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Author Topic: Tup thoughts: input please!  (Read 6712 times)

Hevxxx99

  • Joined Sep 2012
Tup thoughts: input please!
« on: April 03, 2016, 04:18:05 pm »
Thinking ahead here: what breed would people recommend as a terminal sire? 

Needs to be reasonably hardy as my fields are somewhat exposed on the North Yorks Moors and preferably not too prone to flystrike.  I haven't had a problem with it before now, but live in fear.  I'd prefer a docile British breed really and one that won't give my girls too much problem when giving birth!  I've got a nice crossbred tup at the moment. Well, more of a mongrel really, and he's produced some lovely lambs for us this year, but if I'm keeping his daughters, I need another.

My other thinking is to get something to produce a breeding ewe - a type of mule I guess - and was wondering about a Zwartbles or Llyen and BFL would wither a die come the first winter. Anyone got any knowledge of either breed?

Backinwellies

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  • Joined Sep 2012
  • Llandeilo Carmarthenshire
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Re: Tup thoughts: input please!
« Reply #1 on: April 03, 2016, 05:27:19 pm »
What breed are your girls?
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Hevxxx99

  • Joined Sep 2012
Re: Tup thoughts: input please!
« Reply #2 on: April 03, 2016, 06:47:22 pm »
This year's lambs are a bit of a mishmash: mostly Mule x crossbred tup, who is Cheviot/Texel/Swaledale I believe. Some are Swaledale x and I'm expecting a few pure Swaledale lambs soon. 

The ewes are therefore Mules and Swaledales. 

GlebeFieldFarm

  • Joined Jul 2013
Re: Tup thoughts: input please!
« Reply #3 on: April 03, 2016, 07:00:03 pm »
I use a southdown tup on cheviot mules achieving U3L when slaughtered  :thumbsup:

No lambing problems and fast growing.
« Last Edit: April 03, 2016, 09:13:24 pm by GlebeFieldFarm »

Womble

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Stirlingshire, Central Scotland
Re: Tup thoughts: input please!
« Reply #4 on: April 03, 2016, 07:12:59 pm »
To my knowledge, most Zwartbles cross breeding so far has been putting other tups onto Zwartbles ewes rather than the other way around. There is a little information on the breed society website here though.

I'd prefer a docile British breed really and one that won't give my girls too much problem when giving birth!

Docile - Check!
Easy lambing - Check!
British? - Nee, ik ben bang van niet!  ;D
"All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once." -Terry Pratchett

Hevxxx99

  • Joined Sep 2012
Re: Tup thoughts: input please!
« Reply #5 on: April 03, 2016, 07:34:51 pm »
Ah... Yes.. Good point. (Darn)

Womble

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Stirlingshire, Central Scotland
Re: Tup thoughts: input please!
« Reply #6 on: April 03, 2016, 08:48:23 pm »
Bl**dy foreigners, coming over here with their fancy stripes and socks to steal our women! ;)
"All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once." -Terry Pratchett

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Tup thoughts: input please!
« Reply #7 on: April 03, 2016, 09:19:50 pm »
Not only is the Zwartbles furrin, but they're reputed to have less than brilliant feet - which probably makes them inappropriate for moorland.

There's at least one breeder of Border Leicesters in Yorkshire.  The breed is now rare, but was called 'the great improver' and should certainly be able to withstand your area.  I don't know about propensity to fly strike though; they are very woolly.

Otherwise, what about a Cheviot?  The lambs would be born small but would grow and grow and grow.  Not a fast crop, but a good one.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Buttermilk

  • Joined Jul 2014
Re: Tup thoughts: input please!
« Reply #8 on: April 03, 2016, 09:50:39 pm »
My three zwartbles tups have lived out with only hedges for shelter and nothing but grass all winter.  All three have stayed sound and survived. 

Hevxxx99

  • Joined Sep 2012
Re: Tup thoughts: input please!
« Reply #9 on: April 03, 2016, 09:53:16 pm »
I love the looks of both the Cheviot and the Border Leicester. When I can afford it, I may well go for the Border Leicester.

I read about Clun Forest as being tough sheep: anyone know anything about them?

perkhar

  • Joined Sep 2015
Re: Tup thoughts: input please!
« Reply #10 on: April 03, 2016, 10:05:28 pm »
I'd stick with a continental tup or Suffolk to produce faster growing lambs seen as you have a mule of sorts!

crobertson

  • Joined Sep 2015
Re: Tup thoughts: input please!
« Reply #11 on: April 03, 2016, 10:21:38 pm »
I'm hoping to use a zwartble on my texel shearlings this year, easier lambing and produces lambs of top carcass quality.

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Tup thoughts: input please!
« Reply #12 on: April 03, 2016, 10:23:47 pm »
Well, whatever you do decide, please let us know how you get on!
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Hevxxx99

  • Joined Sep 2012
Re: Tup thoughts: input please!
« Reply #13 on: April 03, 2016, 10:40:56 pm »
I will do. I can feel a list of "pro's and con's" coming on...

My desire to avoid the continental terminal sires is because they all see to have very large heads (and bums) so harder to lamb unaided.  Maybe I'm just tarring them all with the same brush? Also,  I don't have the good quality grazing to support fast growth - I think it'd be described as marginal - so I'd have to heavily supplement the diet to keep up with their growth. I don't have enough sheep to be commercially competative, so slower growing, traditional and tasty would be more my market, especially as I am a mutton enthusiast!

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Tup thoughts: input please!
« Reply #14 on: April 03, 2016, 11:11:04 pm »
If you can do slower-growing on grass then Cheviot or other native breed would be very suitable, I'd have thought.  I've no personal experience of Cheviot tups, though, as to whether they are docile or not.  [member=28984]mowhaugh[/member] might be able to comment.

I don't know what Ellie Stokeld charges for her Border Leicester tup lambs, but they don't send anything away fat, so she must have some to sell that aren't 'top drawer' but would be fine for your job...  :innocent:


Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

 

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