easyram

Joe S

Member
Location
Orkney
The NZ texel is just a lairgie cheviot by another name .:);)
im sure you right i dont know!all i know about it is he got 2 last year and put each of them with a 120 sheep and and only 5 didnt have lambs(y)all the other tups are going off and more of them coming!and 65% of the lambs hes put off so off have graded u(y)the last 2 to lot of lambs to go off one group made £71 and the other £79 he seems a very happy man:)
 

Joe S

Member
Location
Orkney
Only 65 % graded u and that was the best of them,he definitely needs a lairgie.:p:p
:scratchhead:i dont know if that was the best grade just the majority(y) and that would have been from a variation of breeds of ewes(y)they seem to be very easy lambing to(y)as long as hes happy an keeps paying me im happy:LOL::LOL:
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
im sure you right i dont know!all i know about it is he got 2 last year and put each of them with a 120 sheep and and only 5 didnt have lambs(y)all the other tups are going off and more of them coming!and 65% of the lambs hes put off so off have graded u(y)the last 2 to lot of lambs to go off one group made £71 and the other £79 he seems a very happy man:)

Not knocking them, but any grass fed, active, mobile ram will do the same, of most breeds.;) What was he comparing them too, and had he ever dared to risk 1:120 before he was assured by Mr Easyram?

I went somewhere a few weeks ago that was sold on the Innovis crossbred rams (most of which were lame:rolleyes:) as he said they stayed fitter over tupping. The rams he was comparing them too were cabbage headed Texels bought from a sale rind where 'they looked cheap' and had no figures or recording behind them. One extreme to the other. It would have been interesting to see a comparison alongside 'ordinary' Texels reared in the same fashion and selected for performance and functionality.
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
This year I have put 122 suf x and NCM to 4 British Texels and 178 suf x and NCM to 2 NZ Texels from Easyram... Recorded their tags for lambing time - let the comparison begin!!

Interesting indeed. Are the UK Texels forage reared, performance recorded and structurally 'non extreme' (for want of a better description)? Why not use the UK Texels at a higher ratio too, or are they not mobile enough?
 

jemski

Member
Location
Dorset
Interesting indeed. Are the UK Texels forage reared, performance recorded and structurally 'non extreme' (for want of a better description)? Why not use the UK Texels at a higher ratio too, or are they not mobile enough?

@neilo do you know of anywhere down south that breeds these? This is a genuine question! I might be looking... [emoji51]
 

sheepwise

Member
Location
SW Scotland
Not knocking them, but any grass fed, active, mobile ram will do the same, of most breeds.;) What was he comparing them too, and had he ever dared to risk 1:120 before he was assured by Mr Easyram?

I went somewhere a few weeks ago that was sold on the Innovis crossbred rams (most of which were lame:rolleyes:) as he said they stayed fitter over tupping. The rams he was comparing them too were cabbage headed Texels bought from a sale rind where 'they looked cheap' and had no figures or recording behind them. One extreme to the other. It would have been interesting to see a comparison alongside 'ordinary' Texels reared in the same fashion and selected for performance and functionality.
Like but don't see what figures or recording would have anything to do with tups staying fit over tupping.
 

focussed

Member
The 4 British texels are not that great - 1 superb one, 1 good one and 2 average to poor ones. They were the first Rams I ever bought and I have learnt a lot about sheep etc since then.

The 2 NZ texels came from easy ram this year and are shearlings.

The 122 with the British are all four tooth or six tooth. They are made up of the worse NCM (as in ones I wouldn't keep ewe lambs from) and a random selection of suf x.

The 178 with the NZ ones are made up of the best NCM, 100 suf x theaves that haven't lambed and topped up with a random selection four/six tooth suf x.

Currently both groups are coming to the end of being flushed. Rams are in neighbouring field to their respective groups and have been for a week. Tomorrow they are going out.

When I split the groups all tags were scanned and recorded. They will remain separate for as long as possible and maybe even all the way through - including during lambing.

My intention is to breed NZ Tex x NCM replacements or to sell them as breeding sheep. Everything else will go fat - will probably creep feed all twins/trips, singles won't be. Any of the NZ Tex x NCM that have ewe lambs that look ok I'll mark and keep separate - then not creep them either.
 

hubbahubba

Member
Location
Sunny Glasgow
I got 2 nz texel lambs last year not from easyram but a man in wales. although i looked at easyrams that day too. I put them over 100 of my best mules to bread replacements. Marked all the ewes and then lug marked all the lambs, males and females differently. I can tell them before the walk into my scales. There the bloody wooly things. I often find them heavy but lean. They don't grade as well as brittish texel x mule lambs and a lleyn x texel/mule that I tried alongside them are so far miles ahead.

I am tupping 50 of the nx texel x mule ewe lambs in a group of 140 so will wait and see how they mother lambs before I decide to buy and nz texels again.

Obviously the sound the dream from all the promotion behind them and the testing etc. But from a practical farming point of view I am not sure. Unless I find the nz texel x ewes to be a lot better from a mastitis point of view I can't see any benifits from them yet.
 
Last edited:

Joe S

Member
Location
Orkney
Not knocking them, but any grass fed, active, mobile ram will do the same, of most breeds.;) What was he comparing them too, and had he ever dared to risk 1:120 before he was assured by Mr Easyram?

I went somewhere a few weeks ago that was sold on the Innovis crossbred rams (most of which were lame:rolleyes:) as he said they stayed fitter over tupping. The rams he was comparing them too were cabbage headed Texels bought from a sale rind where 'they looked cheap' and had no figures or recording behind them. One extreme to the other. It would have been interesting to see a comparison alongside 'ordinary' Texels reared in the same fashion and selected for performance and functionality.
i really dont know i can ask him.he had a mix of rams before but seem to be going all nz texal now and there not grass fed the hole year
 

focussed

Member
I got 2 nz texel lambs last year and put them over 100 of my best mules to bread replacements. Marked all the ewes and then lug marked all the lambs, males and females differently. I can tell them before the walk into my scales. There the bloody wooly things. I often find them heavy but lean. They don't grade as well as brittish texel x mule lambs and a llyen x texel/mule that I tried alongside them are so far miles ahead.

I am tupping 50 of the nx texel x mule ewe lambs in a group of 140 so will wait and see how they mother lambs before I decide to buy and nz texels again.

Obviously the sound the dream from all the promotion behind them and the testing etc. But from a practical farming point of view I am not sure. Unless I find the nz texel x ewes to be a lot better from a mastitis point of view I can't see any benifits from them yet.

How they go on the grid is my main concern and why I haven't switched over entirely until I am sure. In NZ it is about maximum number of lambs alive, here it is a lot more about the quality on the grid.

Do you have any pics of the NZ Tex x NCM lambs?
 

easyram1

Member
Location
North Shropshire
I got 2 nz texel lambs last year and put them over 100 of my best mules to bread replacements. Marked all the ewes and then lug marked all the lambs, males and females differently. I can tell them before the walk into my scales. There the bloody wooly things. I often find them heavy but lean. They don't grade as well as brittish texel x mule lambs and a llyen x texel/mule that I tried alongside them are so far miles ahead.

I am tupping 50 of the nx texel x mule ewe lambs in a group of 140 so will wait and see how they mother lambs before I decide to buy and nz texels again.

Obviously the sound the dream from all the promotion behind them and the testing etc. But from a practical farming point of view I am not sure. Unless I find the nz texel x ewes to be a lot better from a mastitis point of view I can't see any benifits from them yet.
Although I enjoy complimentary comments much more than critical ones, I am more than willing to take criticism of sheep we have actually sold. In case people reading your comments on promotion assume that your rams came from us, for the sake of accuracy and fairness you did of course visit us last summer and looked at our rams but chose not to buy and I recall most clearly your subsequent phone call to tell me that you did not think our sheep would suit your ewes
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Like but don't see what figures or recording would have anything to do with tups staying fit over tupping.

It has nothing to do with staying fit over tupping of course, that's down to the rearing management (on forage). I would suggest that, for the comparison to be fair, the 'UK' rams would have to come from a similar selection system as those being compared against, ie recorded and selected on structural functionality. It would be meaningless to compare against cabbage headed, heavy shouldered things, that could hardly lumber round the field.
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Although I enjoy complimentary comments much more than critical ones, I am more than willing to take criticism of sheep we have actually sold. In case people reading your comments on promotion assume that your rams came from us, for the sake of accuracy and fairness you did of course visit us last summer and looked at our rams but chose not to buy and I recall most clearly your subsequent phone call to tell me that you did not think our sheep would suit your ewes

But they would have been exactly the same genetics, would they not?:scratchhead:
 

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