[Azzdodd]

Well my little girl loves black sheep an I've been looking for her own 'little flock' for a few weeks now an on Monday we went an bought 4 balwen ewes an 1 balwen X Welsh ewe (all black) they are all full mouth but friendly enough an pretty little things.

My question is has anybody crossed them with a more commercial breed to produce better confirmation?

all my lambs born here got direct to slaughter

I currently have a Texel ram who I use on my cross bred ewes would I use him or to big?

I don't really want to buy another ram an do have access to a few others 1 being a polled Dorset an the other a zwarble.

Any suggestions welcome

[Marches Farmer]

I keep Badger Face Welsh Mountain and put them to one of my Southdown rams every other year, to give me a commercial-type cross to sell as stores at market.  This improves the carcase and growth rate of the pure bred BF but doesn't give any lambing problems.  A Ryeland or any of the other Down breeds would probably have the same effect.  Of the breeds you mention I'd go for the Poll Dorset.

[roddycm]

I have a friend who has a few black welsh amongst her commercials and they all go to texal, suffolk and dorset rams without any problems at all. The girls will have smaller lambs but they will grow very nicely! enjoy!

[silkwoodzwartbles]

I'm a tad biased but would go for the Zwartbles tup, if for no other reason than if your daughter likes black sheep, she may be disappointed to get all white lambs off her black ewes...

We put a Berrichon on 3 Welsh/Zwartbles ewes (all black with some white markings) last year and ended up with 3 pure white lambs, 1 with Zwartbles markings and one that looks like a goat - I can't even begin to describe the colours (my OH is horrified by him )

Another benefit to the Zwartbles tup is that the lambs tend to be pretty narrow and easy to birth, but grow well  - and Zwartbles meat (even the cross breds) is lovely

[Azzdodd]

All the ewes have lambed to a balwen tup for the last 3 years so they should be well relaxed in that area....thanks for suggestions I think I'm going to go for the Dorset over them an hopefully will get some lambs with some colour in them and a Wooley face ?

[silkwoodzwartbles]

Be interesting to see what you do get, genetics are fascinating. We put the same Berrichon ram on a Shropshire ewe and her two lambs look the same as everyone else's (white, short tight fleece, Berrichon-like face). We were expecting them to at least be a little woollier.

[Azzdodd]

I think that's what I'm most interested about the outcome. We have a Jacob X zwarble ewe an she goes to the texel tup every year her lamb is as white as snow

[TheSmilingSheep]

Our main flock are Balwens, but we have a few Katmoget Shetlands, who we crossed this year with the Balwen ram...  Looks like the shetland genes won out - eight foxy looking lambs, from silver to caramel, to cream to nutmeg to splotchy!  Enjoy the adventure....

[waterbuffalofarmer]

have you thought of trying blue texel? I know someone who breeds them and theyre phenominal animals, he has won prizes for them too and their carcases are outstanding.

[Azzdodd]

I have seen the blue texel but don't feel like it would give anymore benefits then my pure texel other than black lambs really. I decided to share them in half some to the Dorset some to my texel an see which I prefer next year :-)

[Womble]

We have a Jacob X zwarble ewe an she goes to the texel tup every year her lamb is as white as snow

That's interesting. I thought first Jacob crosses always came out black (or did I get that wrong?), so a white lamb from the second cross is interesting, especially since I believe Zwartbles-Texel crosses are also usually black.

We have possibly the world's first ever Zanx Loaghwart lambs this year (Manx Loaghtan ewe to Zwartbles tup). They came out all black, polled we think, and are growing nicely. I'll report back properly in a few months time, but it's definitely one we're going to do again.

[Azzdodd]

I didn't breed her so couldn't know for sure just the person I bought her off....I've also got a Jacob there who goes to the texel 2 black lambs every year once with a white sock that's it

Them other should be nice lambs :-)