No, but lambed them close to home just so we could keep an eye on them.They look very good ! Much trouble lambing big singles, or could you just leave them to it?
Not tried either of those crosses but we used some of our commercial Texel tups on some draft Herdwick ewes that we have on some 'very poor' heathland.
Lambed no problem - singles and twins in April.
They look really well now......
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They should be easier to lamb than a standard texel (smaller heads etc) oureasyram sired lambs are out performing UK Tex sired ones on dlwg. All run the same
Out of interest, were the UK Texels used from performance recorded flocks and of a decent index, or just 'market ones', bought on looks?
They should be easier to lamb than a standard texel (smaller heads etc) oureasyram sired lambs are out performing UK Tex sired ones on dlwg. All run the same
Just in my experience, it's down to the recording and ability to do off grass, I'm not keen on caking, the UK Tex I bought seem to be brought up on itWhy do think it is that the nz texel out perform the UK?
Is it that the nz is so much better or the uk particularly bad?
That wasn't the case until relatively recent. Can't remember where I saw it but there was a study showing how Suffolk lambs responded to cake diet much better. Would be different now though, the show has moved on.Just in my experience, it's down to the recording and ability to do off grass, I'm not keen on caking, the UK Tex I bought seem to be brought up on it
Just in my experience, it's down to the recording and ability to do off grass, I'm not keen on caking, the UK Tex I bought seem to be brought up on it
I would suggest that’s more a reflection on the rearing & selection systems used by the flocks of origin, rather than which country the genetics came from.
When I used to buy Texels, I only bought from top end of the (then) Sire Reference Scheme. I’ve had a couple of NZ Texels since, and I wouldn’t say that growth rate was in any way spectacular. Nice enough sheep and no complaints on their maternal abilities as mature ewes, but then (aside from increasing lambing issues as they got more pure) I always found the progeny of my UK Texels to be attentive & milky mothers too.
I suspect the performance of NZ Texels would likely be similar to those here that have undergone selection based on recording and CT scanning, and have been reared on forage diets. Their are several doing just that with UK Texel genetics too, but they tend to sell from home so need a bit more searching out.
Useful info (as has been other replies to date!), thanks. Was considering keeping some gimmer lambs as an experiment but I did wonder if as you suggest the lambs may come a bit wooly. Did you sell deadweight? And if so, did they grade OK?we use this cross.......no probs lambing singles. Depends what you intend to do with the lambs? if selling live you need to make sure the nz tup has a tight skin (not all do).......out of swale ewes the lambs can be quite wooly. we finished a lot as hoggs this year and they had a bit too much wool for live ring by that age......we didn't hand pick our tup though and his skin is too loose (for that job)
Very helpful thank you.didn't send any deadweight so can't comment. We have kept back some of last years gimmer lambs, they're in for clipping this week, will get some photos of them and this years lambs