[kris]

 looking to see what rams  people are using  and have used and how they  got on with them?
 i have  use texle  - great shape lambs  didnt grow as  fast as i would have liked
  texle cross Charolais  good cross small lambs at birth  quicker growth  than  pure tex  slow at the start
 suffolks  - good size lambs grow well   found them  hardy  at birth
 beltex  big heads at birth   i found them to  grow  slow but fantastic shape

 i want to  try, well  im going to  oxford down ram the  rare  breed  ive researched them  for a while  and i know some one who breeds them  they are huge sheep  and wow the grow fast  they  get there lambs from birth to finish wieght  of 42kg between  12-16 weeks of age  off good quality  pasture  and a Small amount creep

 has anyone else  used them  ?

[Hillview Farm]

I put my Suffolk mules and a few others to my charollais ram and they are away at 12weeks On average  grass alone.  Killing out perfectly weight wise with a good amount of fat. Even a Shetland cross charollais was fantastic!

lambs all quick to feed and hardy.

[Me]

Lleyn ram on the good Lleyn ewes, Charmoise on the others, Charmoise on the Charmoise 

[trish.farm]

Romney ram on Romney ewes and all the others, (mixture of everything!).  All lambs away at around 7 months, fantastic carcasses.  Lovely skins to get tanned.  Used a Hampshire down ram last year for the first time, great carcasses, skins not so good and had to pull a lot of lambs.  Back to my Romney this year.  also Romney rams very docile, not too big, easy to handle.

[Marches Farmer]

Southdown bred pure and also on Badger Face.  Rareley have to pull a SD, never a BF.  Excellent carcase on both and up and suckling within minutes. 

[Castle Farm]

Lleyn rams on Lleyn ewes produces a first class lamb that finishes on grass.


Easy lambers, loads of milk. Lambs look to get up and survive.


No wonder they are gaining in popularity.

[waterbuffalofarmer]

I'm currently using a pure, pedigree Lleyn ram, the guy I bought him from measures the Carcass index and takes the breeding very seriously. The lambs he has produced were ready at 3-4 months old, off grass, and the lambs didn't need any concentrates at all, were very strong and lively from birth and grew perfectly, had hardly any cases of pulling lambs and very few triplets. All in all a really good lambing. Am really looking forward to lambing next year It really depends on how good the ram is, how he has been bred and so forth, which am sure you all know. I bred from Charolais a few years back, even when I crossed them with Lleyn the meat was horrible, fine the lambs grew fast, but I am looking for quality over quantity (to that end I decided to breed pure Lleyn). I have found welsh x Lleyn has been very good meat, very sweet and tender. Suffolks, beltex, texels and Charolais, I have found, produce horrible meat, even just off good grass, lamb should be sweet and tender and not bland. 

[Rosemary]

Pure Ryeland. Eight tup lambs away last week averaged 26kg, range 23 - 29kg. No creep; lambed between 24th Match and about 5th April. I could have put them away amonth eariler I guess but they're all for private sale and a six month life seems reasonable to me.

[Hellybee]

Lleyn 

[RPF]

I'm trying a Charolais on my Southdowns and Oxford ewes. The outcome could be interesting.

[Remy]

I've experimented with many, but have normally used a pure Ryeland crossed with Charolais and commercial crosses/mules, have had some very good lambs, never give them creep, only grass.  I've not tried them myself so can't comment on taste.


This year I'm trying a Texel x Lleyn and Texel x Suffolk on my ewes, just for a change to see what transpires!

[littleacorn]

Oxfords are great! 

[bloomer]

Rocky the wonder shetland has 10 wives this year to service 9 shetland and 1Ryeland...   He's currently pacing the fenceline waiting for Thursday...

[Hillview Farm]

I'm trying a Charolais on my Southdowns and Oxford ewes. The outcome could be interesting.

I put some southdowns to my charollais this year and the lambs where amazing! Killed out beautifully and the carcass scored very well. I sent them for private kill and the slaughter house begged me to sell it to them for their shop!

[Me]

For less than it was worth? If not why not sell it and breed more?