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Hi everyone!

I have been looking at these with a view to breeding for the small holder market. We have had sheep before  welsh crosses who are no longer with us (old age), we had soay briefly but the kept jumping out over 5ft fences  :oso we had to give them up!!! so thought id ask you knowledgeable folk a few questions-
what are easy care sheep like to live with?
is the shedding worse/more hassle than shearing? 
is there a market for them?

strong costa coffee for anyone with any info 

[Marches Farmer]

I think you're asking the right questions. Identify your market before you buy.  We've tried keeping a number of breeds over the years to run alongside our Southdowns, including Lleyns for prolificacy (never again!)   Now got a reputation for good, healthy, well handled breeding stock, advice on tap for buyers and availability of ram hire for those who don't want the bother of having one around for the rest of the year.  It's just finding your niche and working it.  There's always a market for Texel/Beltex/Suffolk crosses but our thing is rare breeds so we stick with them.

[Humblepie]

easy care sheep seems to a trendy term at the moment.
we have had self shedding sheep and so does our neighbour. i can confirm that the wool doesnt just disappear so unless you want a scruffy field with wool lying around or stunk in the wire - it does need collecting and can be quite tedious.

[widget]

thanks guys!
sounds like it could be a bit of a mission getting the wool off the fences as we have quite large paddocks! I was thinking more of the hardiness really and for lambing. We don't want to breed for meat for ourselves so looking more at rare breeds or something like easy care to breed for the small holder market.  Will keep reading this forum is great for information 

[Womble]

....including Lleyns for prolificacy (never again!)

I've been thinking about Lleyns recently since a number of local folks keep them and seem to like them. Would you be willing to share your reasons as to why 'never again' MF? Thanks!

[lachlanandmarcus]

Our elderly neighbours bless the day they switched from Blackies and Suffolks to lleyns. Our vet has them too, tho he crosses some with our Shetlands too.

[Humblepie]

our vet has lleyns too.
someone on here breeds easy care sheep. their website is really good but i cant remember who it was. i think the emphasis is easy birthing and less hard feed etc hopefully they will come on and advise you.

[mab]

I've had easycare for just a few months so my answer is 'I don't know yet'  .

They certainly seem to be coping with the weather, and whatever grass is still growing - mine are a bit overweight I think  - but then it's not really been cold yet, so even at 700ft the grass is still growing a little.

I don't think you need to pick up the wool as they seem to shed individual hairs continuously all year rather than growing a full wool coat and then having it fall out in clumps - anytime I handle them I come away with a layer of white inch-long curls on my clothes. Mind you I've only had them since september.

The exception is the one I posted about a few days back who has lost some wool off of her rump - I've found odd bits of it here & there in the grass. I still don't know why but she's not lost anymore and still seems happy (I think it's started to grow back in - it's harder to see her skin now.

[Tim W]

I have 800 + wool shedding sheep and have kept them for many years
I get no problem with 'picking wool up in the field' and have never heard of this before. They have a short fleece that has a lot of hair , so the wool comes off in small blobs or in individual strands and then gets trodden into the sward /taken by the birds/blown off

Like all sheep how easycare they are will depend on your management skills/where you get the sheep from and how they have been bred /selected

Marketing them? Most smallholders I have dealt with prefer Wiltshire horns because they
1) Look good
2) Are a native breed
3) Tell a good story for direct marketing purposes
4) taste great!

Wiltshires are also great extensive grazers and love brambles etc

I assisted 3 animals at lambing last year (600 ewes + 200 ewe lambs) I never feed anything but grass and they live out all year with no shelter, so I would say that they can be as hardy as any other breed
I don't trim their feet or dag them or have many mineral problems


My shedders originated as lleyns and then had the wool bred off them with various wool shedding tups---Wilts/Dorpers/Barbados Black Bellies/Katahadins  etc

[Marches Farmer]

I've been thinking about Lleyns recently since a number of local folks keep them and seem to like them. Would you be willing to share your reasons as to why 'never again' MF? Thanks!

We bought 20 ewe lambs from a highly regarded local pedigree flock and put them to our Southdown tup as shearlings. Some scanned with quads but none ever managed to raise more than twins.  A couple in perfect condition, according to the vet, had massive prolapses without warning, leading to Caesarians.  He delivered one set of dead twins to a ewe with milk and live twins to a ewe without, but after the ewe with milk had dried up.  They were good mothers but the moment I entered the field all you saw was their tails disappearing into the distance.  Never did warm to them, especially after I paid the vet's bill!

[SteveHants]

I also have woolshedders and have never heard of all this 'picking wool off fences'. Maybe if you set stocked them really heavily June from a May lambing? Birds pick the wool up.


I know of at least one older farmer who loves them because they have enabled him to keep farming without breaking his back shearing/dagging/foot trimming.

[Humblepie]

we have kept self-shedding  borerays and hebridean sheep, and our neighbour has scottish blackface and in early summer all their thick fleece falls out in huge blobs, often trailing as they walk. it gets caught on wire, especially as the sheep try to rub themselves free of the fleece. we still have fleeces stuck to the barbed wire many years after the sheep left. we often sold the wool so we used to spend a long while collecting the wool. i think this is the reason why non-shedding genes were put into commercial sheep many years ago.

i now see self-shedding and easy care sheep are completely different. i didnt realise they actually had hair rather than thick fleeces. very interesting. 

btw has anyone trademarked the term yet - if not be quick 

[Marches Farmer]

I've been thinking about Lleyns recently since a number of local folks keep them and seem to like them. Would you be willing to share your reasons as to why 'never again' MF? Thanks!

Oh, and I forgot to mention that one of the Caesarian ewes jumped out of the pen when the vet turned to leave and died six hours later - presumably from an internal haemorrhage.

[Fishyhaddock]

Hi,
I totally agree with everything that Tim W says about the Wiltshire Horns. Also easily trained to the bucket if required!
Good luck.
Fishy

[Tim W]

I will add to my post about wilts horns, they have poor points too!

They have poor maternal qualities---if left to their own devises in a commercial environment
They will rear about 20 to 30% less lambs than my polled 'Exlana' shedders
They have horns which can be a pain up the backside (literally)