[roddycm]

Go for a hill breed and then cross with a good terminal sire, you'll have hardy mums and great lambs!

[mab]

OK, 'hill breed' is a bit general for me, and 'terminal sire' is a bit technical for my limited understanding    , but I guess it's like when I put my shetlands to a jacobs tup when I first got them, and the resulting lamb made a good weight for a shetland ewe.


I still like the idea of easycare (mostly because of the no shearing, and that they can make money if that's required). I've got some prices from a breeder in aberystwyth but it may not be quick to sort.


Trouble is I still like the primitives and I'm still going to have Elfie anyway, so I'm thinking of getting a companion for Elfie in the next day or so, but not to breed from, but then get a proper breeding flock in the near future when I've done a bit more research into what I want.


cheers for the suggestions

[SteveHants]

marches . not in my experience ,we started out with rare breeds but couldnt get them to pay. it costs the same to kill and butcher a 25kg rare breed lamb as a 45kg "fashionable" lamb . the heavyer rare breeds mostly run too fat( not wanted by butcher or consumer) .       if there was a good return from them the fields would be full of them .
there is a job for any sheep on different farms/regions /types of ground

Oddly my original business idea was to run several nucleus flocks of the most popular rare breeds and then sell them as such.


Oddly that idea went out of the window when:


a) I read a billion sob stories on here/other places about lambing problems etc in some of the ones I was considering
b) I saw how much primitives go for at market - because thats always your emergency back up plan (£5 a head for shetlands, anyone?)
c) I wanted a life.


Easycare for me, thanks.

[roddycm]

Welsh mountain sheep is an example of what I meant and maybe a charollais as a terminal sire... I used dorsets and texels on mine with great success but with the texels I knew the line I was breeding from to avoid problems!

[Castle Farm]

Llyens every time. I'm at 1000ft on the Welsh Borders and they do very well here.

<a href="http://s62.photobucket.com/user/castlefarmpoultry/media/The%20Farm/100_1977.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h117/castlefarmpoultry/The%20Farm/100_1977.jpg" border="0" alt="Lleyn Sheep. photo 100_1977.jpg"/></a>

[mab]

still leaning in the easycare direction ATM, though I've found a neighbour with dorset downs (mostly DD, but with a bit of other breeds), though they seem like a serious commercial breed and while docile, not necessarily easy.


Are easycare docile? or more 'hill breed' wild? (starting to get a feel for the terminology I think    )


AS for llyens - I'm still a bit vague as to what they're like; both the NSA breeds and the lleyn sheep society websites are a bit short of details.


(thanks eveyrone    i'm beginning to feel like I can make an intelligent choice rather than pot luck).

[SallyintNorth]

Lleyns are delightful sheep, generally just get on with the job, very milky, easy lambing, good feet.  They're even pretty!  Crossed with a Texel or similar you get a good commercial fat lamb.  The pure Lleyn is an ok fat lamb - not laughable but won't have the conformation buyers really want these days.  However, in your area there will be a lot of Lleyns so the buyers will be more used to them than they are up here.

The only criticism of them is that they are very likely to have multiples - triplets and more - and unless you have really good ground even the very milky Lleyn may struggle to rear 3 or 4.

[Fishyhaddock]

Hi,  This is our fourth season keeping sheep and we have gone with Wiltshire Horn. So far no trouble at all.  No shearing needed, they train to the bucket easily and are therefor easy to move about the holding.
With three seasons of lambing under our belts we have not had to intervene in one birth yet and the mothers seem to be good mothers.  As for the carcass produced it seems fine to me and sure does taste good as both lamb and mutton.
As for selling I was speaking to a fellow Wiltshire owner only today and he has recently sold at the market for around the £70 mark.
Most importantly get a breed that you like looking at every day as they are addictive!!
Good luck, will be interested to hear what you end up with.
Fishy.
 
 

[mab]

well having though about it a bit more, there are lleyns available nearby, but they still lose out (on paper at least) to easycare.


The wiltshire horn as shedding sheep scores a lot of points but they seem to be a bit thin on the ground in these parts in my search for local breeders / sales.


I've talked to an easycare breeder and got prices - not cheap: 60 for brokers, 100 for ewe lambs, and 120/130 for ewes (forget the term) but I think he meant they're read to go, though he's not quite as local as I'd like, and if I want to build up an easycare flock I'll need to use and easycare tup (though maybe could use wiltshre if I can find one).

[Foobar]

Black Welsh Mountain for easy to keep, hardy, good milky mothers, will eat anything, very tasty to eat, handsome to look at sheep. And there are plenty available in Wales.  You could also cross them with a beefier meat breed ram if you needed bigger lambs.


Otherwise I'd go with Lleyn, or easy care.


Whatever you pick, try to get some from someone who has similar land to you, that way you know that they will do well at your place.

[twizzel]

To those who said there is a difference between 'tasty' and 'commercial' meat... I take slight umbridge at that- all of our lambs are commercial type- mainly Texel x with a bit of suffolk, hampshire and charolais mixed in, and the meat is fantastic. They finish quickly, are lean, easy to keep, are reasonably easy to keep in a field and the carcass is great.


Depending on numbers you want to get a breed that sells well at your local market- there's no point having say 30 rare breed sheep to find that you can't sell the surplus lambs at market once you've filled your freezer.

[Foobar]

Taste is subjective obviously.  Unless you've tasted every breed the I guess it's unfair to judge .


I asked AH about flock numbers when you move and they said that they were linked to your CPH, so would change when you move.  And that was wales-->wales.  So do let us know what they say.


I guess you need to decide where you are going to sell your lamb(s).  If you think your only outlet will be at a mart then that will influence your choice.  If you can sell lamb boxes from the door (or from the abattoir), which is easy, then that opens up more choice.

[mab]

talked to AH - your right Foobar    I do need a new number, though she did add that I don't need the flock no to buy & move the sheep - only when I need to order new tags, so I don't need to wait for the new no. to arrive (phew).


I guess I'm guilty of perpetuating the claim that rare breeds are tastyer without any personal experience - it's just that folks say how tasty their rare breeds are compared with supermarket meat  - which we suppose to be commercial breed derived.

[SteveHants]

well having though about it a bit more, there are lleyns available nearby, but they still lose out (on paper at least) to easycare.


The wiltshire horn as shedding sheep scores a lot of points but they seem to be a bit thin on the ground in these parts in my search for local breeders / sales.


I've talked to an easycare breeder and got prices - not cheap: 60 for brokers, 100 for ewe lambs, and 120/130 for ewes (forget the term) but I think he meant they're read to go, though he's not quite as local as I'd like, and if I want to build up an easycare flock I'll need to use and easycare tup (though maybe could use wiltshre if I can find one).

That does sound slightly pricey  - I'd want to pay £95 for fully recorded ewes.


Easycare tups ought to be fairly easy to find though - don't forget that the easycare breed soc has a very open mind on what constitutes an easycare, so you can look at other shedding rams - exlanas and so on...


You might have to travel a bit to get one, but its a trip worth making for the right ram.


If you are selling through the market - put your easycares to a terminal tup to get market lambs, put the best to an easycare ram to breed replacements.

[SallyintNorth]

I guess I'm guilty of perpetuating the claim that rare breeds are tastyer without any personal experience - it's just that folks say how tasty their rare breeds are compared with supermarket meat  - which we suppose to be commercial breed derived.

We sell Texel-type and Charollais-type to the supermarkets and to our local butcher.  We have tried it ourselves too.  The Texel is cut-with-a-postcard tender but in my view a little light on flavour.  The Charollais is sweet and succulent 

I've eaten 24-month old Swaledale grass-fed wether and until I ate Castlemilk Moorit it was the best lamb / mutton I'd ever eaten.

I've also eaten old Swaley and old Swaley mule - both very tasty but being old gals, lots of yellow fat that needs dealt with and the meat needs long slow cooking with some moisture.

Our own Castlemilk Moorit wethers were very very different from any lamb/mutton I've ever eaten before.  Very lean, incredibly tasty.  Almost gamey, a bit reminiscent of venison.  Has completely spoiled me for 'regular' lamb.

I am looking forward to trying my Shetland X lamb - but won't have any for the table for some months yet, as we'll be using the only male on some of the first-timers and the fleece sheep