Aye up @fifteenfarmingHello,
I’ve just joined the site a few moments ago after lurking for quite a few months.
Bit of info: I’m a teenager living on a farm in Sussex. I’m very keen on sheep and am looking to do more with them in the future. We currently have a flock of Texel x Romany.
For a long time now I’ve been very interested in the Lleyn breed and they appear to be quite popular. I’ve heard that they’re easy lambers, good mothers and often produce triplets. Is this true? Would they be an ideal breed or are there better ones out there?
We have about 14 acres of grazing land which isn’t a huge amount so was also wondering about keeping a pedigree flock. From what I’ve read you can make quite a profit out of the pedigrees. Does anyone have experience with keeping and selling them?
Thank you for reading and look forward to hearing from people, if there are any questions please ask.
S
I don't wish to discourage you in any way, the sheep industry needs all the keen, young blood it can get, but keeping any sort of sheep isn't the way to become the next Dyson/Bamford/Branson.From what I’ve read you can make quite a profit
I do admire those people who have made a go of it and built a successful flock with commercial Lleyns. I bought a selection from various flocks with a view to doing the same, thinking they would be a self replacing alternative to the Texel or Beltex cross mule. They have been a disappointment on that score being prone to mastitis, not wearing well, not as maternal as the mule and generally unpleasant to work with. I'll be glad when the last are culled this year. For those who have made a success of them, how many years did it take to get to where you are with them and are is it really better than keeping a nucleus flock of mules crossed with a Beltex/Texel to breed your replacements which in turn produce a more valuable finished lamb?
From what I've seen, for every farmer that raves about Lleyns, there is another that thinks they're awful things. They are far from the ideal ewe, but then what is?
I toyed with, and enquired about buying an entire flock of 250 Lleyns which were recorded and mv accredited a couple of years ago. The guy that was selling them later told me that was selling them as he was sick of the bullpoo resulting from the 'pedigree' side, and was selling them to expand his flock of Texel crosses.
Based on the handful of ewe lambs I bought from elsewhere to see how they'd cope on my system, I had a very lucky escape.
but they might of just been bad ewe lambs? at the end of the day, who sells their best stock?
True, they were bad enough to stop me wanting any more.
From what I've seen, for every farmer that raves about Lleyns, there is another that thinks they're awful things. They are far from the ideal ewe, but then what is?
I toyed with, and enquired about buying an entire flock of 250 Lleyns which were recorded and mv accredited a couple of years ago. The guy that was selling them later told me that was selling them as he was sick of the bullpoo resulting from the 'pedigree' side, and was selling them to expand his flock of Texel crosses.
Based on the handful of ewe lambs I bought from elsewhere to see how they'd cope on my system, I had a very lucky escape.
True, they were bad enough to stop me wanting any more.
Bought a pen of 10 ped., unreg., organic Llyn ewe lambs once, and wished them further for the first year. 2 died more or less after their first mouthful of grass here, and one went severely lame - understandable, because naive to the territory. Two failed to get in lamb, even as 2tths. The rest did, and brought enzo to the flock!*
Cutting a long story short, two made it to 10 years old, each giving excellent ewe lambs, and one a stock ram. Nobody would have been able to say they'd be so valuable when first seen in the pen.
*seller had not answered honestly to enquiries about flock health. Won't buy from there again.
Thanks for that reply, the ruthless culling is the key to where you have got to with your flock. It does come with a cost though especially at the start, for example if you buy what are supposed to be good Lleyn shearlings they can be £120 to £150 and only be worth £70-£80 if you have to cull them a year later. That potential cost put me off when the majority of mules (NofE) I can buy from people I know, will do the job I want and last a long time. Just my take on it!You can't keep Mules as a nucleus flock - they are not self replacing... You would have to run Blackies or Swales etc as a nucleus and breed them yourself.
I started off in September 2005 buying 2 Lleyn tups. I took a risk, and fast-tracked the breeding by keeping ewe lambs off of ewe lambs so that I reached 'pure' in 4 years (15/16ths). Generally I am hard on my ewes anyway, which shows up faults/problems quickly, but in those early years I was ruthless at culling.
I presume your experience is with NoE Mules, of which I have much less experience - but compared to the Scottish equivalent, I see less mastitis now than I used to and they are longer living. I have ewes still running which were born in 2011 and I culled the 2010 ewes in the autumn.
Bought a pen of 10 ped., unreg., organic Llyn ewe lambs once, and wished them further for the first year. 2 died more or less after their first mouthful of grass here, and one went severely lame - understandable, because naive to the territory. Two failed to get in lamb, even as 2tths. The rest did, and brought enzo to the flock!*
Cutting a long story short, two made it to 10 years old, each giving excellent ewe lambs, and one a stock ram. Nobody would have been able to say they'd be so valuable when first seen in the pen.
*seller had not answered honestly to enquiries about flock health. Won't buy from there again.
Thanks for that reply, the ruthless culling is the key to where you have got to with your flock. It does come with a cost though especially at the start, for example if you buy what are supposed to be good Lleyn shearlings they can be £120 to £150 and only be worth £70-£80 if you have to cull them a year later. That potential cost put me off when the majority of mules (NofE) I can buy from people I know, will do the job I want and last a long time. Just my take on it!
You're wanting to jump straight in.
Personally I'd do it how I did, all over again - if I had to;
Of your existing ewes, pick the best which perform on your ground/system.
Select the best suited tups you can from flocks doing as you'd aspire to.
Breed your own. Produce more ewe lambs than you need, and then cull cull cull.
Repeat.
wouldnt touch them with a barge pole.- you can not expect the ewes or tups which come down from Orkney.
wouldnt touch them with a barge pole.