Broken mouthed ewes on twitter

[Northumberland]

Did any one see the post about aberfeild ewes broken mouthed 2016 born?
Kicked up quite a storm much to the pleasure of some mule breeders.
Going through my own ewes today I found alot of 2015 born ewes broken and finding a correct mouthed 2012 born ewe a rarity.

 

[beardface]

I've got some 2012 born lleyn ewes with a full assortment and in good nick too. Teeth are defo better now we use less lick buckets

 

[Nithsdale]

Mule breeders creaming off over a composite breed with a large % of BFL blood in it which has buggered teeth



Trust me when I say plenty of 2016 born Mules wont have made it this far...

 

[unlacedgecko]

Mule breeders creaming off over a composite breed with a large % of BFL blood in it which has buggered teeth



Trust me when I say plenty of 2016 born Mules wont have made it this far...

I've never understood the point of the aberfield. But then, I'm prejudiced and won't have BFL blood on the farm.

 

[Heatgereater]

I would say that the aberfield composite is quite young and so has quite a lot of different traits they are trying to improve upon which usually mean compromises somewhere.even with AI and embryo transplant
Personally I find it’s the hill breeds they are crossed with that have the good mouths our Swales regularly do 6 crops

 

[unlacedgecko]

I have heard of a line of aberfield which didn't have the fertility expected. Upon further investigation, it appeared the ewes only had 1 uterine horn.

Allegedly.

 

[fieldsofgold]

A welsh pal of mine a few years ago started to have 2 and 3 crop aberfield ewes having no teeth in their heads. He complained to Innovis they waved him away.
He started to post things on Facebook and Twitter and the threatened to take him to court over slander.
My view on them is that they’ve been sold by a great marketing company and sucked many in to buying them with facts and figures.
If the mule societies did more trials and recording, they’d prove their breeds were better.

 

[Spartacus]

Looking in the mouths of mules as I clipped them some 10 yr old mules still had full mouths, not all of them, but a larger number than the swale ewes. Percentage wise anyway.

 

[neilo]

A welsh pal of mine a few years ago started to have 2 and 3 crop aberfield ewes having no teeth in their heads. He complained to Innovis they waved him away.
He started to post things on Facebook and Twitter and the threatened to take him to court over slander.
My view on them is that they’ve been sold by a great marketing company and sucked many in to buying them with facts and figures.
If the mule societies did more trials and recording, they’d prove their breeds were better.

If the mule societies did record it would prove which were better and which were worse, but it’ll never happen.

Innovis sell theirs on the promise of data, but you have to take them at their word on it as it’s far from transparent and can’t be compared to the figures on any other breeds. They steadfastly refuse to take part in any central progeny tests, whether it’s RamCompare, or the wee bolt on ‘ChazCompare’.
If they had confidence in the superiority of their genetics, one would think they’d jump at the chance of a marketing coop like that...

 

[Heatgereater]

I would suspect to get results fast with AI and embryo transplant a lot of their stock is closely related hence why they are crossing sires

 

[tr250]

Any mule breeders on here know why mules don’t have different coloured tags for each year like Welsh mules. It would help us buyers a lot and probably sell more gimmers as more ewes would be culled on age

 

[unlacedgecko]

Any mule breeders on here know why mules don’t have different coloured tags for each year like Welsh mules. It would help us buyers a lot and probably sell more gimmers as more ewes would be culled on age

Down to the individual breeder surely?

 

[unlacedgecko]

If the mule societies did record it would prove which were better and which were worse, but it’ll never happen.

Innovis sell theirs on the promise of data, but you have to take them at their word on it as it’s far from transparent and can’t be compared to the figures on any other breeds. They steadfastly refuse to take part in any central progeny tests, whether it’s RamCompare, or the wee bolt on ‘ChazCompare’.
If they had confidence in the superiority of their genetics, one would think they’d jump at the chance of a marketing coop like that...

Inability to directly compare figures between individuals of different breeds is very frustrating.

A maternal index and a terminal index is all that's required.

This and the absolute farce of society inspections have turned me off pedigree livestock completely.

 

[tr250]

Down to the individual breeder surely?

The ear tags are all bought through nemsa so I’m sure it could be done and as said above I’m fairly sure Welsh mules have a colour system

 

[Northumberland]

The ear tags are all bought through nemsa so I’m sure it could be done and as said above I’m fairly sure Welsh mules have a colour system

But if they had a coupler system people would click on quicker that they go broken mouthed young

 

[dazza b]

I’m going to put a coloured management tag in all our mule shearlings this year to try and make life easier

 

[neilo]

I’m going to put a coloured management tag in all our mule shearlings this year to try and make life easier

I was going to suggest the same. A visual management tag costs 10p, giving you a visual age guide as they run down the race. If nothing else, it saves you time checking the mouths of ewes under six (or under 4 for Aberfields or mules).

 

[Nithsdale]

4 is about right for a Mule anyway. Most Mule flocks will have to replace 1/4 of their ewes every year as it is

 

[dazza b]

I was going to suggest the same. A visual management tag costs 10p, giving you a visual age guide as they run down the race. If nothing else, it saves you time checking the mouths of ewes under six (or under 4 for Aberfields or mules).

That’s what I was hoping rather than gobbing everything just a quick look at the tag and pull out as necessary to check

 

[Agrivator]

Surely any competent sheep farmer has a method of identifying each age group of sheep - a lug mark, horn burn, or coloured tag.

And it's surprising how often folk think a ewe is broken mouthed just because she's lost a milk tooth.