[Me]

Plus if I have to look at a meat-breed tup, the blue Texels are slightly less ugly than average.

Had leg of Charmoise for dinner last night - it didn't taste ugly - it tasted beautiful! 

[Hellybee]

thank you all very much, i only say about the charollais under lamps as one of our neighbours had a bit of a time of it getting them up and running lol

so what is the chamoise?? a charollais crossed with what?

i appreciate good conformation be it pony or sheep.    i want excellent well balanced limbs that therefore allow for well balanced feet/hooves, good heartroom, excellent backends, tailset and hindleg.

are the blus texels narrower through the brow?

yes, i am asking myself, why dont we get more lleyns. 

oh decisions, decisions lol x 

[SallyintNorth]

they don't have such big heads as the British white Texels, so easier lambing

Once you're into Texels, IMO the size of the head is irrelevant.  I've never had a Texel x lamb whose head was the largest part.  The shoulders are larger and the hips can be larger still.  Which is why we select tups with narrow shoulders and not overly double-muscled backsides.

One big difference I have found coming to BH's farm and working with Texel types over my experiences on the moorland farm with Swales and Mules as mothers to Swale, Blue-faced Leicester and Texel and Beltex tups is that when helping a mum to lamb a Texel, the meaty-type mums pretty much always need both legs forward whereas the roomier Swales and Swaley Mules would often be able to lamb with one front leg back.  So again - it's the shoulders that are the sticking point.

[Ladygrey]

so what is the chamoise?? a charollais crossed with what?

A Charmoise is its own breed, it isnt crossed with anything, full name is Charmoise Hill Sheep

They are older than a charollais and they helped form the charollais breed (according to websites)

The Charmoise hill sheep website is down for some reason but this has some good info on them
http://bramcotemain.wordpress.com/charmoise-sheep-sales/

The ewes are short and wide, weigh around 55-60kgs, the rams weigh around 80kgs
Wool is very good quality and they are nice tempered sheep, the lambs are known for extremely easy lambing, they are born very tiny with teeny tiny heads and shoulders and then they grow like weeds from the moment they are born

You should go and visit "Me" if he is close to you and have a look at his if you are interested, mine are on downland grass that grows faster than they can eat so may look different to the ones that are up free ranging in the hills of "Me's" farm

Below is the photo of Charmoise sired lleyn cross lambs (taken from the charmoise sheep breeders facebook group)



And this is a photo of my pure bred charmoise lambs at 5 weeks of age

[Hellybee]

MMM liking the chamoise cross lleyn!

[Ladygrey]

A couple of photos of my Charmoise ewes



A ewe showing her nice bag



Lambs at 3 and a half weeks old

[Me]

I will be selling the Charmoise x Lleyn at Cardigan again this year so you could virtually roll out of bed and see what they go for if you are interested!

[Hellybee]

When are you putting them through?    we tend to go Crymych

[Me]

Go to your bedroom window, look out with binoculars, they are mine, no not those they are yours, right a bit, yes them. Alternatively its the ones in the truck shown in the photo higher up the page with green marker on them

We have sold a few rams in your area (some of these people sell through Cardigan and Crymych) maybe you know some of them and can ask them how they got on?

Buy a Charmoise and start selling at Cardigan instead of Crymych!

[SallyintNorth]

According to Wikipedia, the Charmoise breed was developed in the middle 19th century in the centre of France  by crossing imported Romney sheep from United Kingdom to ewes from local breeds (Merino, Berrichon, Solognot.)

If any are about up this way, or get sold through Carlisle, I think we will be going to have a look-see

[Me]

You may get David selling from Bramcote Mains up your way but not many are making the trip

[Ladygrey]

On my first look-see I came away with three in lamb ewes and a ram lamb 

I was pleasantly surprised by how feminine and pretty the ewes were, I dont know why but I was prepared to find them much more ugly and piglike than they were in the flesh, but they had pretty girly faces with white hair and the softest loveliest fleeces
I am also suprised at how easy they are to handle, I hand sheared mine which took forever due to my lack of practice and they literately fell asleep during the shearing  they are my only welsh sheep and they are my easiest to handle and tamest! dont know how that works 

Hopefully you get to see some somehow as they really are lovely

[Hellybee]

Me are you in Verwig then or closeby?

Mmm i prefer the set up of crymych x

[Me]

Ok so I'm not that close, you would need good binoculars! But I'm not far the nearest I have sheep to you is Pentregat and we are South of Synod Inn just off the main road. Its a pain dropping off at Cardigan isn't it? Crymych is easier

Hand shearing Ladygrey?? Tough woman. If I didn't have clippers I would try a pallet load of Veet hair removal cream before hand shears!

[Tim W]

http://www.baber.co.uk/

Go see this guy for fit/grass fed/performance selected terminal sires ---you won't be disappointed

Texel/Suffolk and SufTex rams---they are not fed anything but grass , they produce lambs that get up and go and subsequently put on weight on grass alone
They are nothing like the tex or Suf rams you will find at the sales