2011, 01:12:48 pm »

Hi! Just thought I'd mention that I have some Dorset x Bowmont ewe lambs for sale if you're interested. I'm in North Wales so not too far from you - having seen your post I note you want a calm sheep with good wool - the Polled Dorsets are very placid and docile, apt to become tame and, well, if you are a spinner you will know the Bowmont has one of the best fleeces in the country, possibly Europe! (I'm biased - can you tell??

). PM me if you're interested and haven't got sorted yet. Cheers