Just thought I'd check the hive mind here.
We're hiring a Romney tup this year
A Heb for the little first-timers but ideally we'll use the Romney for the rest.
The objective is to up the size of the fleece sheep whilst retaining the positive characteristics - fleece, of course, and good feet, trouble-free lambing, good mothering, rearing on grass.
For definite, the Romney will be getting the black Wensleydale, one of the two remaining Zwartbles (the other to the Heb out of interest to compare the two lots of lambs, and because the Zwartbles are actually a little bit
too big for us) and two Shetland x BFL. I'm dithering about the Manx.
In theory, the Manx' wide pelvis (I'm not making that up, am I? They have a wide pelvis like the Shetland?) should mean she won't have lambing problems even if the lambs are larger than she's used to. But our (limited) experience thus far is that lamb size at birth is predominantly determined by the ewe's size rather than the tup's - so the lambs likely won't be huge anyway, at birth.
So my head is saying I should try Dot Cotton (the Manx) and at worst, she may get a bit of a saggy belly if the lambs are bigger than she's used to.
I also have a pure Shetland and a Manx x Shetland but I'm nervous about putting all three little sheep (all experienced but to a Shetland tup each time thus far) to the Romney until we know what his lambs are like.
Carrie (the Shetland) is very precious to me, so I don't want to risk her until we've had a go. Dulcie Grey (the cross) could be the 'experiment', but it's Dot Cotton whose lambs grow on the best, and her own fleece isn't particularly wonderful so I've less justification for giving her a rest year!
Thoughts? Experiences to share?