Going to have a Swale of a time! (I hope)

[neilo]

Don’t worry I’m thinking of the positive things about Swales .....

- You don’t mind if one dies because at least then you have one less Swale.

- When they do die they are easy to move because they generally weigh bugger all and have Horns to drag them by.

- They like to escape ane wander which means if you are lucky they will get out, go away and never come back.

That’s not very nice. I never actually said anything like that (although may well have been thinking it) about Exlanas and you took umbridge at my disappointment in them…

 

[Anymulewilldo]

That’s not very nice. I never actually said anything like that (although may well have been thinking it) about Exlanas and you took umbridge at my disappointment in them…

Moral of the story @neilo , don’t hold back. Just let them have it…

 

[CopperBeech]

That’s not very nice. I never actually said anything like that (although may well have been thinking it) about Exlanas and you took umbridge at my disappointment in them…

I merely pointed out you have some uniquely poor experience of a breed.

Whereas I am speaking for so so many

Oh and I’m funny

 

[AftonShepherd]

I hate Swales

Don’t worry I’m thinking of the positive things about Swales .....

- You don’t mind if one dies because at least then you have one less Swale.

- When they do die they are easy to move because they generally weigh bugger all and have Horns to drag them by.

- They like to escape ane wander which means if you are lucky they will get out, go away and never come back.

I merely pointed out you have some uniquely poor experience of a breed.

Whereas I am speaking for so so many

Oh and I’m funny

Starting to think I should have started this thread a fortnight ago to guage opinion before heading for the sale!

 

[AftonShepherd]

Would you not breed your own park rams and then only use twins or better to improve lambing % over the long term

That's another part of my plan. Have 45 of my best ewes drawn off separately to try that very idea.

 

[hill shepherd]

Don’t worry I’m thinking of the positive things about Swales .....

- You don’t mind if one dies because at least then you have one less Swale.

- When they do die they are easy to move because they generally weigh bugger all and have Horns to drag them by.

- They like to escape ane wander which means if you are lucky they will get out, go away and never come back.

Ok, we get it, you don't like swales, they can't be all that bad though, they're the mother of the mule, still the most popular sheep in the country

 

[CopperBeech]

Ok, we get it, you don't like swales, they can't be all that bad though, they're the mother of the mule, still the most popular sheep in the country

Oh ...... don’t ....

 

[Guleesh]

Good move IMO, Going from cheviots to a black faced and horned sheep is viewed as a backwards step by many, and would be unthinkable for some who've just spent a decade breeding their flock over to pure cheviot, but if you've realised cheviot was a mistake then you've just got to bite the bullet and go back to a breed that can better utilise the grazing, and thus cost less to keep and turn a bigger profit.

Similar conclusions here, I've decided for us that it's got to be blackies, and more importantly, their crossbred offspring for the hills, so our cheviot ewes are in the process of being bred out.

I'll be following your progress and am very interested to see how it works out for you.

 

[Anymulewilldo]

Good move IMO, Going from cheviots to a black faced and horned sheep is viewed as a backwards step by many, and would be unthinkable for some who've just spent a decade breeding their flock over to pure cheviot, but if you've realised cheviot was a mistake then you've just got to bite the bullet and go back to a breed that can better utilise the grazing, and thus cost less to keep and turn a bigger profit.

Similar conclusions here, I've decided for us that it's got to be blackies, and more importantly, their crossbred offspring for the hills, so our cheviot ewes are in the process of being bred out.

I'll be following your progress and am very interested to see how it works out for you.

More Blackie and Cross wethers can NEVER be a bad thing…

 

[Moors Lad]

Starting to think I should have started this thread a fortnight ago to guage opinion before heading for the sale!

The trade for N of E mules and draft Swale ewes this autumn suggests to me that there are still a fair few fans of the swale. Don`t worry too much about what you read on here - you`re trying to fix a problem and you`ve got to start somewhere. Best of luck!
A good swale is a milky prolific ewe BUT they do need looking after if they`ve got 2 lambs inside them.

 

[Guleesh]

More Blackie and Cross wethers can NEVER be a bad thing…

No bad thing for you but having pure blackie wether lambs IS a bad thing come store sales time, but not as bad a thing as having pure cheviot ewes here through a really hard winter.

 

[Anymulewilldo]

No bad thing for you but having pure blackie wether lambs IS a bad thing come store sales time, but not as bad a thing as having pure cheviot ewes here through a really hard winter.

Good blackie wethers at £60 isn’t too bad

 

[Top Tip.]

No bad thing for you but having pure blackie wether lambs IS a bad thing come store sales time, but not as bad a thing as having pure cheviot ewes here through a really hard winter.

I’ve farmed both on the west coast and I know which is the more profitable. Everyone to their own though.

 

[Woolless]

Good move IMO, Going from cheviots to a black faced and horned sheep is viewed as a backwards step by many, and would be unthinkable for some who've just spent a decade breeding their flock over to pure cheviot, but if you've realised cheviot was a mistake then you've just got to bite the bullet and go back to a breed that can better utilise the grazing, and thus cost less to keep and turn a bigger profit.

Similar conclusions here, I've decided for us that it's got to be blackies, and more importantly, their crossbred offspring for the hills, so our cheviot ewes are in the process of being bred out.

I'll be following your progress and am very interested to see how it works out for you.

Have you found that the Cheviot is not such an aggressive grazer, as mentioned above?

 

[Guleesh]

I’ve farmed both on the west coast and I know which is the more profitable. Everyone to their own though.

I have this debate with all the cheviot flock owners I work for, and they mostly agree with you. On good enough ground I agree too, but I don't see many cheviots utilising the very poor ground higher on the hills, most hill cheviot flocks round here spend their lives on the low ground waiting for the feed bag to arrive.

Having run both breeds side by side in the same flock I'd say there's actually not a huge amount in it, except in a bad winter the cheviot needs too much feeding to keep condition on her. The other big difference I see is that a cheviot ewe is already pretty wrecked after 4 or 5 lambings where a blackie is just hitting her prime. Financially I've always done best out of BF cross ewes, I reckon the trick is keeping the pure blackface core of the flock needed for replacements as small and efficient as possible.

 

[Anymulewilldo]

Have you found that the Cheviot is not such an aggressive grazer, as mentioned above?

I’ve always found the Cheviot quite aggressive… not sure how savage they are towards grass but one sent me down the lorry ramp yesterday!

 

[Guleesh]

Have you found that the Cheviot is not such an aggressive grazer, as mentioned above?

Don't get me wrong, the cheviot is a great sheep, I dunno about being less aggressive grazers, more just that they can't hold condition on really poor quality grazing. They do great on bare green ground, grazing grass down from 2mm down to 1mm, but a blackie can fill herself up on moss, dead molinia and heather and still hold condition.

 

[AftonShepherd]

, most hill cheviot flocks round here spend their lives on the low ground waiting for the feed bag to arrive.

This is one of the issues I'm hoping to improve on, although having just witnessed most of the new ewes coming running when they heard the bike I'm beginning to have doubts!

 

[Alias]

We don't own any Swales anymore, but often have a few grazing, despite our neighbour's best efforts to keep them at home

 

[Guleesh]

This is one of the issues I'm hoping to improve on, although having just witnessed most of the new ewes coming running when they heard the bike I'm beginning to have doubts!

Maybe not the worst thing whilst they settle in though?

A few years back I bought 100 blackie ewes for a new to me, unfenced hill that had no sheep on, mostly casts but some gimmers too, and I thought I'd keep them close with regular feeding. I trained them to eat in adjoining fields for a good few weeks then tried them out on the hill, the young sheep stayed around for feeding but the older ones needed gathered in every morning to feed, they never got the idea at all. Come spring they were wandering further afield and I lost quite a few of them, the odd one turned up in neighbours gathers but I'd given up on the job as being a total disaster really.

To my delight I found a good cut of them the following autumn, living quite contentedly right up on the top of the hill, some of them are still up there with their daughters today. They're just about the easiest and most dependable sheep I've got now, maybe not easy to gather but always there, on high clean ground, safe from fast drivers and idiots with their dogs, nobody phoning to say one is limping or trying to mother them up with their lambs. Those blackies just crave height, which is something I've not really seen in cheviots.