Woolless
Member
- Location
- Berwickshire, Scottish Borders
'The once and future mutton dinner'?No.
The only use for a Shetland tup is breeding pure Shetland ewes. If you’ve got a better ewe, why debase her/devalue the lambs by introducing Shetland blood? Just use pure maternal on your maternal ewe lambs, you’ll speed genetic gain.
i pre-lamb sheared my Shetland drafts last year. Imagine my surprise when 2 of the scanned empty ewes turned out to be broken mouth wethers, double tagged as ewes. All ewes were warranted as free from mastitis, and these boys were I suppose
One jumped out the pen repeatedly and didn’t get to see a shearer, he became dog food on the spot. The other was clipped and marked with a large red “W” on each side, then returned to the ewe flock. He was never seen again from that day to this. In my mind he’s a legend among the ewes. Almost like a Shetland sheep King Arthur, gone for now, but with the promise he will return when his people need him most.