How do I breed my own wool shedders?

[Guiggs]

Right after giving it a lot of thought I've decided to breed a wool shedding "commercial" flock.
I'm going to use a NZ texel on my lleyns as the main flock but due to the fact I want to cut down on labour and costs as well as the constant uncertainty of having to rely on nob heads to shear etc I want them to be shedders!
Can anybody explain to me the quickest and easiest way of breeding theses myself pease?
When and what tup do I use first and subsequently?
I want the smallest percentage of shredder possible in the mix but I want 100% shedding as quickly as possible so I can continue with my programme of breeding a prime lamb as "easy care" as I can!
Any advice would be much appreciated!
Tia.

 

[Tim W]

Starting with lleyns you will need 2 crosses to create a shedding ewes ---so your end ewe will get 75% of it's genetics from the shedding tups you use (make sure you use a tup that will bring the traits you value to your flock)

1) Pick out the Lleyn ewes with the barest legs, bellies and necks to grade up from
2) Buy an early/clean shedding tup ---we wool score ours to make sure we get a better shedding sheep
3) The first cross will produce ewes that vary in shedding ability----a few will shed completely, some will shed a bit and one or two won't shed at all---select the better shedding ewe lambs to breed from
4) Buy a second shedding tup with similar shedding traits
5) You should end up with an F2 generation that mostly shed their wool (there will be 1 or 2 to cull out)

The first cross look a bit messy and you will have to run the blades along the back of most of them

I have some pics of 1st cross Lleyn ewes somewhere but I can't seem to locate them at the moment

Come see us at Welsh Sheep next week if you want to know more ---it's about 2 hrs from you I am guessing

 

[Guiggs]

Starting with lleyns you will need 2 crosses to create a shedding ewes ---so your end ewe will get 75% of it's genetics from the shedding tups you use (make sure you use a tup that will bring the traits you value to your flock)

1) Pick out the Lleyn ewes with the barest legs, bellies and necks to grade up from
2) Buy an early/clean shedding tup ---we wool score ours to make sure we get a better shedding sheep
3) The first cross will produce ewes that vary in shedding ability----a few will shed completely, some will shed a bit and one or two won't shed at all---select the better shedding ewe lambs to breed from
4) Buy a second shedding tup with similar shedding traits
5) You should end up with an F2 generation that mostly shed their wool (there will be 1 or 2 to cull out)

The first cross look a bit messy and you will have to run the blades along the back of most of them

I have some pics of 1st cross Lleyn ewes somewhere but I can't seem to locate them at the moment

Come see us at Welsh Sheep next week if you want to know more ---it's about 2 hrs from you I am guessing

Thanks @Tim W
If I breed my F2 females back to a NZ texel( or any other breed for that matter) will the resulting cross be a shedder and will they continue to be so if I keep breeding the offspring to a texel( or whatever) to increase the percentage of terminal breed within them?

 

[polk_farmer]

Couple of our nearly pure lleyns shed themselves, wool all over the fields
Must have inherited that trait from somewhere?

 

[Spartacus]

Thanks @Tim W
If I breed my F2 females back to a NZ texel( or any other breed for that matter) will the resulting cross be a shedder and will they continue to be so if I keep breeding the offspring to a texel( or whatever) to increase the percentage of terminal breed within them?

I would think you would just end up with an F2 cross of a Texel, it will lose the shedding ability in two crosses the same way as you gained it by breeding it in in the first place.

 

[Guiggs]

Couple of our nearly pure lleyns shed themselves, wool all over the fields
Must have inherited that trait from somewhere?

Funny that as I have a couple that have done the same
The tup I used has virtually shed also,does that mean his ewe lambs will shed as we'll?

 

[Tim W]

Thanks @Tim W
If I breed my F2 females back to a NZ texel( or any other breed for that matter) will the resulting cross be a shedder and will they continue to be so if I keep breeding the offspring to a texel( or whatever) to increase the percentage of terminal breed within them?

Shedding is a trait that you can breed in and out the same as any other trait----cross them with a Texel and you will get woolly sheep again

It's easy to create a shedding sheep (or bring any other trait into a gene pool) but the hard bit is doing this without diluting the other traits that you already have and value

 

[Guiggs]

I would think you would just end up with an F2 cross of a Texel, it will lose the shedding ability in two crosses the same way as you gained it by breeding it in in the first place.

Is that how it works?
Was worried about that?

 

[Tim W]

Funny that as I have a couple that have done the same
The tup I used has virtually shed also,does that mean his ewe lambs will shed as we'll?

Sounds like you may have a head start!

 

[Guiggs]

Shedding is a trait that you can breed in and out the same as any other trait----cross them with a Texel and you will get woolly sheep again

It's easy to create a shedding sheep (or bring any other trait into a gene pool) but the hard bit is doing this without diluting the other traits that you already have and value

So is there a shedding sheep that could compare to a NZ texel for example that I could use instead?
I will hopefully get the maternal traits from the lleyn but hope to add a terminal and shedding trait from the tup, is that possible?
When's the welsh sheep event?

 

[Tim W]

The shedding sheep choices are many but here in UK you are limited to ---
Wiltshire Horn---bit bigger than Lleyn and have horns but good shedders
Easycare, Exlana and a variety of composite shedders ---all maternal animals
Dorpers are the closest you will get to a terminal type shedder ---good growth and conformation but bad feet and poor shedding ability

You may not want a shedding fat lamb depending on how you market your stock----the live market will knock you back if they see a shedder, partly through ignorance & partly because they can . Deadweight sales are fine
Hence most people with shedding ewes tend to cross them with a woolly terminal sire to produce good quality fat lambs

 

[Tim W]

We had Lleyns and Wiltshires to start with---(both performance recorded and in the top 10% of their breeds) and my initial aim was to create a shedding Lleyn. I am now confident we have done that and are progressing further to breed in better parasite resistance and other important economic traits

 

[spin cycle]

crossed a beltex/texel ram onto my wilts 2 years ago and just lambed the first progeny....as untupped theaves they needed shearing but had wooless bellies....now lambed (150%) there's considerable variation in shedding....some will completely....some will need shearing
i reckon to be sure you need 75% shedder ....but how to get the lambing % upto 175 is the problem IMO

been on a sheep visit today saw primera,hartline & highlander......liked the highlander but soo much wool

 

[Guiggs]

We had Lleyns and Wiltshires to start with---(both performance recorded and in the top 10% of their breeds) and my initial aim was to create a shedding Lleyn. I am now confident we have done that and are progressing further to breed in better parasite resistance and other important economic traits

Thanks for your help,
I will try get to see you at welsh sheep but if not will be in touch if you don't mind!?

 

[Tim W]

NSA Welsh Sheep is next Tuesday http://www.welshsheep.org.uk/

If not give me a bell or come visit

 

[GTB]

We just graded up from Welsh Mountain to Easycare. it took two crosses to get them all to shed and we still had to cull some. We breed a lot of our own rams and we absolutely never shear a ram, if it needs shearing it's culled. Doing the same with ewes now, they're either culled or banished to the crossing flock.

If it's any help to anyone we are cutting back on ewe numbers this autumn due to Glastir restrictions and the easiest way to do this is not to keep any replacements this year. So, if anyone's interested we'll have several hundred hardy Easycare ewe lambs for sale later on. Sensibly priced.

 

[Bury the Trash]

We just graded up from Welsh Mountain to Easycare. it took two crosses to get them all to shed and we still had to cull some. We breed a lot of our own rams and we absolutely never shear a ram, if it needs shearing it's culled. Doing the same with ewes now, they're either culled or banished to the crossing flock.

If it's any help to anyone we are cutting back on ewe numbers this autumn due to Glastir restrictions and the easiest way to do this is not to keep any replacements this year. So, if anyone's interested we'll have several hundred hardy Easycare ewe lambs for sale later on. Sensibly priced.

the eayscare would inherit the hardiness but how does weather resistance- especially constant wind /rain effect the easycares as compared to the welsh mountain?by that I mean wool verses no wool in that sort of bad weather or exposed situation

 

[GTB]

the eayscare would inherit the hardiness but how does weather resistance- especially constant wind /rain effect the easycares as compared to the welsh mountain?by that I mean wool verses no wool in that sort of bad weather or exposed situation

They're a lot tougher than they look but not quite as hardy as Welsh obviously. We can't leave sheep on the hill over winter because of environmental schemes so they don't need to be quite so hardy.

 

[shearerlad]

I want to cut down on labour and costs as well as the constant uncertainty of having to rely on nob heads to shear etc .

Somehow I don't think that attitude will help when trying to get your sheep shorn.
Yes there are shearers out there that are bad at shearing/organising but come on.......

 

[GTB]

Thanks @Tim W
If I breed my F2 females back to a NZ texel( or any other breed for that matter) will the resulting cross be a shedder and will they continue to be so if I keep breeding the offspring to a texel( or whatever) to increase the percentage of terminal breed within them?

The best way to do it is to breed a percentage of your flock pure to a shedding ram and then use a terminal sire of any breed you like on the rest. As far as I know there isn't such a thing as a shedding terminal sire, though you will be amazed how well pure Easycares (or exlanas I assume) will kill out. They're almost that good that you don't need to cross with anything else.