[Ladygrey]

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!

My electric shears werent working properly, and I struggle with the size and weight (1.6kgs) of the handset, I can hand clip a sheep just as short and neat as the electric clippers, just takes longer and hurts for a few days after

[langfauld easycare]

  hi i have easycare ewes i tupped the bottomend end with a beltex .heavyer lambs at birth but were much slower to get going . pure easycare were up in seconds ,beltex x took good 5-10 mins. fancy a new zeland suffolk this year ,or a hampshire but just read some posts here they can be slow to    .

[Me]

What is fast or slow? anyone got the data? I felt a Charmoise ewe lamb had been really quick  to get up and go and re-wound cctv to time her and from hitting the floor to both up and successfully suckling the teat was 2 mins 30 exact, I thought this was very fast (it seemed good!) but is it? What is fast?

[Ladygrey]

I too would be interested in the national average, or how long it actually is when people say "quick to get up and suck"

my lambs sired by the hampshire down cross charollais must have taken maybe 5 mins to get up, one lay flat for maybe 10 mins before he tried, they look lovely and big now but still no where near as lively as the rest, this might be quick to some people I suppose and im comparing them to more sprightly hill breeds...

my lambs by the charmoise and shetland took around 2 mins, shetlands im sure are born running, had to catch and tag asap before they ran off into the distance

[langfauld easycare]

What is fast or slow? anyone got the data? I felt a Charmoise ewe lamb had been really quick  to get up and go and re-wound cctv to time her and from hitting the floor to both up and successfully suckling the teat was 2 mins 30 exact, I thought this was very fast (it seemed good!) but is it? What is fast?

most of my pure easycares be up well within a minute .outdoor no cctv  .  one i watched lambing it hit the ground suffled round on its knees ,ewe turned a bit and it was sooking would have been 20 seconds max ,still on its knees . about 3 years ago flock was almost 50/50 easycare and x the other half charollais and xwas not sure which way to go. we had a real cold sleety wet lambing time !!!!..................they are nearly all easycare now 

[Hellybee]

thats what i like to hear 2 and half mins that s brilliant going!! 

my idea of slow is lots of nursing and lights to get them stoked!


Sally i see your point the head always being narrower than the shoulder,   i dunno i still dont like the look of them, they look too short in the jaw for me (can tell im a pony person....cant stand short heads  in ponies neither lol )

thank you again all for your imput, im sure bazzais will cast his eye over the thread, its good to hear all your two penneth    

 

[Hellybee]

sooking.... one of the most beautiful words ever ahhhh x

[Hellybee]

so the easy care (please excuse my stupidity) when do they tend to shed ?

seconds... 1 minute........., ours (the naturals, old hands etc) are pretty quick  but under 2.5 mins ..or  seconds... i like it

[Tim W]

Speed /time of wool shedding is effected by various factors

1) genetic---they have the ability to shed
2) Environmental---weather/temp----as spring comes along they start shedding
3) Sheep condition/stress---barren hogs tend to shed first, then ewes with singles, then those with twins etc
A poorly/sick ewe will not shed wel

I wool scored the hogs last week (score how well they have shed as a %age) and the average was about 60%)
Wool scoring enables us to breed from the earliest and best shedders

There are plenty of different wool shedders about--wiltshires/easycares/dorpers (not so good at shedding) /exlanas etc

[Hellybee]

Thank you Tim, thats fascinating,  tell me more about the Dorper, what are theyre qualities, good and bad .

[Tim W]

Dorper

Good fleshing/growth rates and nice carcase
Poor shedding compared to wilts/exlana/easycare etc
Terrible feet---they are bred for a dry arid climate and suffer terribly in UK. I used 2 rams in a breeding program (3800 ewes) and I can say that for the next 3 years any animal that was lame had a 90%+ chance of being from one of these Dorper rams

[Hellybee]

No good for us then, we are pretty wet here judging by the last few winters. we are on a headland and we get it all!

Whats the exlana?

[Tim W]

Exlana is a composite shedding breed, with an emphasis on performance recording, heavy culling/selection and breeding for results, not pretty faces  ---'Genetics not cosmetics'

We started with recorded woolly sheep (usually from the top 10% of the recorded breed) and then bought in top shedding genetics from around the world. Wiltshires, Katahadins, Barbados Black Belly, Easycare etc
The lambs are all weighed at birth , 8 weeks, 20 weeks etc . back fat and muscle scanned. Additionally we breed for worm resistance , doing about 1000 individual FEC counts every year. Things like lamb vigour and wool shedding, foot scoring, lambing ease are also recorded for all ewes (5200 in the breeding program at the moment) ---all this is fed into a BLUP evaluation (big statistical engine!) and we select on results
we are also involved in on going research--current projects include trying to identify genetic markers associated with worm resistance, wool shedding genetics  & use of FEC EBVs to reduce anthelmintic use

Try www.provensheddingsheep.co.uk or www.sig.uk.com

[SallyintNorth]

What is fast or slow? anyone got the data? I felt a Charmoise ewe lamb had been really quick  to get up and go and re-wound cctv to time her and from hitting the floor to both up and successfully suckling the teat was 2 mins 30 exact, I thought this was very fast (it seemed good!) but is it? What is fast?

You forgot this, "Me" - 

[Me]

Me isn't as as fast as Me used to be! I think if you can't even imagine a lamb up in 2 mins 30 its time to change tup!