Beltex, so how do you lamb them??

[Devil's advocate]

Not profitable why?

Well to keep & breed from a Beltex hogg, straight away you are missing out on selling the Beltex hogg which could be sold to buy a more suitable hogg. Then you have to compare the number of lambs you would wean from Beltex bred hoggs/ewes compared to say a Texel x Mule type of ewe or hogg. Also kg of lamb produced per acre or per hour of labour. Longevity of the ewes & cost of drugs for mastitis & other health problems. Creep that may be needed to keep lambs growing if their Mothers are very short of milk.

 

[Northeastfarmer]

Well to keep & breed from a Beltex hogg, straight away you are missing out on selling the Beltex hogg which could be sold to buy a more suitable hogg. Then you have to compare the number of lambs you would wean from Beltex bred hoggs/ewes compared to say a Texel x Mule type of ewe or hogg. Also kg of lamb produced per acre or per hour of labour. Longevity of the ewes & cost of drugs for mastitis & other health problems. Creep that may be needed to keep lambs growing if their Mothers are very short of milk.

When it comes to Hoggs....regardless of breed I only ever want one lamb on them...I only have beltex x charalois Hoggs and find they milk like a friesan

 

[Gatehouse Farm]

I'm sure someone has already said this but I have some dirt that you can keep in lamb Beltex on!

 

[Devil's advocate]

When it comes to Hoggs....regardless of breed I only ever want one lamb on them...I only have beltex x charalois Hoggs and find they milk like a friesan

Well I agree about one lamb on hoggs & most hoggs of any breed milk well. But what happens next year do you kill the hoggs or sell them to another farmer. Because a Charollais x Beltex ewe is not a good choice to rear two strong lambs. Anything above 50% Texel or Charollais is going to be prone to mastitis.

 

[Northeastfarmer]

Well I agree about one lamb on hoggs & most hoggs of any breed milk well. But what happens next year do you kill the hoggs or sell them to another farmer. Because a Charollais x Beltex ewe is not a good choice to rear two strong lambs. Anything above 50% Texel or Charollais is going to be prone to mastitis.

Are you kidding me? I have plenty that rear two lambs and haven't had to cull one for mastitis yet...I've culled plenty of mules with split bags

 

[Gatehouse Farm]

Anything above 50% Texel or Charollais is going to be prone to mastitis.

Oh you've gone and done it now!

 

[Devil's advocate]

Are you kidding me? I have plenty that rear two lambs and haven't had to cull one for mastitis yet...I've culled plenty of mules with split bags

You should be in all the farming magazines, In fact lecturing lecturing in sheep production at Kirby Stephen.

 

[Northeastfarmer]

You should be in all the farming magazines,

I'm too shy

 

[liammogs]

As for a few comments stating that you cant tup a beltex x hog im sure @beltextexel does a lot of it with a fair bit of sucess!! Same as everything you need to find the right tup to the right ewe get it wrong in any breed, even species your in for a heap of trouble!!

 

[Lovegoodstock]

This was 12:30 at night I called them out she took nie on 2 hours from getting their, doing and washing then leaving, had to jab her 5 days after with pen strep, and remove stitches 2 weeks later myself,
If it was £160 wouldnt think so much about having it done again, but has cost me way more than she and two lambs if they had lived was worth.
Hate to say it but unless it's one of my best ewes bullet is only way and cut lambs out myself, don't like being heartless one bit like that but not sure i see any other option at that price.

I have been knocked on cattle threads by going for double muscled calves, but do my best, pelvic assessment of mothers and using experience of certain breeders, never ebvs, but to shoot an animal due to us playing with science??!! Morals have to kick in at some point surely, im no saint but the day im not up at this hour to see a cow calving, or cant be bothered to pay a mere few hundred quid for a c section due to my genetic selection and a problem effectively I have created is the day I give up as so so wrong. Few hundred quid is nothing, shoot an animal that you have selected the sire that she couldn't give birth to? Up to you

 

[beltextexel]

As @liammogs says, we put roughly 550 beltex x and texel x hoggs to the tup last year and will be doing the same again this year. All back to beltex tups. Sold s few as hoggs and lambs to av. £192 and kept the rest for the flock. The hoggs are on good grass from September to December then on to turnips until lambing end of march/April. No feed prior to lambing and none after lambing but back on to good grass. Weaning a 32 kg lamb at 12 weeks. Left a lot with twins on them this year but wouldn't do it again.
You just have to give the ones that need help lambing a bit of time then usually a quick pull and you have a lamb. Biggest problem with the hoggs is if you've had to catch her to lamb her then they have a tendency to run off when you stand up.