[mcd]

I have the chance of putting a Manx ram to some mixed commercial ewes this weekend. Would he be able to reach in order to do the job so to speak?

[verdifish]

When the girls are ready he will be able !!!

[Fleecewife]

Oh he'll manage     and he won't even need a bucket to stand on 

[devonlady]

Where there's a will(y) there's a way

[Womble]

^ I think that's what you all said to me when I was similarly worried three weeks ago. Current indications are that you were absolutely right, too! 

[mcd]

Fantastic news. Can't wait to see how the lambs will compare to the pure breed.

[Anke]

Fantastic news. Can't wait to see how the lambs will compare to the pure breed.

They will be smaller and slower growing. When I used a white Shetland tup on texel type cross ewes, the offspring made good lightweight lambs for the Xmas market (30 to 35kgs, some where 3/4 Shetland too). Our local mart has special sales on in December, and they usually made good price (obviously not as much as a "proper" fat lamb). If you have the hay for overwinter, they do sell well as hoggets, but I would castrate all the males to allow running all lambs together through the winter.

Fleeces will be interesting if you keep until the summer after...

[Marches Farmer]

Lambs will be a good six weeks "behind" your commercials, but should be robust and quick to suckle.

[Anke]

Oh, and lambing should be less trouble, as lambs will be smaller and more vigorous than your average suffolk or texel lamb.

[SallyintNorth]

I wanted to give Rosie Mule a soft year; she always has twins (always Texel x to date) and always puts everything into them, and she has a lovely temperament though not the softest of fleeces, so I decided to pop her with Chad, the Shetland tup lamb, and see if he could manage.

I made the mistake of introducing them in a large flat field, which afforded me much entertainment for twenty minutes    but I wished I'd taken her to an uneven area, where it would have been easier for them to find a spot where Chad could stand on higher ground

I don't yet know whether he accomplished his mission - he was certainly finding the target, but you could tell from his behaviour that he just needed a little bit more reach for the grand finale.   

However, he has stamina, determination and no little intelligence, so I was sure he'd work something out.  My favourite attempt while I was watching was where he gave a little tum-forward jump at the crucial moment - just like those fellas who bump tums in greating or celebration.     

I don't think it quite worked, and he didn't try that move again, but the ground they are on has that flat field then a slope down to a rougher field, and that leads to the riverbank with lots of variations on height.  So he achieved his goal at some point that day.

If she's a-tupping again on 9th Dec, I'll chase 'em to the riverbank myself!   

[fsmnutter]

We put our Hebridean tup across our two texel x mule pet lambs as ewe lambs last year.
Dolly we think aborted  but Molly had a fantastic pair of ewe lambs, born in April, they were about 35 kg by August in time for Turriff show, where they won 4th prize in the pen of ewe and twin lambs.
Lovely easy lambing, but they've grown just fine, and they would have gone away fat quite easily, but we've kept them for breeding.

[Bramblecot]

A neighbour brings her 2 Texel ewes to us for tupping.  Rambo (sorry ) our Shetland has no trouble covering them .  The twin lambs were sold in mid-Dec. last year to a local butcher who pronounced them excellent - lean and a reasonable size.  She has already sold the twins from this year.  All raised on grass and hay.

[Anke]

I wanted to give Rosie Mule a soft year; she always has twins (always Texel x to date) and always puts everything into them, and she has a lovely temperament though not the softest of fleeces, so I decided to pop her with Chad, the Shetland tup lamb, and see if he could manage.

I made the mistake of introducing them in a large flat field, which afforded me much entertainment for twenty minutes    but I wished I'd taken her to an uneven area, where it would have been easier for them to find a spot where Chad could stand on higher ground

I don't yet know whether he accomplished his mission - he was certainly finding the target, but you could tell from his behaviour that he just needed a little bit more reach for the grand finale.   

However, he has stamina, determination and no little intelligence, so I was sure he'd work something out.  My favourite attempt while I was watching was where he gave a little tum-forward jump at the crucial moment - just like those fellas who bump tums in greating or celebration.     

I don't think it quite worked, and he didn't try that move again, but the ground they are on has that flat field then a slope down to a rougher field, and that leads to the riverbank with lots of variations on height.  So he achieved his goal at some point that day.

If she's a-tupping again on 9th Dec, I'll chase 'em to the riverbank myself!   

You should have just told her to take her high heels off.... 

My Shetland always managed the "big" girls fine.

[mcd]

Easy lambing is exactly what I need being in work full time. But can still market the lambs as rare breed too!

[Fleecewife]

I wanted to give Rosie Mule a soft year; she always has twins (always Texel x to date) and always puts everything into them, and she has a lovely temperament though not the softest of fleeces, so I decided to pop her with Chad, the Shetland tup lamb, and see if he could manage.

I made the mistake of introducing them in a large flat field, which afforded me much entertainment for twenty minutes    but I wished I'd taken her to an uneven area, where it would have been easier for them to find a spot where Chad could stand on higher ground

I don't yet know whether he accomplished his mission - he was certainly finding the target, but you could tell from his behaviour that he just needed a little bit more reach for the grand finale.   

However, he has stamina, determination and no little intelligence, so I was sure he'd work something out.  My favourite attempt while I was watching was where he gave a little tum-forward jump at the crucial moment - just like those fellas who bump tums in greating or celebration.     

I don't think it quite worked, and he didn't try that move again, but the ground they are on has that flat field then a slope down to a rougher field, and that leads to the riverbank with lots of variations on height.  So he achieved his goal at some point that day.

If she's a-tupping again on 9th Dec, I'll chase 'em to the riverbank myself!   

Sally, I think you need another hobby - all that time on your own is getting to you