[Bramham Wiltshire Horns]

We are looking at setting up a flock of one of the above

Any keepers have pros and cons

We would also like to be involved in a recording programme what's your thoughts

[farmers wife]

wilts are big and powerful plus have horns.  Im 5'2 and impossible to have strength I would ride them like ponies.  The rams are big big with the horns can be very tasty so beware.  calm you can leave the gate open and they will stay in the field.  Sort tail. Great lambs not huge and easy to lamb.  Have taken them straight off grass to kill - excellent conformity and fat. I like the wilts but the size is an issue for me.


Easycare are smaller and produce small lambs.  However. due to the Nelson in them they are escape artists and flighty.  Hard to train with the electric fence and need serious work to break them. Easy to lamb. I cant comment on the quality of the size and weights of the fat lambs as only really in 2nd yr.  When purchasing make sure they are the original breeding and have not be infiltrated by other breeds (seen texel) The rams need to also be of old breeding and have little wool.  In general good feet. Tail left intact.


Both great breeds but be weary of the size and weights of Wilts if you are petite or lack farm strength. Easycare are flighty and you can spend a lot of time chasing these.


Exlana is another easy type but I cant comment as these are kept by a few who are serious about record keeping.  I know very little about these.


Hope this helps.

[Tim W]

I've kept decent sized flocks of shedding sheep for over 25 years , my conclusions are;

Wilts are good for direct sales (great story & look good) but lack maternal traits---there is also a small show scene if you're into that . We had 240 ewes for many years aimed at direct sales (recorded them with Signet too)

Easycare has become a generic term for shedding sheep , not just a breed. Many people have bred their own shedding sheep from all sorts of bases. Consequently there are 45kg ewes bred from Shetlands and 120kg ewes bred from Suffolks --- so what you buy will depend on where you get them from
In general they are more of a commercial type and better maternally than the Wilts
I have had no more problems with escapee shedding sheep than woolly sheep

I now keep about 900 shedding ewes and record them to the hilt (growth/maternal/ultrasound fat/meat scanning/FEC/dag scores/tail length etc) ----we brand them as Exlana sheep through the SIG breeding company (3200 recorded ewes) , people generally use them to improve their shedding stock or to breed the wool off their woolly sheep
There are other people who record shedding sheep (although not on the scale that we do) ---I may be able to recommend someone close to you that records if you wanted ?

If you want to performance record through a BLUP program you need to have at least 30 lambs born every year to each sire and at least 2 (preferably more ) sires . Otherwise the statistics are pretty meaningless

[PK]

That's really informative as usual Tim. In my tiny flock of 10ish I find that the rate and cleanses of shedding varies. Do you find the same in your large flocks; is it something that you factor into your breeding programme?

[Bramham Wiltshire Horns]

Thanks for the replies I reckon we will go with the Wiltshire horns
And will contact the breed society

Thanks

[Bramham Wiltshire Horns]

wilts are big and powerful plus have horns.  Im 5'2 and impossible to have strength I would ride them like ponies.  The rams are big big with the horns can be very tasty so beware.  calm you can leave the gate open and they will stay in the field.  Sort tail. Great lambs not huge and easy to lamb.  Have taken them straight off grass to kill - excellent conformity and fat. I like the wilts but the size is an issue for me.


Easycare are smaller and produce small lambs.  However. due to the Nelson in them they are escape artists and flighty.  Hard to train with the electric fence and need serious work to break them. Easy to lamb. I cant comment on the quality of the size and weights of the fat lambs as only really in 2nd yr.  When purchasing make sure they are the original breeding and have not be infiltrated by other breeds (seen texel) The rams need to also be of old breeding and have little wool.  In general good feet. Tail left intact.


Both great breeds but be weary of the size and weights of Wilts if you are petite or lack farm strength. Easycare are flighty and you can spend a lot of time chasing these.


Exlana is another easy type but I cant comment as these are kept by a few who are serious about record keeping.  I know very little about these.


Hope this helps.

Its probably a good time to tell you I am a 34 year old except rugby player ha and far from a princess (allegedly)
The name refers to my niece ha

[Tim W]

That's really informative as usual Tim. In my tiny flock of 10ish I find that the rate and cleanses of shedding varies. Do you find the same in your large flocks; is it something that you factor into your breeding programme?

yes shedding rate varies and seems to be dependant on many things, first is of course having the genetic potential to shed & then the local environment (temperature/wet/daylight)
But then nutritional stress plays a bog part, typically empty ewes shed first along with those rearing singles. The twin and trips rearers take a bit longer to shed

We score shedding in lambs in the late summer and ewes in the late spring ---we can then select animals that shed their wool earlier and cleaner -----aiming for a clean hair coat rather than a woolly coat

[dixie]

I've always had a mixture suffolks, Jacobs and Heinz 57's, I bought 5 easy cares 3 years ago, my thoughts are: they are easy, self shedding, always clean, I dont fly spray them, I've never trimmed their feet, they lamb easily, although I've used a beltex ram, all singles this year and 1 or 2 I helped get the lamb out, they are good mothers, lots of milk. But they are flighty and still haven't become tame, mine are treated like pets and very tame. They've produced good sized, meaty lambs but I think that's the beltex, but yes they are definitely easy!

[Bramham Wiltshire Horns]

[member=29066]Tim W[/member] would you still have some contacts for the Wiltshire horns a bit further north
Thanks

[Tim W]

[member=29066]Tim W[/member] would you still have some contacts for the Wiltshire horns a bit further north
Thanks

Do my best  email me via my website and I will see if I can help

[Bramham Wiltshire Horns]

Thanks will do