Breeding your own replacement ram.

[Guiggs]

Just wondering what selection criteria people follow to choose a replacement ram, or rams to sell for that matter.
I might well keep one or two entire next year and see if they grow into something worth breeding from.
Can you see potential when they are a few days old, would a big single be better than a twin?
Keep it lite, no breed bashing!

 

[Ysgythan]

When we did it they tended to be the bottle reared triplet lambs as the blood was right but shearling tup buyers wouldn't necessarily appreciate that. We were not heavy feeders so they were 3 or 4 years old by the time they caught up. Tried the carcass competition at the Royal Welsh in 1992 and got a 3rd prize with one of their lambs off grass only, no creep, so must have been OK.

Generally - multiple born, bit of character, wedge shape, good top, tight skin, arse, correct teeth & balls, leg in each corner.

 

[Nithsdale]

Just wondering what selection criteria people follow to choose a replacement ram, or rams to sell for that matter.
I might well keep one or two entire next year and see if they grow into something worth breeding from.
Can you see potential when they are a few days old, would a big single be better than a twin?
Keep it lite, no breed bashing!

The few Lleyn tups I've kept were always from twin litters. And always from ewes which catch the eye throughout the year. She must carry herself well (both locomotion, and body condition), suffer no problems - feet, fly etc, lamb herself, have good nature and plenty of milk... usually works.

The Texels first time round - all boys were kept intact and i just cull the ones i didn't like or didnt do.

But the Texels are just here to breed fat lambs, the Lleyns to breed females...

 

[JD-Kid]

more things yer pick the less gains in alot of cases
would depend on records you have for ewes IE can you pick out best ewes always haveing twins and her lambs in the frist lot to be sold
ram used across ewes high up in there breed so getting good gains there
the lambs them selfs may need to keep 10 or 20 to get 1 or 2 out standing one and it may take 6 months to a year for that to show up
there maybe some gains due to say the off spring better suited to local area or a trate ram breeder is not looking for in there stud but mostly if buying the right rams they should be higher than most you will breed yourself

 

[Al R]

Are you using any sort of breed? Or wanting any sort of breed?

We've used oxfords, hampshires, suffolks, beltex, BFL, texel, Charolais, aberfield, Wiltshire horns and now run a "terminal flock" to keep replacement Rams from. Made up of Suffolk, texel's, Charolais, beltex and BFL.

This is one of our up and coming suffbelchartex hybrids, also known on here as "Gingemong" he's 13 month old.

 

[Man_in_black]

Are you using any sort of breed? Or wanting any sort of breed?

We've used oxfords, hampshires, suffolks, beltex, BFL, texel, Charolais, aberfield, Wiltshire horns and now run a "terminal flock" to keep replacement Rams from. Made up of Suffolk, texel's, Charolais, beltex and BFL.

This is one of our up and coming suffbelchartex hybrids, also known on here as "Gingemong" he's 13 month old.
View attachment 489048
View attachment 489050

Ah there's ginemong" again! Did he work last autumn? Any pics of mini ginemongs?!

 

[Man_in_black]

Do tell.......

"terminal flock"

and BFL.

 

[spin cycle]

i'm keeping all my triplet lambs entire this year and see what,if any, i like

 

[tr250]

You won't go too far wrong if you keep the first one that's fat in my opinion. this is one of 3 we kept last year Tom took it to blaston so 20th June ish probably could of been killed mid May. Born 10th Feb onwards, had their first lambs born in the last day or 2

 

[Al R]

Ah there's ginemong" again! Did he work last autumn? Any pics of mini ginemongs?!

The Rams only go out in groups of 4 and cover 130 ewes, and then 10days later the 4 Rams are swapped with the other 4 that covered the other half of that breed of ewes.

Of course he worked last year, we don't carry passengers

 

[Al R]

Do tell.......

BFL are crossed onto welsh/glamorgans to give us the welsh mule. Easy lambing and somehow always very hardy like the welsh and not like ET like the BFL are!

 

[Al R]

You won't go too far wrong if you keep the first one that's fat in my opinion. this is one of 3 we kept last year Tom took it to blaston so 20th June ish probably could of been killed mid May. Born 10th Feb onwards, had their first lambs born in the last day or 2
View attachment 489058

Nice looking ram!

 

[Woolless]

My criteria would be from a ewe with a blemish-free history, born and suckled with no assistance. Teeth, toes and testicles all satisfactory, no dags, good shedder and decent index.

 

[tr250]

Nice looking ram!

It didn't win the class probably because the judge asked him what breed it was and he told him its a charalais we will forgive him as he was 5

 

[Ysgythan]

BFL are crossed onto welsh/glamorgans to give us the welsh mule. Easy lambing and somehow always very hardy like the welsh and not like ET like the BFL are!

That's because the Welsh and the BFL are so inbred you get a huge F1 hybrid vigour.

 

[Ysgythan]

My criteria would be from a ewe with a blemish-free history, born and suckled with no assistance. Teeth, toes and testicles all satisfactory, no dags, good shedder and decent index.

So that's 1 every 10 years...

 

[Ysgythan]

It didn't win the class probably because the judge asked him what breed it was and he told him its a charalais we will forgive him as he was 5

Winning isn't everything

 

[Guiggs]

Are you using any sort of breed? Or wanting any sort of breed?

We've used oxfords, hampshires, suffolks, beltex, BFL, texel, Charolais, aberfield, Wiltshire horns and now run a "terminal flock" to keep replacement Rams from. Made up of Suffolk, texel's, Charolais, beltex and BFL.

This is one of our up and coming suffbelchartex hybrids, also known on here as "Gingemong" he's 13 month old.
View attachment 489048
View attachment 489050

It would be a lleyn.
My tup was top 10% when I brought him as a ram lamb and the breeder told me he would quite likely have gone up due to his sire improving. I'm really impressed with his daughters and I've now got a better picture of the kind of female I want a flock of as such I have a few ewes in mind to try and get a ram lamb from.
Had one born that I briefly considered leaving entire, milky ewe, big single lamb born unaided a d up and sucking quickly.
Wasn't sure as he was a single though!

 

[neilo]

So that's 1 every 10 years...

In a small flock maybe, but would come across such animals far more regularly in a larger flock of course.......

 

[GTB]

I would just pick my best ewes and put them with my best tup and keep all the ram lambs entire. Then cull hard for any faults. We used to have our own small flock of Charolais and towards the end we were only breeding tups for our own use. We'd just buy a good ram every three yrs or so and keep the best ram lambs out of him. They were run with the commercials so it was literally survival of the fittest and those that survived and were deemed good enough got kept for breeding. It's not rocket science