Cheviot Mule vs NofE Mule

[M-J-G]

Careful where you buy them from, too many hill and upland breeds are bred on good land these days, which will almost certainly mean that they will be getting softer, making them less suitable for mixing with BFL blood.
At least on a hill the ewes have to be tough.

 

[Skintagain]

Careful where you buy them from, too many hill and upland breeds are bred on good land these days, which will almost certainly mean that they will be getting softer, making them less suitable for mixing with BFL blood.
At least on a hill the ewes have to be tough.

A lot of hill ewes get some serious snap too though. It’s a bloody minefield

 

[Bill dog]

For what it’s worth, why not buy some draft Cheviots at Lockerbie, or some of the sales up north . Then breed your own ! That might be better for you , as they’d be used to your farm etc !

 

[Anymulewilldo]

For what it’s worth, why not buy some draft Cheviots at Lockerbie, or some of the sales up north . Then breed your own ! That might be better for you , as they’d be used to your farm etc !

Have you seen the price of decent draft Cheviots lately…

 

[Jo Lupton]

For what it’s worth, why not buy some draft Cheviots at Lockerbie, or some of the sales up north . Then breed your own ! That might be better for you , as they’d be used to your farm etc !

Would be a great idea but I think the price of draft cheviots might not be that cheap at the moment

 

[Jo Lupton]

Careful where you buy them from, too many hill and upland breeds are bred on good land these days, which will almost certainly mean that they will be getting softer, making them less suitable for mixing with BFL blood.
At least on a hill the ewes have to be tough.

See that with most types of mules these days, not bred hard enough to do the job they're intended for

 

[Bill dog]

Have you seen the price of decent draft Cheviots lately…

Oh I know, but there’s more choice, and loads of sales in the back end of the year. There ain’t so many Cheviot mule sales !

 

[M-J-G]

Isn’t that what’s needed when the quality of a sheep is judged primarily by how they look? What’s lamb production got to do with anything?

Not all of them, go to rocky places in the Argyll, Highlands, Wester Ross and the western Isles and they have to be able to live on bad going, looks might come into it but a lot of selection has been carried out to make sure that animals are capable of producing meat from trashy forage (that your sheep and mine wouldn't consider eating) before looks come into the equation.
@west coast angus springs to mind.

 

[hill shepherd]

A lot of hill ewes get some serious snap too though. It’s a bloody minefield

Alot of the lowland boys on here seem to be experts at telling us hill men how we should feed our sheep. Wether its mule lambs or draft yows you can always tell in the sales which have been fed through winter and it shows in the price so why wouldn't we look after them a bit better than folk used to

 

[Skintagain]

Alot of the lowland boys on here seem to be experts at telling us hill men how we should feed our sheep. Wether its mule lambs or draft yows you can always tell in the sales which have been fed through winter and it shows in the price so why wouldn't we look after them a bit better than folk used to

How high are you?

 

[Anymulewilldo]

How high are you?

That’s quite a personal question

 

[hill shepherd]

How high are you?

Farm house is at 900ft fell gate 1500ft rising to 2500ft where our sheep go

 

[hill shepherd]

How high are you?

You must be quite high up if perched on the pennines?

 

[Skintagain]

You must be quite high up if perched on the pennines?

1200’ up to 1400’

Mules and tex crosses at moment

some random lower land dotted about. We have to be careful sourcing sheep as you can imagine.

 

[hill shepherd]

1200’ up to 1400’

Mules and tex crosses at moment

some random lower land dotted about. We have to be careful sourcing sheep as you can imagine.

Yes if you're buying in you'll have to be careful. Sheep should always move down hill, trouble is there's too many Mules bred in the lowlands nowadays

 

[jendan]

Farm house is at 900ft fell gate 1500ft rising to 2500ft where our sheep go

What part of the country are you in? Is there anything to eat over 2000 foot ?

 

[jendan]

Yes if you're buying in you'll have to be careful. Sheep should always move down hill, trouble is there's too many Mules bred in the lowlands nowadays

Nearly all of the Hexham mules are bred on good farms. The "Tow Law" sale later on has some higher bred sheep.

 

[M-J-G]

What part of the country are you in? Is there anything to eat over 2000 foot ?

We have friends who farm in the Highlands and they graze a hill that goes to almost 4000ft and their Blackies go to most of the tops.

 

[Cripper]

The top priced sheep may be from high farms but often the ewes with ewe lambs are moved to lowland pastures. If the ewe has a wether lamb aswell thats often taken off and reared as a pet so that you can get a good big ewe lamb. Often Lambed earlier in March these days. That's the stuff you have to do to get top prices. Tow law sale not as good at Hexham. Alot of refugees now not quite good enough for Lazonby. Some of the better ones have moved to Middleton

 

[sticky]

The chev mules do look very pretty.