Roussin x ewes

M-J-G said:

We bought a ram lamb 3 years ago, I lambed some of his first ewe lambs down at a year old in 2021 and the rest as gimmers 2022.
So far they have done well, lambed down as keen mothers, kept condition well and done a very good job of their lambs despite not having much grass all summer.
I put them to a Lleyn in the hope to breed a replacement, their lambs are a bit more stylish than our pure Lleyn lambs.
As has been said above, they do like a scrap with the dog, but so do Lleyns.
I don't see that as a bad thing as they'll not allow a fox or a badger lift a lamb easily.
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Nice looking animals!

M-J-G said:

Ours are at slaughter weight as quick as our Hampshire lambs, and weigh very heavy for their size.

Are you lambing those indoors to the Char?

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Crikey. The Hampshire Down Society will be gutted to hear that. Growth to slaughter weights is their big thing!

neilo said:

Crikey. The Hampshire Down Society will be gutted to hear that. Growth to slaughter weights is their big thing!

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We're down to the last 20% of our lambs born in the latter half of March, I'm happy enough with the Hampshire, but the Roussin is just as quick to get there and the lambs are a bit more modern.

I had 40, blackie x rossins wish l had 400, best mothers last ever seen.

Greythundercloudys said:

I had 40, blackie x rossins wish l had 400, best mothers last ever seen.

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I can imagine that

M-J-G said:

I can imagine that

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Trouble is l can't find anymore.

Greythundercloudys said:

Trouble is l can't find anymore.

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There are plenty about. If you are interested, message me where in the country you are and what you are after and I can put you in touch with people. Most folks sell as stores early on or finish any singles. We do have people selling lots of Cheviot X though. It may be a little late as people tend to keep them with customers in mind. I'd happily link you up with someone for next year.

It is interesting to read the bad reviews. It isn't my experience at all. In fact the society send a lot of tups to Skye and up to the Highlands as the lambs are so quick to their feet that it makes the mothering bond even easier. In fact, you have to tag them quick or you struggle to catch them. Of course, that is just qualitative (like the bad reviews). We have people who breed Beltex north of the border who are using Roussins for their first lambing , presumably because of their easy lambing nature (though I thought that was a Beltex trait). The same is true for a top Welsh Mule breeder in North Wales who lambs them as theaves to a Roussin.

The same is true for Phillip Elliott from Mungrisdale who won a Roussin ram for a charity fund raiser. He uses Roussin on his Texel-based flock as a lambing % improver.

Every Roussin in the breed goes through the genetic evaluation and prolificacy and lamb survival is modelled. It is a numerically small breed but it is still a lot of data. It allows the maternal genetics to be properly evaluated. The best muscle depth rams are not necessarily the best on (maternal) index. Having tracked the original French genetics, we can clearly see several rams that never really performed but several that made a huge mark.

The society has a bit of a challenge with type. There have been breeders breeding larger framed, woollier headed types that tend to through balder lambs at birth. Honestly, I think the society should be tighter on this and favour 'hair headed' tups. There are certain breeders that have only those. The tup in my avatar is one such compact animal, not big but seems to have lambs with decent growth figures.

@M-J-G not the best pics unfortunately but here's a couple of the resulting crosses from a Suffolk Mule X Roussin ewe lamb (disregard the 2 grey face ones in the trailer, they're different breeding).. March born this year.