[YorkshireLass]

Hello 
I'm new here!
I work with a flock of Hebridean sheep and have received a few interesting suggestions / ideas to look into.
One of these ideas is to buy myself a tup, and lend him to my boss for the Hebridean ewes. First obvious question is in terms of money, what is the normal system? As in, would he literally be hired by the day/week? By the number of ewes? By the number of lambs produced? Hired for nothing, but get a proportion of the money from the sale of the lambs?
In terms of welfare, grazing and care is not a problem. But generally would a new tup get along with a resident tup if they were kept together outside the breeding season? I'd expect the odd squabble of course. Would it be easier if the new tup was a young lad? Would I have to consider horned vs polled breed (the resident is of course horned but I'm thinking of a polled breed for the new tup)?
What age is good to buy a tup? I'm not concerned with a prime show specimen, as I'd be cross-breeding. But health and temperament are vital, and of course he has to be fit for the job! He'd go with experienced ewes, so a first-timer shouldn't be a problem. Would a shearling be too young? Or is that the normal age to start work?

Sorry for all the silly questions, but I'd hate to miss something that would affect my decision!
Thank you so much for any advice!!

[morri2]

Hello!  I'm no expert, but in my opinion, and I do keep rams - 12 at the moment...I would think it always adviseable to keep at least two together, but I was under the impression (and other members of this site might want to correct me on this if I'm wrong) that it was not a good idea to keep polled and horned rams together as the horned ram as an advantage over the polled ram and could injure him in a squabble, or even a play fight, which rams, particularly young ones, do a lot!  Shearlings would be fine - I've had a naughty ram lamb of 6 months old escaping and mating with a neighbour's ewes before now (not my fence incidently).  I'm afraid you'll have to take pot luck on temprement - they are all different - see some of the previous posts on this section of the site.  Good luck. 

[Fergie]

Hello,

I also keep Hebrideans, as well as Soays.

I have a "boys field" with three tups & two wethers at present.  Tups & wethers together are fine, but two tups will fight, while three tend not to - they just reach an agreement not to fight! (one against two will never win & they seem to know it)   It would be unkind to keep a single tup on his own - they are flock animals.  One will always be dominant however, but that just means he pushes the others out of the way for food.  All my sheep are horned, but I think Morri2 is correct about mixing polled & non polled.

Hebridean tups are fairly low priced, under sixty pounds unless show winners.  Usually you would wait until his second year for breeding, but sometimes ram lambs know best & just jump the fence!  Hebridean temperament is gentle, but I wouldn't trust him when in season.

Good luck & let us know how you get on,

John

[cairnhill]

hi

I have two Hebridean Tups.   Father and Son.   Dad is  Registered with HSS and his son can be registered as both parents are.  I will be selling both as will need non-related breedings stock for next year.   Will be looking for breeding homes for both.  They are handsome and two horned.  Not for slaughter.  Anyone interested can get in touch [email protected].