YES!! Finally managed to catch the rest of the lambs to worm them!
Lots of interesting and helpful discussion - thanks folks!
To address the points in turn, yes it's a shame if we decide not to keep a rare breed, especially one that's been in the family for ages. Our hope had been that we might take on my Aunt's flock when she finally gives up, and given that there aren't any other keepers on Scotland (or so the breed society tell me), it did seem like a good move to have a wee population up here as a safeguard in case the worst happened down south.
However, I can only stretch that so far TBH, and since I wouldn't sell ours except to somebody who knew what they were taking on, mutton looks like the kindest (and tastiest) option.
in this particular case I feel that {cross breeding} is a waste for same reason that Womble does.
Actually I don't have any qualms about cross breeding.
I wouldn't cross breed the Z ewes, but that's because the pure bred lambs are a good size anyway, and good pure ewes will have value as breeding stock. Also, we couldn't source another Manx tup this year, so put the Manx ewes to a Shetland tup lamb with no regrets. Likewise next year I'll happily run Alice with Ace, provided nobody convinces me that that's physically a bad idea (The Zwartbles lambs are born all legs and with narrow shoulders, so I do think it'll be ok).
Alice is not stealing space from a Z for another year or two, and if she gives us some good butcher's lambs in the meantime, as Sally says, she's earning her keep.
And not all the girls will be good enough to breed from.
That's a good point too, that I haven't really resolved wrt the Z's: What do people do with perfectly good, but mis-marked Z ewes? Do they have any value outside pedigree flocks, or are they best sent for meat? Again, I have no qualms about eating them, but I do wonder if that's the only answer?
Good discussion folks - keep it coming!
