[Castle Farm]

I keep Lleyns and they are a very popular breed and highly thought of, even on the larger farms.

Not to big to handle. Lovely fleece (OH knitted a baby wrap for our new Grandaughter out of 1 of ours).

Very good milkers and easy lambers.
Lambs do well on grass and reach 40kg+ without hard feed.

I started with 6 yearling ewe lambs 7 years ago and bred them up to 80, selling the tup lambs for meat direct to slaughter and keeping the female lambs.

I cannot fault this breed and have never heard anyone run them down that knew what they were talking about.
Good pure or can be terminally sired with other breeds.

Much easier to sell than any of the 'smallholder' breeds.

www.llyensheep.com

[Bionic]

We have only had our sheep a couple of months and I didn't know how to start either. We looked at various breeds at the Welsh Spring show, where each breed stand told us theirs was the best  . I was lucky enough to buy Tim Tynes book at the show too.
In the end I decided on coloured Ryelands because I didn't want escape artists and liked their fleece for spinning.
I must say the girls are very well behaved and laid back and never attempt to get out.
Sally

[princesspiggy]

we started off with a mixed bunch of pedigree rare breeds as someone was giving up the idea of a rare breed park. we also got rare breeds from the market but ended up with poor quality sheep so sold them on and started again. the mistake we made was not buying reg stock, just birth-notifed cast offs so when we got more serious, we had to completely strart from scratch again.
we chose our favourite and had hebrideans for a while, now we have changed to borerays.
zwartbles are big, so u need to bear in mind their weight when turning them over.
u need to look at resell value , registered quality stock will hold its value,[size=78%] [/size]what type of land/grass u have so it suits ur sheep and u dont need to buy in hard feed. chosing a breed that interests u is half the fun tho. zwartbles are v striking to look at., there is a flock near here and look lovely.


goodluck.

[Blacksheep]

Minibn, if you are still interested in Zwartbles you would be welcome to visit our flock and find out a bit more about them, we are based in South Shropshire (obviously no obligation to purchase). They are a lovely breed to own due to their good looks and  friendly natures, can be a bit addictive though!  Regarding size, the show sheep tend to be getting bigger and bigger(too big!), and we would only select our larger lambs for the showring,  however they are by no means all massive and we have a range of sizes in our flock. One advantage of a slightly larger or commercial breed is that the slaughter lambs reach a good size and are ready for the freezer before the winter sets in.
Good luck with the breed you decide to go with

[SteveHants]

I keep Lleyns and they are a very popular breed and highly thought of, even on the larger farms.

Not to big to handle. Lovely fleece (OH knitted a baby wrap for our new Grandaughter out of 1 of ours).

Very good milkers and easy lambers.
Lambs do well on grass and reach 40kg+ without hard feed.

I started with 6 yearling ewe lambs 7 years ago and bred them up to 80, selling the tup lambs for meat direct to slaughter and keeping the female lambs.

I cannot fault this breed and have never heard anyone run them down that knew what they were talking about.
Good pure or can be terminally sired with other breeds.

Much easier to sell than any of the 'smallholder' breeds.

www.llyensheep.com

Funnily, I have - there seem to be a few strains of Lleyn about, some people seem to think they are flighty, but having kept them for the past year, this observation puzzles me.


I cannot reccomend them highly enough, if you like wool (I'm breeding that off mine). Easy lambing, milky mothers, will raise trips on lowland pasture. This year, I had 40 to lamb, I had to help one.

[colliewoman]

There is the hillend flock of shetties near here, it's where my girls came from and I'll pm you details if you want them


Oh i'm in Somerset

[Mallows Flock]

Donna...
Ahhh...you must have got your babies from the lovely Lesley! Mine were from her too... in fact... picking up another 3 on Thursday afternoon! They have produced some cracking lambs and putting the ram to my charollias created some absolutely FABULOUS meat lambs! I rate Lesley highly tho pretty scared stupid about her sheep being my competitors in the Midsomerset Show! LOL

[Small Farmer]

We bought half a dozen commercial crosses just to find out whether we liked sheep.  Then spent a year looking at varieties, then bought the wrong ones.  But it really doesn't matter.  We like the ones we have and we're not farming pure breeds just for the sake of it.  They're all rare for good reasons!


With commercial crosses you get experience in handling with fewer health complications.  Why start by making a decision you don't need to make yet - or ever.  Hint - most people like the breed they've got, and put up with their failures and foibles.   So treat all advice on breeds with a pinch or two of salt.


Btw sheep aren't more complicated than horses.  It's just that it usually isn't worth getting the vet to do to sheep what she does for your horses.

[bazzais]

Dont buy sheep unless ou want to spend your single farm payment on something?

[Templelands]

We bought a starter flock of 8 Zwartbles for £800. We nearly killed them day one Rhododendron poisoning but got through that thanks to strong black tea being forced down them. Then they got foot scald, quick spray and fixed. Then they got mites, injection required, which we did ourselves - steep learning curve. Vet said why did you get sheep lol. Now struggling to get Em sheared.


Been a bit of a nightmare but would I change them - no way. They are friendly tame, vocal animals that give me pleasure everyday.


Keep reading books, this forum is awesome for advice, ive been saved a few times and good luck.


They are rewarding, but I was once told that they are born to die, and will do their best to try lol