[Ladygrey]

Hi there 

I thought I would put some photos up of my Chunky Monkies for anyone who doesnt know what a Charmoise is and some photos of the rest of the gang, I'm still waiting on 10 ewes to lamb, a couple look like they might pop tonight, the rest maybe over the weekend.

I have one ewe who when she lies down is showing a vaginal prolapse, not sure what to do as it doesnt show when she is stood up at all and she is due on the 3rd (tomorrow) just going to keep an eye out for ringwomb I think  she had a giant single last year which died and I think it damaged her insides maybe

I have 4 first timers in my barn as they may be in the lamb to the wrong ram (my fault) and there is no way on earth I could catch them in the field if they need help, the rest lamb outside, including 1 first timer whom I think will be fine if she gets a big lamb

My Charmoise lambs are growing like weeds, they havnt had any food or creep and the biggest now weighs just under 10kg at nearly 3 weeks of age, so very proud of them 
I will take them to my bigger field down the road this weekend with anything else that has lambed/has lambs to get some better grass.














Big boy!!!!

Moorit ewe, popping any day


Shetland ewes


Shetland and her twins, white one is behind her


Prolapse ewe


Next one to pop


Weirdo


Guess the cross? photo A


Guess the cross? photo B


Guess the cross? photo C



My fox/crow/anything guard


Enjoy

[Bionic]

Lovely pictures and yes your charmoise lambs look huge
I have absolutely no idea of the crosses so will leave that for the others to guess

[Me]

Don't need to do anything about the prolapse until/if it gets to spend more/all the time out than in. Nice choice of sheep by the way 

[Ladygrey]

Thanks Sally 

Well it appears that I got it wrong and the white shetland isnt the next to lamb, it seems that prolapse ewe is in labour now, I dont think I can call it a full prolapse as it doesnt really stick out at all, only shows pink when she lies down but not protruding past the opening, I did take a photo but its a bit gross to stick on here

Either way she can be retired next time to be a lawnmower for my mum

[Mammyshaz]

Lovely piccies. Your lambs are certainly big chunkies 
Love your crosses, whatever they have in them 

[smallflockshearing]

If nobody guesses you might not tell us...

A = Texel / Billy Idol Moorit cross ??
B = Moorit / Welsh Mountain cross ??
C = Spock BFWM / Shetland cross ??

That's my guess - so what are they?

[trish.farm]

The lamb in the first picture looks like a piglet!!  Very cute piglet!! 

I reckon you have a Romney or Coradale in A or B!!

[Ladygrey]

Good answers    but im afraid none of them are right :p

They are all out of a shetland ewe, each one has a different sire!!

A = Ryeland cross Shetland
B = Charollais cross Shetland
C = Hebridean cross Shetland

Charollais cross shetland is such a lovely sheep lovely size and shape with a stunning fleece

Ryeland cross shetland is the devil incarnate...... stroppiest cow in the world

[Victorian Farmer]

The next cross id do is texel they would make good size all the best

[jaykay]

I'm interested in your Ryeland cross - that might be what I use for my next tup, on my Shetlands, as I know a man with some Ryeland tup lambs (my dad!) and I could do with my lambs finishing faster than the pure Shetlands.

But: Do you have any market for the cross gimmers, apart from the butchers? And what is her fleece like?

[Ladygrey]

I bought lots of my ewes in lamb to a ryeland 2 years ago, I would never do the cross again, although they look similar to a southdown and are wide creatures

They grew really slowly, had no nice shape to them, they all inherited such an awful fleece, its all wirey hairy stuff thats no one wants, and out of all the shetland lambs they were the only ones with foot problems and the ones I had/have to pick up for limping

I only have one left, the one above in the photo, I sent 1 away last month, this one I dont think got in lamb (will have to wait and see) but I dont think I will keep her

Maybe other people had luck with ryeland cross shetlands but in comparing them to my others they were a bit soft and they didnt work well for me

The charollais cross shetland works lovely  stunning fleece, stunning shape, amazing growth rates 

This year I will have some lambing to a charollais cross hampshire down (might kick myself who knows, none have lambed to him yet) and some to a pure shetland, next year I am trying out my charmoise ram for small birth weight lambs which grow fast and have a nice shape 

[mowhaugh]

Thanks for sharing your lovely photos, I particularly like the ewe in photo B.

[jaykay]

That's really helpful LadyGrey, thank you. 'I think I'd better think it out again' - to quote Fagin!

I have a silly problem with things like Charollais, Beltex - I just don't like the look of them! Perhaps I could stand one tup, if he gave me such good lambs.....

[Ladygrey]

No problem

A ryeland cross shetland may just work perfectly fine for you!! I'm not saying they are all bad, they just didnt suit me at all and had horrid fleeces.

Yes I too dislike the look of the charollais and beltex, however the ram I borrowed was a lovely chap, he was small for a charollais and he threw lovely lambs, some of the lambs were too large and got stuck at the shoulders, this coming year I am using the charmoise ram as the lambs seem to shoot out when the ewe sneezes and hit the ground running, The charmoise cross shetland should make a lovely ewe as it should stay smaller than the charollais cross ewe will (and I prefer a slightly smaller ewe)

Photo is of a shetland ewe, her 5 week old lambs the other side of the hurdle and her 1 year old ryeland lamb waiting to be sheared inside the hurdles

[Ladygrey]

Baby lamb at 1 week old from last year