Herdwicks x Charolais?

[Herdwick sheep]

A bit of advice or any thoughts required please.
Has any one crossed Herdwicks with a Charolais Tup? We have used a Beltex for a couple of years which has done ok though had a struggle to get him through tupping time last year and so he had to go and was wondering how a Charolais would do for us. We sell the lambs store as haven’t got the land to get them fat ourselves so would be looking for something that would sell in the store ring.
Nothing wrong with Beltex lambs but as we are just learning!! (Or messing about!!) ,we wondered about trying something different when we had to have a new tup

Thank you

 

[neilo]

I would have thought a good Charollais could work well on a Herdwick, but maybe not lambing outside where a Herdwick alone can survive.

However, if you’re selling as stores in the North of England (presumably), I would think you’d struggle to beat a Beltex x wouldn’t you? What terminal sires do others use on Herdwicks locally?

 

[Bury the Trash]

@Old Tip might be able to help.

 

[Sheepfog]

A bit of advice or any thoughts required please.
Has any one crossed Herdwicks with a Charolais Tup? We have used a Beltex for a couple of years which has done ok though had a struggle to get him through tupping time last year and so he had to go and was wondering how a Charolais would do for us. We sell the lambs store as haven’t got the land to get them fat ourselves so would be looking for something that would sell in the store ring.
Nothing wrong with Beltex lambs but as we are just learning!! (Or messing about!!) ,we wondered about trying something different when we had to have a new tup

Thank you

Have used a Charollais on Herdwicks at a previous farm and works well for store and fat lambs. Easy lambing and grow and flesh well. Don’t keep as ewes, they are nuts!! ?

 

[Agrivator]

A bit of advice or any thoughts required please.
Has any one crossed Herdwicks with a Charolais Tup? We have used a Beltex for a couple of years which has done ok though had a struggle to get him through tupping time last year and so he had to go and was wondering how a Charolais would do for us. We sell the lambs store as haven’t got the land to get them fat ourselves so would be looking for something that would sell in the store ring.
Nothing wrong with Beltex lambs but as we are just learning!! (Or messing about!!) ,we wondered about trying something different when we had to have a new tup

Thank you

Just follow what the good (but often reticent) local farmers are doing. That is the best advice that I can give to a relative novice who is possibly new to a farming area.

And I suspect that the majority of Herdwick men who have Herdwicks or any of their mottly crosses on better land and want to produce a lamb that is saleable in any market, will use a good tight-skinned Texel. And a Texel, on average, will last about four times as long as a Beltex.

PS. Instead of a Charolais tup, I would use a Limousin tup.

 

[Old Tip]

Best cross for a Herdwick by far, few run beltex x Charly but by far the most popular x in these parts is the charly

 

[Herdwick sheep]

Thank you. All around us have about 4 herdwicks for the grand kids and mostly keep them pure We’re not on really hard going so not going be so hard on a tup and so may just give it a whirl. Will See what happens

 

[Downtrodden Dad]

Used texel cross charolais for several years now lambs are hard enough to survive. The lambs kill out OK too.

 

[le bon paysan]

[QUOTE="Agrivator

PS. Instead of a Charolais tup, I would use a Limousin tup.
[/QUOTE]



Have you seen Limousine sheep, bloody goats!

 

[Plopper]

my wife turned up yesterday with 5 of these things, for the kids apparently. I was going to just stick em in with a tex tup but wondered if anyone had any experience with crossing with BFL? Then they could just stay with the swales through till lambing.

 

[Herdwick sheep]

We did try this for a couple of years when we didn’t have so many and took them to a mule lamb sale but they weren’t really sought after I’m afraid!!! Did actually talk to the lad that bought them this year but as it’s a while ago never really mentioned them. The wedders just went store from us.

 

[Plopper]

We did try this for a couple of years when we didn’t have so many and took them to a mule lamb sale but they weren’t really sought after I’m afraid!!! Did actually talk to the lad that bought them this year but as it’s a while ago never really mentioned them. The wedders just went store from us.

Texel it is then! Do you have any pictures of them by any chance ? Thanks

 

[Herdwick sheep]

I’ll get mrs to look through her phone to see if she has any. May have had a new phone since then ?. And if she has any pictures, getting them to appear on here will no doubt drive me mad for half a day?. But I’ll inquire and try for you.
Just on a side note ,you could always keep them pure bred.?

 

[Plopper]

I’ll get mrs to look through her phone to see if she has any. May have had a new phone since then ?. And if she has any pictures, getting them to appear on here will no doubt drive me mad for half a day?. But I’ll inquire and try for you.
Just on a side note ,you could always keep them pure bred.?

Thanks , no worries if you can’t just curious more than anything what they look like .

 

[Old Tip]

my wife turned up yesterday with 5 of these things, for the kids apparently. I was going to just stick em in with a tex tup but wondered if anyone had any experience with crossing with BFL? Then they could just stay with the swales through till lambing.

Herdwicks or crosses ?

 

[Plopper]

Herdwicks or crosses ?

She came home with pure herdwicks I’m wondering about using a bfl tup on them.

 

[Skintagain]

They will be hairy with teddy heads what ever you put them to. I have bought herdwick x texel , char, beltex from my mate and they all have that herdwick 'look'. They don't kill out as well as I expected for home kills due to quite heavy bone ime but perfectly acceptable for what they are.

 

[Old Tip]

She came home with pure herdwicks I’m wondering about using a bfl tup on them.

A few folk round here rate the Mules out of Herdwicks as they last longer and you don’t get too many triplets.

 

[Agrivator]

A few folk round here rate the Mules out of Herdwicks as they last longer and you don’t get too many triplets.

I think it's fair to expect that a good traditional BFL will improve just about any breed of hill or upland sheep.

It's also a miracle that the resulting Mule will probably have a stronger constitution than the purebred. Much of that will be down to hybrid vigour. But obviously, the Mule will need preferential treatment during late pregnancy and early lactation, simply because of its 50%? increase in productivity.

 

[NZDan]

my wife turned up yesterday with 5 of these things, for the kids apparently. I was going to just stick em in with a tex tup but wondered if anyone had any experience with crossing with BFL? Then they could just stay with the swales through till lambing.

I scan some BFL X Herdwick ewes, they're good enough ewes.