Easy Care sheep

[JamesRhys90]

Hey guys,

Was wondering if any of you on here had/had any experience of Easy Care sheep?

They were one of the breeds that I first looked at when contemplating getting sheep. I ended up getting some Scotch Mules, but I'm still open to adding other breeds as I grow until I settle on a formula that works for me and the farm.

They seem a bit too good to be true?

 

[JamesRhys90]

Found this when I was searching originally. Not a bad advertisement for the breed... http://www.easycaresheep.com/news-and-events/33/daily-post-article-barony-college

 

[saitek1989]

I would take that with a pinch of salt sounds too good to be true

 

[Beef farmer]

I once bought 2. 1 died. That one was fairly easy to care for.

 

[spin cycle]

gtb is your man....i'm thinking of either an easycare or llyen tup over my wilts next up as i search for something i like....tried poll dorset this lambing.....like the shedding idea but putting wool on adds value to ewes...so don't know

 

[Jackson4]

gtb is your man....i'm thinking of either an easycare or llyen tup over my wilts next up as i search for something i like....tried poll dorset this lambing.....like the shedding idea but putting wool on adds value to ewes...so don't know

Now your in trouble saying that!

 

[spin cycle]

Now your in trouble saying that!

...you know me i like to live dangerously......around my way shedders are rare so breeding ewes/culls will be hard to sell as will fats outside the abbatoir....i like my wilts but you've got to pragmatic

 

[wee man]

What do you want to know about them? We have about 1000 here that are either easycare or easycareX I can't wait to finish the grading up process and be all easycares.
Read any breed society website and they all sound to good to be true, better to go and visit some farms that are running them. Where in Dumfries and Galloway are you and i can put you in touch with someone near by that runs them.

 

[saitek1989]

What kind of ram do you put on an easy care ewe ?

 

[Jackson4]

What doesn't work with what you've got? How do you want to farm sheep? Very generally i'd say its not the amazing fact that they dont need shearing, which can be here nor there, but the fact that they may be better bred for functional traits as being 'easycare' must bring some expectations with it.

 

[spin cycle]

What do you want to know about them? We have about 1000 here that are either easycare or easycareX I can't wait to finish the grading up process and be all easycares.
Read any breed society website and they all sound to good to be true, better to go and visit some farms that are running them. Where in Dumfries and Galloway are you and i can put you in touch with someone near by that runs them.

whats the other breed you're grading out?.....at what % do the crosses shed fully?

 

[saitek1989]

When do easies start shedding

Sorry if I'm hijacking your thread btw I'll keep my stupid questions for another time

 

[GTB]

We've got a few here and we're really pleased with them. Lot less work than woolly ewes, easy lambing, no shearing, no dagging, virtually no maggots. Best to sell the lambs DW. We've bred them pure up to this year but have crossed some of the older ewes and bad do-ers with Hamp rams this year, they lambed in Feb.

Anything you want to know, just ask @JamesRhys90

When do easies start shedding

Dry ewes will start shedding in March, anything that's in lamb/ rearing slightly later. Most of ours are shedding now.

 

[Jackson4]

With 197% your looking at 15-20% triplets? Did they not help them at any stage? Good advert if they raised them all.
Weeman, is the easycare a set breed or an open composite type thing as long as its shedding? Only ones round here are tiny like welsh mountain types? Are they all that size? If they are then when do you market the lambs?

 

[CopperBeech]

I think the best way to look at it is this. . . .

Forget the name, any name. . . .

Look at what you want, go find it, and buy it / breed it.

If it happens to come under a certain name, then so be it.

I wanted shedding sheep that had been selected hard for maternal traits.

I ended up buying in - some 'Easycare' ewe lambs, bed down from Iolo Owens stock, some 'Exlana' ewes and lambs, some 'Easycare' draft ewes off a hard hill farm, and finally some shedders bred by a man who got fed up with the wool on his recorded pedigree LLeyn flock, so used various shedding tups to remove it.

So they go under a variety of names, but at the end of the day they all pretty much do the same thing (or at least they are meant to!) and most importantly they were bred / kept with the same ethos.

In time I will use whatever genetics I like to breed my maternal line, wouldn't matter to me if I stuck an 'Easycare' tup over an Exlana ewe, or vice versa.

But so far, so good, and I'm 100% converted to wool shedders. I just can't see how I could make wooly sheep work in anyway.

 

[CopperBeech]

With 197% your looking at 15-20% triplets? Did they not help them at any stage? Good advert if they raised them all.
Weeman, is the easycare a set breed or an open composite type thing as long as its shedding? Only ones round here are tiny like welsh mountain types? Are they all that size? If they are then when do you market the lambs?

I think there is a fair variation, and a difference between 'Easycare' i.e welsh x wilts and wool shedders, which might be called 'Easycare' I have a load that look just like lleyns, and some that are muley.

 

[pgk]

Have been moving over to woolshedders over last 5years. Had lleyns which we like but working off farm and with summer grazing including both wooded and flooded (water meadows) meant high risk of fly strike. Bought ewes and ram from iolo Owens and have subsequently graded up some good lleyns to be shedders. This time also put 90 easycares to an exlana from TimW, lambs born this week are looking good and some heavy weights. We have now decided to go 100% woolshedder to ease management. Anyone interested in some good quality lleyn ewes?

 

[Will]

I think the best way to look at it is this. . . .

Forget the name, any name. . . .

Look at what you want, go find it, and buy it / breed it.

If it happens to come under a certain name, then so be it.

I wanted shedding sheep that had been selected hard for maternal traits.

I ended up buying in - some 'Easycare' ewe lambs, bed down from Iolo Owens stock, some 'Exlana' ewes and lambs, some 'Easycare' draft ewes off a hard hill farm, and finally some shedders bred by a man who got fed up with the wool on his recorded pedigree LLeyn flock, so used various shedding tups to remove it.

So they go under a variety of names, but at the end of the day they all pretty much do the same thing (or at least they are meant to!) and most importantly they were bred / kept with the same ethos.

In time I will use whatever genetics I like to breed my maternal line, wouldn't matter to me if I stuck an 'Easycare' tup over an Exlana ewe, or vice versa.

But so far, so good, and I'm 100% converted to wool shedders. I just can't see how I could make wooly sheep work in anyway.

Out of the Exlana and Easycare, which are you most impressed with at the moment?

 

[Bruce Almighty]

My son (14) wanted sheep, so we bought 36 FM in lamb easycare ewes
back in Jan. they limbed Feb/March & we've been very pleased. With little wool it's easy to see body condition. We left the ewes with tails. We'll be keeping some ewe lambs & hope to buy some more FM ewes next autumn / winter. They're a bit flighty but we've been very pleased with them.

 

[CopperBeech]

Out of the Exlana and Easycare, which are you most impressed with at the moment?

As an entire breed. . . . . Exlana.

With regard to what i've got in front of me. . . .

Well, the best Easycare and the best Exlana are very close to each other.

I think its as or more important to source the right sheep of a breed, as it is the right breed.