TexX ewes - which Tup to use?

Nithsdale · Sep 24, 2019

Agrivator said:
Next time I see Neil, I'll ask him. Can you give some idea of the date and what other lambs made.

Castle Douglas; January 2019.
Lleyn wedder lambs, 2nd and 3rd highest prices in the sale. Beaten by 1 pen of TexelxCheviot lambs.

Longtown; February 2018
Lleyn wedder lambs. They made 50p more per head than the best Texels - from memory. I'll admit, those lambs were were the biggest in the sale. Mr English bought them.

Longtown; February 2017
Lleyn wedder lambs. They weren't the tops, but were well above the sale average.

I can't remember how I did in 2016 or any earlier years.
These lambs are never my best - my best go fat. These are the also rans which have needed kept on to grow and do. I clear out in January or February anything I know I can not finish before I start lambing.

Agrivator · Sep 25, 2019

Last week's store lamb report from Longtown.

Store lambs (2,805) easily maintained late high rates with buyers again keen for numbers. Top of the day was £76 for Beltexs from Parknook & £70 Troloss. Texels to £72.50 Edgerston, £70 Gillalees & East Foreshields, £69 The Crook; Suffolks to £67 Lynnshield, £63 & £62 Edgerston, £60 Edgerston & Banks Head; Charollais to £61 The Crook; Half Bred to £57 Bankhead; Cheviot Mule to £56.50 Upper Kidston; Greyfaces to £59 Gill Head; Lleyn to £53 Low Tipalt.

I don't know how many pens of Lleyns there were, but the differential in prices is in accord with what I said earlier.

AftonShepherd · Sep 25, 2019

With all due respect (which isn't much) I don't think @Nithsdale Farmer claimed to top last week's sale.

glensman · Sep 25, 2019

Agrivator said:
Last week's store lamb report from Longtown.

Store lambs (2,805) easily maintained late high rates with buyers again keen for numbers. Top of the day was £76 for Beltexs from Parknook & £70 Troloss. Texels to £72.50 Edgerston, £70 Gillalees & East Foreshields, £69 The Crook; Suffolks to £67 Lynnshield, £63 & £62 Edgerston, £60 Edgerston & Banks Head; Charollais to £61 The Crook; Half Bred to £57 Bankhead; Cheviot Mule to £56.50 Upper Kidston; Greyfaces to £59 Gill Head; Lleyn to £53 Low Tipalt.

I don't know how many pens of Lleyns there were, but the differential in prices is in accord with what I said earlier.

What you said was at least £20 a head less than better bred lambs, if you mean texel, beltex, Suffolk and charollais then that is a spurious comparison for they are the top terminal sires with lleyn being a maternal sire. They must be compared with the other maternal breeds to know how store buyers value them, it seems they are valued much of a muchness with those other maternal breeds.

spark_28 · Sep 25, 2019

Agrivator said:
Last week's store lamb report from Longtown.

Store lambs (2,805) easily maintained late high rates with buyers again keen for numbers. Top of the day was £76 for Beltexs from Parknook & £70 Troloss. Texels to £72.50 Edgerston, £70 Gillalees & East Foreshields, £69 The Crook; Suffolks to £67 Lynnshield, £63 & £62 Edgerston, £60 Edgerston & Banks Head; Charollais to £61 The Crook; Half Bred to £57 Bankhead; Cheviot Mule to £56.50 Upper Kidston; Greyfaces to £59 Gill Head; Lleyn to £53 Low Tipalt.

I don't know how many pens of Lleyns there were, but the differential in prices is in accord with what I said earlier.

lleyn isnt a terminal sire so why would or should it be up there with suffolks/texel etc?

glensman · Sep 25, 2019

Just to add to your earlier post @Agrivator I'll bet there were plenty of texel, charollais and Suffolk lambs that sold at a similar price to the lleyns in the report. So are they better bred or not?

Nithsdale · Sep 26, 2019

Bill dog said:
If he takes stores to a sale that are Lleyn and they are mistaken as tex or tex cross, and sell well, then well done him . That just means he has good stock .
Unfair to imply that he’s lying!

Why should I correct them? They don't ask me...

If my lambs were shyte, I'd get a shyte trade. The buyers pay for what's Infront of them (and buy again the next time I'm in!)

Nithsdale · Oct 2, 2019

Had 67 fat lambs away yesterday for today kill. I'm not long home from helping a friend dress his BFL tups so haven't heard how my lambs did...

Bill dog said:
What’s the run time on the Horner motor? Do you start the Landy every hour or so to keep the battery topped up ? Set up looks good !

Just been searching for this post to give you some info...

On an (old but good) battery off of the diesel bike - it's physically about half as big again, maybe twice the size, than the battery on the petrol Honda 420 - I managed to tail around 200 lambs with the Horner 12v machine from a single charge.

The battery had a full charge back in June and has sat around since... I had to fetch the bike over and hook the Horner to it to do the last 6 or 7

Nithsdale · Oct 6, 2019

Forgot to post

So... thanks to this thread, and @primmiemoo 's attention/crush, my chin has a celebrity status and was spotted at H&H Carlisle Lleyn sale on the 26th September. My face wasn't recognised though - just my chin

But @scottish-lleyn was so awestruck, he was scared to come and talk to me

I got 2 tups that day, but bloody hell trade was fierce!! Sale avg. was £893 - I certainly didn't pay anywhere near that

First up (the 2nd that I bought) was over budget buy I'm very happy with him. Deep bodied, long and powerful, very much like how my homebred tups are like. Picture doesn't do him so much justice, he will be raddled and along with daughters, some sons shall be retained.

2nd up was incredibly cheap... he reminds me a lot of the very first Lleyn rams we bought. He hasn't been done fancy, pushed or (no disrespect to his breeder) turned out well, compared to others. But I like him, he handles an awful lot better than he looks, and definitely ready for work. He is a very honest tup. Although, to most, his skin maybe holds him back a touch... but I feel my ewes have gone too tight skinned, so opening the fleece up isn't a worry/issue to me. (The bag at his feet has hay in it)

After watching Gimmers making £160 all day long and tups equal to my homebred ones making £900+ I am seriously considering whether I should go all in, get flock registered, go MV accredited and pedigree... but it's such a massive step I'm not sure I really want to

I was up at Stirling Ram Rendezvous yesterday, lots of good commercial sheep at very reasonable money but again Lleyns were a ridiculous trade (I felt on the whole there were far too many I wouldn't touch but demand was very strong!).

Yesterday marked a fortnight that the 2 Suffolk tups and Texel have been out... there's been a few TexX ewes with dirty marks like the Suffolks have been jumping but not too many, they should now start serving ewes...

In the pures, there was no signs of anything up to yesterday, but it was Saturday night and one of us was on the prowl and had some action!

I was surprised and that's all 3 of the Gimmers tupped, so I'm very pleased to see it. Just the 2 aged Texels to go and he can get turned out with the rest of the commercial ewes (there's 3 commercial ewes decided to jump the dyke and are in with this group, they obviously liked my new boy)

primmiemoo · Oct 6, 2019

They both look proper, @Nithsdale Farmer . Sometimes a less conspicuous ram gets surprisingly good stock, ime.

I don't know how other peoples' rams are working, but the ones here have been very busy, and a high percentage of ewes will be lambing in week 1 at the rate they've been going

scottish-lleyn · Oct 6, 2019

Nithsdale Farmer said:
Forgot to post

So... thanks to this thread, and @primmiemoo 's attention/crush, my chin has a celebrity status and was spotted at H&H Carlisle Lleyn sale on the 26th September. My face wasn't recognised though - just my chin
But @scottish-lleyn was so awestruck, he was scared to come and talk to me

I got 2 tups that day, but bloody hell trade was fierce!! Sale avg. was £893 - I certainly didn't pay anywhere near that

First up (the 2nd that I bought) was over budget buy I'm very happy with him. Deep bodied, long and powerful, very much like how my homebred tups are like. Picture doesn't do him so much justice, he will be raddled and along with daughters, some sons shall be retained.
View attachment 836844

2nd up was incredibly cheap... he reminds me a lot of the very first Lleyn rams we bought. He hasn't been done fancy, pushed or (no disrespect to his breeder) turned out well, compared to others. But I like him, he handles an awful lot better than he looks, and definitely ready for work. He is a very honest tup. Although, to most, his skin maybe holds him back a touch... but I feel my ewes have gone too tight skinned, so opening the fleece up isn't a worry/issue to me. (The bag at his feet has hay in it)View attachment 836845

After watching Gimmers making £160 all day long and tups equal to my homebred ones making £900+ I am seriously considering whether I should go all in, get flock registered, go MV accredited and pedigree... but it's such a massive step I'm not sure I really want to

I was up at Stirling Ram Rendezvous yesterday, lots of good commercial sheep at very reasonable money but again Lleyns were a ridiculous trade (I felt on the whole there were far too many I wouldn't touch but demand was very strong!).

Yesterday marked a fortnight that the 2 Suffolk tups and Texel have been out... there's been a few TexX ewes with dirty marks like the Suffolks have been jumping but not too many, they should now start serving ewes...

In the pures, there was no signs of anything up to yesterday, but it was Saturday night and one of us was on the prowl and had some action!
View attachment 836848
I was surprised and that's all 3 of the Gimmers tupped, so I'm very pleased to see it. Just the 2 aged Texels to go and he can get turned out with the rest of the commercial ewes (there's 3 commercial ewes decided to jump the dyke and are in with this group, they obviously liked my new boy)

Your 2nd tup dosnt look too different to the 7000 pound one next door.

Nithsdale · Oct 6, 2019

primmiemoo said:
They both look proper, @Nithsdale Farmer . Sometimes a less conspicuous ram gets surprisingly good stock, ime.

I don't know how other peoples' rams are working, but the ones here have been very busy, and a high percentage of ewes will be lambing in week 1 at the rate they've been going

Inconspicuous is my kind of thing!

Yeah, they should be good. Looking forward to see their lambs.

It's been a good year in general so ewes should come in/cycle well... I've multi-vit dosed all my ewes so I'm currently worrying I may end up with too many lambs

Nithsdale · Oct 6, 2019

scottish-lleyn said:
Your 2nd tup dosnt look too different to the 7000 pound one next door.

Thanks, was that not the one you bought

scottish-lleyn · Oct 6, 2019

No i never bought it heavy boned and not my type atall. Infact i really didnt like it.

Nithsdale · Oct 6, 2019

scottish-lleyn said:
No i never bought it heavy boned and not my type atall. Infact i really didnt like it.

My one isn't as heavy boned (head) as he looks in that picture, he is pretty similar to my other one.

I liked the 7k one more that the top price, or the champion at 4k (I really disliked it!). There's too many leggy sheep in the breed... need to keep them shorter legged and deep bodied

scottish-lleyn · Oct 6, 2019

The lluest tup was very heavy boned tho not very lleyny atall. I didnt like either of the top prices tbh i liked the steens tups the most followed by the wallings then one of jim goldies tups really showed himself.

glensman · Oct 6, 2019

Nithsdale Farmer said:
Forgot to post

So... thanks to this thread, and @primmiemoo 's attention/crush, my chin has a celebrity status and was spotted at H&H Carlisle Lleyn sale on the 26th September. My face wasn't recognised though - just my chin
But @scottish-lleyn was so awestruck, he was scared to come and talk to me [emoji23][emoji23]

I got 2 tups that day, but bloody hell trade was fierce!! Sale avg. was £893 - I certainly didn't pay anywhere near that

First up (the 2nd that I bought) was over budget buy I'm very happy with him. Deep bodied, long and powerful, very much like how my homebred tups are like. Picture doesn't do him so much justice, he will be raddled and along with daughters, some sons shall be retained.
View attachment 836844

2nd up was incredibly cheap... he reminds me a lot of the very first Lleyn rams we bought. He hasn't been done fancy, pushed or (no disrespect to his breeder) turned out well, compared to others. But I like him, he handles an awful lot better than he looks, and definitely ready for work. He is a very honest tup. Although, to most, his skin maybe holds him back a touch... but I feel my ewes have gone too tight skinned, so opening the fleece up isn't a worry/issue to me. (The bag at his feet has hay in it)View attachment 836845

After watching Gimmers making £160 all day long and tups equal to my homebred ones making £900+ I am seriously considering whether I should go all in, get flock registered, go MV accredited and pedigree... but it's such a massive step I'm not sure I really want to

I was up at Stirling Ram Rendezvous yesterday, lots of good commercial sheep at very reasonable money but again Lleyns were a ridiculous trade (I felt on the whole there were far too many I wouldn't touch but demand was very strong!).

Yesterday marked a fortnight that the 2 Suffolk tups and Texel have been out... there's been a few TexX ewes with dirty marks like the Suffolks have been jumping but not too many, they should now start serving ewes...

In the pures, there was no signs of anything up to yesterday, but it was Saturday night and one of us was on the prowl and had some action!
View attachment 836848
I was surprised and that's all 3 of the Gimmers tupped, so I'm very pleased to see it. Just the 2 aged Texels to go and he can get turned out with the rest of the commercial ewes (there's 3 commercial ewes decided to jump the dyke and are in with this group, they obviously liked my new boy)

There's a good correct frame on the second tup, I could see him doing a good job.

spin cycle · Oct 6, 2019

Nithsdale Farmer said:
Forgot to post

So... thanks to this thread, and @primmiemoo 's attention/crush, my chin has a celebrity status and was spotted at H&H Carlisle Lleyn sale on the 26th September. My face wasn't recognised though - just my chin
But @scottish-lleyn was so awestruck, he was scared to come and talk to me

I got 2 tups that day, but bloody hell trade was fierce!! Sale avg. was £893 - I certainly didn't pay anywhere near that

First up (the 2nd that I bought) was over budget buy I'm very happy with him. Deep bodied, long and powerful, very much like how my homebred tups are like. Picture doesn't do him so much justice, he will be raddled and along with daughters, some sons shall be retained.
View attachment 836844

2nd up was incredibly cheap... he reminds me a lot of the very first Lleyn rams we bought. He hasn't been done fancy, pushed or (no disrespect to his breeder) turned out well, compared to others. But I like him, he handles an awful lot better than he looks, and definitely ready for work. He is a very honest tup. Although, to most, his skin maybe holds him back a touch... but I feel my ewes have gone too tight skinned, so opening the fleece up isn't a worry/issue to me. (The bag at his feet has hay in it)View attachment 836845

After watching Gimmers making £160 all day long and tups equal to my homebred ones making £900+ I am seriously considering whether I should go all in, get flock registered, go MV accredited and pedigree... but it's such a massive step I'm not sure I really want to

I was up at Stirling Ram Rendezvous yesterday, lots of good commercial sheep at very reasonable money but again Lleyns were a ridiculous trade (I felt on the whole there were far too many I wouldn't touch but demand was very strong!).

Yesterday marked a fortnight that the 2 Suffolk tups and Texel have been out... there's been a few TexX ewes with dirty marks like the Suffolks have been jumping but not too many, they should now start serving ewes...

In the pures, there was no signs of anything up to yesterday, but it was Saturday night and one of us was on the prowl and had some action!
View attachment 836848
I was surprised and that's all 3 of the Gimmers tupped, so I'm very pleased to see it. Just the 2 aged Texels to go and he can get turned out with the rest of the commercial ewes (there's 3 commercial ewes decided to jump the dyke and are in with this group, they obviously liked my new boy)

hay in the bag :scratchhead:

.....more like luck money

Nithsdale · Oct 6, 2019

glensman said:
There's a good correct frame on the second tup, I could see him doing a good job.

Thanks, I can see it too. I possibly would have liked a deeper body but he is good. Some will disagree with me, but as a ewe maker I like a tup which continues to develope and improve until he is a 2shear...

i may aswell just say, ram in the first pic was 550gns and the ram in 2nd pic was 250gns. At that price he was definitely worth a chance and I believe from a more notable breeder he would have made much more.

When they are next in the pens (as they go out to the ewes) I'll get better pictures of them along with my big homebred boy

Nithsdale · Oct 6, 2019

spin cycle said:
hay in the bag .....more like luck money

Just call me Dick Turpin?

TexX ewes - which Tup to use?

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

0 %

Up to 25%

25-50%

50-75%

75-100%

100% I’ve had enough of farming!

Share this page