- Location
- West Wales
I thought…….
Best ewe and ram combo for the following traits?
- Thread starter mr_smoke_420
- Start date
I’ve got Welsh mules. Really quiet and calm. Only need to use one strand of electric wire to keep them in on keep. I don’t use a dog to herd them, (only got 100) I think that helps to keep them calm. Use Charollais tups. Lamb outside, just pick up lambs and they follow. Last 7 years had over 200% live lambing.
He wants to eat them not milk them. And they're the size of donkeys!
Wolds Beef
Member
No idea about the ewe side now but I would put a high Index Suffolk tup to them. Many years ago we went down the route of a Lincoln cross Suffolk which were cracking sheep but that was before we were breeding Suffolk's and my late brother did his Nuffield. High Index Suffolk's lost some of the Bone and Large heads but increased there meat to bone ratio and popped out a lot easier. I am sure @yellowbelly would sell you a few Lincoln's to experiment with.!! And if you look at the right Suffolk flocks to find some 'Ortum' bloodlines. you would not go wrong. Or you could AI with some 'Ortum' blood from the top High Index Suffolk's as I believe it is still available. Google '30 years' in the making.!! Google : Ortum suffolk Top for Muscle Depth.. Signet.
WB
WB
Last edited:
His priorities are temperament and easy lambing, Zwartbles tick both those boxes better than anything else I'm aware of.
I've also ate them, and they're top notch for that too.
No you don't have Zwartbles if you want to maximise the number of sheep per hectare, or keep them tramping about on gutters.
But you can't have everything, no matter what some will try to tell you!
- Location
- West Wales
How easy to find 100?
- Location
- Essex
I think this thread is a windup
- Location
- West Wales
He said circa 100 ewes
Fukdavano!
- Location
- South Pennines ol14
Are they shedders
Oh aye, a few minutes with a set of clippers and the wool comes off dead easy!Are they shedders
- Location
- Mendips Somerset
suff x mules are breed of choice around the south west , then to charollais ram , these lambs regularly top local markets right through the year . bit more consistent than beltex/ texel cross
OR
zwartbles crossed with very muscular rams ie smaller blocky type charollais ,texel , beltex etc ,
zwartbles are very milky prolific docile ewes , brilliant mothers, hardy , and with a good type of terminal get some very good quick growing lambs , the female crosses make a premium for those buyers in the know , (though black)
OR
zwartbles crossed with very muscular rams ie smaller blocky type charollais ,texel , beltex etc ,
zwartbles are very milky prolific docile ewes , brilliant mothers, hardy , and with a good type of terminal get some very good quick growing lambs , the female crosses make a premium for those buyers in the know , (though black)
Zwartbles/Dorset makes an excellent commercial ewe which you can then cross with something terminal again.
We've run Texel for the first time this year and will have lambs from both Zwartbles and Zwartbles crosses so it'll be interesting to see how that works out.
- Location
- West Wales
What’s the zwartbles like for mastitis then if they’re so milky? Some blood lines - more so the pedigree Texels are horrendous for mastitis
Yes, you need to be careful at weaning but we've it rightly sussed now.
Bring them in with the lambs, no fodder.
Keep the lambs with them indoors for half a day to use up any milk that there's, take the lambs off, introduce straw or hard hay after another half day. Then keep a good eye on them for another few days and they should be grand.
Always check the udders especially of any Zwartbles ewes when buying as it's probably the one single most likely issue due to bad weaning.
Applies to any ewe I know, but particularly Zwartbles due to them being so milky, as you correctly say.
- Location
- N.Lincs
- Location
- South Pennines ol14
We have a few remnants of our early Herdy x ewes still here, Always found them to be good sheep
- Location
- Mendips Somerset
no not all , thats the pet/showing ones , my ewes would be no bigger than 70-80kg , there are two types some holstien, barrel ,tall ,short coat types and some Frisian better shaped ,bit better coat better cover types , we imported them originally in the 90s to replace BFL on hill ewes , to bring strong maternal traits with better cover at birth ,, the stupid ****s in the society are mainly hobby people and look no further than the show ring and markings (hence the size of some ) , we have kept the more moderate and commercial type looking to the future they are still as big as a "normal" mule type ewe , there are similar flocks to ours out there if you do research and avoid the pet / sale ones found in many markets .
Crossed with a blocky charollais they take some beating on growth rates and shape especially killed off the ewe
Last edited:
ringi
Member
What about starting with pet lambs so they come ready trained? Then aim to cull 75% based on how good mothers they are and kg of lamb from each ewe.