How do I breed my own wool shedders?

[NZDan]

Ahh I see, I thought your lambs were so valuable that you'd hung something round their necks haha
Nice looking lambs. What exactly is the breed?

Meatmaster Composites.
They're a bit of a mixture. We started with Finn and FinnTexel Texel ewes, which were crossed to Dorper and Damara Rams (and one Wilt ram) and then interbred. Laterly we've added more Texel The ewe flock is currently 8% Wilt 15% Damara, 28% Finn, 23% Tex and 25% Dorper, but this years Lambs will be slightly heavier on the Texel bit and less Wilt, Damara and Finn. I'm off to look at Aussie White rams next week, if there is one suitable it will be mated hoggets (Meatmaster, Finn, FinnTexel and Texel) the ewe lambs will be added to the flock to see how they go.

 

[LandcruiserLad]

Meatmaster Composites.
They're a bit of a mixture. We started with Finn and FinnTexel Texel ewes, which were crossed to Dorper and Damara Rams (and one Wilt ram) and then interbred. Laterly we've added more Texel The ewe flock is currently 8% Wilt 15% Damara, 28% Finn, 23% Tex and 25% Dorper, but this years Lambs will be slightly heavier on the Texel bit and less Wilt, Damara and Finn. I'm off to look at Aussie White rams next week, if there is one suitable it will be mated hoggets (Meatmaster, Finn, FinnTexel and Texel) the ewe lambs will be added to the flock to see how they go.

Gees, I have a bit of catching up to do then
Glad I seem to be heading in the right direction though.
Coloured easycares... So my crazy neighbour might be right after all

 

[NZDan]

Gees, I have a bit of catching up to do then
Glad I seem to be heading in the right direction though.
Coloured easycares... So my crazy neighbour might be right after all

I've been culling all the colored ones for the last 4 years but my Stock agent thinks I should keep them and now with the bit of chat on here I'm strongly considering keeping them, interestingly the red/tan colored sheep grow white wool.

 

[neilo]

Ahhh you mean the black line? It's a spray mark, I give all the lambs a spray across there shoulders when I tag them, nowt worse than spending time running around trying to catch a set of triplets only to find they are already tagged. I use black on Twins and Orange on Triplets, quads get Black and red and each set of quads has seperate mark.
Looks like we've had a good lambing with them this year, currently have 209% at foot, ewes mated to live lambs tagged/recorded.

Wow! Your eyesight must be even more dodgy than mine. I started putting a small red dot on lambs’ rumps as I r7ng them this Spring, for exactly the same reason.
I’ll know my eyesight has deteriorated further when I need to start spraying stripes over them...

 

[NZDan]

Wow! Your eyesight must be even more dodgy than mine. I started putting a small red dot on lambs’ rumps as I r7ng them this Spring, for exactly the same reason.
I’ll know my eyesight has deteriorated further when I need to start spraying stripes over them...

I want to be able to see them from both sides and from a distance

 

[TexelBen]

Wow! Your eyesight must be even more dodgy than mine. I started putting a small red dot on lambs’ rumps as I r7ng them this Spring, for exactly the same reason.
I’ll know my eyesight has deteriorated further when I need to start spraying stripes over them...

Who said that?

 

[Ysgythan]

I want to be able to see them from both sides and from a distance

it’s the only way

 

[NZDan]

I hope this ram lamb performs as well as he looks.

 

[neilo]

I hope this ram lamb performs as well as he looks. View attachment 916397

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder....

 

[NZDan]

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder....

What don't you like about him? (seriously I'd be interested to see what others see?)

I like:
Hair coat for birth warmth
Short tail
Black nose
He's born and raise a triplet one a ewe that raised 3 as a gimmer
He looks to have good body depth (but it could be all hair)

 

[LandcruiserLad]

So what type of sheep is he?
Ok I feel like a novice now.
Will he need clipped?
just a young fella .
Bit of potential

 

[NZDan]

So what type of sheep is he?
Ok I feel like a novice now.
Will he need clipped?
just a young fella .
Bit of potential

He is a Meatmaster Composite.
Zero clipping.
About 4-5 weeks old.

 

[Downton_shep]

He is a Meatmaster Composite.
Zero clipping.
About 4-5 weeks old.

I thought he was a fair bit older than that!
And I thought he’d been docked.

 

[NZDan]

I thought he was a fair bit older than that!
And I thought he’d been docked.

We don't even dock our woolly lambs here.

 

[Downton_shep]

We don't even dock our woolly lambs here.

I’ve left the tails on all my Exlana x and Romney x ewe lambs this year. Anything that gets a dirty arse can go down the road.

 

[NZDan]

I’ve left the tails on all my Exlana x and Romney x ewe lambs this year. Anything that gets a dirty arse can go down the road.

When do you assess dags? Many of my ewes were daggy in the lead up to lambing and over the lambing period, but now that lambing has finished their tails and breech have shed and the bulk of the dags are gone.

 

[LandcruiserLad]

What don't you like about him? (seriously I'd be interested to see what others see?)

I like:
Hair coat for birth warmth
Short tail
Black nose
He's born and raise a triplet one a ewe that raised 3 as a gimmer
He looks to have good body depth (but it could be all hair)

Awesome

 

[Downton_shep]

When do you assess dags? Many of my ewes were daggy in the lead up to lambing and over the lambing period, but now that lambing has finished their tails and breech have shed and the bulk of the dags are gone.

I don’t actually dag score, I just keep ewe lambs that have stayed clean over summer then I just cull any that are bad enough to be a real problem. Should cull harder really but still trying to up numbers.
I tailed all the mules last year pre lambing but didn’t do any of the Lleyn’s. Thought I’d made a big mistake over lambing time with the fresh grass making a fair few shitty but by maggot season they’d lost the majority of it themselves so wasn’t a problem. So I’ll do the same next year.

 

[LandcruiserLad]

Anybody know of any Meatmaster flocks in the uk?
would they work on soggy wet ground?

 

[NZDan]

Anybody know of any Meatmaster flocks in the uk?
would they work on soggy wet ground?

The SA Meatmaster breed standard is how bred mine, other than the Damara component, it is a breed standard any one could follow.