Infertile tups

[westwards]

What are some breeder feeding to Tups that make them infertile ?
I here there were a few of the top priced shearlings at Hawes firing blanks and no word yet about the Texel sales.

 

[Woolless]

I'm not so sure that it's what they are feeding particularly but how much.

 

[andybk]

What are some breeder feeding to Tups that make them infertile ?
I here there were a few of the top priced shearlings at Hawes firing blanks and no word yet about the Texel sales.

more to do with volume of feed , and fat around testes / internal organs making them over heat killing sperm , commercial buyers keep buying them though , there has been loads of jaffa ram lambs this year from reports i had , One breeder had 6 - 8 that i know of , sent all over the country .

 

[firther]

no wonder people are starting to breed there own if these reports are true

 

[cowboysupper]

It's seems to be getting worse every year in the Texel breed from what I see, verging on farcical now. Some breeders seem to think sub fertility is acceptable. If they sell a ram which has unreliable fertility but 'gets a few lambs' then it's alright. I think it's disgraceful.

Automatic creep feeders with timers on them to attract the lambs for their 6th feed of the day are all the rage now and that all important finishing period in the shed for the last few weeks before the sale. No surprise it's getting worse.

I wish there was something the society could do about it but it's a hard one to police. The market place should be regulating the problem but there is no sign of that yet.

 

[neilo]

no wonder people are starting to breed there own if these reports are true

People have always been having a go at breeding their own, probably since people started keeping sheep. Most people give up after a few years though, when they realise that there’s a bit of work & wastage to do the job well. Some carry on with it of course, but depends what you’re trying to gain from your rams I suppose.

 

[pgk]

Society is run by those who are at the forefront of this type of feeding regime, there are those who rear their rams on forage alone, dont expect to see them selling hugely fat collapsed pasterns shearlings rather hard rams with another year to grow on to full size

 

[pgk]

Unfortunately sold out this year of high index forage fed texel and chartex shearlings, had to sell a texel ram lamb to returning customer yesterday

 

[andybk]

Automatic creep feeders with timers on them to attract the lambs for their 6th feed of the day are all the rage now and that all important finishing period in the shed for the last few weeks before the sale. No surprise it's getting worse.

I wish there was something the society could do about it but it's a hard one to police. The market place should be regulating the problem but there is no sign of that yet.

There is something you can do about it , dont go buying ram lambs the size of shearlings ! It amazes me that farmers who handle lambs day in day out , dont touch / handle replacement ram lambs / shearlings till 2 mins before they enter the ring or even not at all , just stand by ring nodding away at any pretty trimmed huge lamb that comes in for sale . FFS your future profitability depends to some extent on that one purchase , so get in those pens and have a feel around , how many would buy a car the same way ? obviously rams are too cheap , and they can take the risk !

BTW we had auto timer feeding in the 80s helped win a few championships inc reserve champion at royal twice , used an old choretime poulty feeder auger ,coupled with bell and infinitely programable timer on socket 8 times a day 30sec auger feed , nearly £400t creep @ 1/2 tonne+ per head ,birth - builth , and even then still less than many others ,you need a big strong framed ram to take the punishment , but they are sh1t at producing 40kg fat lambs off old grass . Remember that next time you visit Kelso or Builth or their chuck outs at local market
and a valuable lesson learnt , as we were getting further off the beaten track from commercial aims ,wasnt happy selling those rams to neighbours , another reason we dropped all showing and concentrated on home trade .

 

[Estate fencing.]

dont go buying ram lambs the size of shearlings

A Charollais breeder around her sells massive ram lambs they look bigger than shearlings, one day in market I was taking to someone who bought one the year before and said that it just melted and died and never tupped a ewe, next thing I know he was bidding on them and bought 2 more! His comment was "I might have more luck with these two!" as my dad always said "you can teach stupid, its something your born with".

 

[andybk]

A Charollais breeder around her sells massive ram lambs they look bigger than shearlings, one day in market I was taking to someone who bought one the year before and said that it just melted and died and never tupped a ewe, next thing I know he was bidding on them and bought 2 more! His comment was "I might have more luck with these two!" as my dad always said "you can teach stupid, its something your born with".

the problem as a new ram breeder , is you HAVE to belong to that club to get any sort of recognition , the whole system is set up for it , showing / selling , the ideal method is genuine recording , but even that is ignored if your sheep arnt perceived as big enough , unless you already have a name , too many of the recorders are feeders first and use it as a selling tool which brings that method into dispute . (and why i prefer central progeny testing ) ,
The only way is the long route selling maybe smaller minimally fed quality rams (recorded if possible ) as seed corn to get your foot in the door at maybe a discount to the normal sale run ,Those customers are incredibly loyal after a few years and you will thank them when things like foot and mouth and the like comes along , Theres not much glory in it but incredibly satisfying.
You must ask your friend again next year how he got on , lol , my guess is the breeder refunded against the cost of one of the new ones he bought and why he bought 2 this time

 

[dogandstick]

the problem as a new ram breeder , is you HAVE to belong to that club to get any sort of recognition , the whole system is set up for it , showing / selling , the ideal method is genuine recording , but even that is ignored if your sheep arnt perceived as big enough , unless you already have a name , too many of the recorders are feeders first and use it as a selling tool which brings that method into dispute . (and why i prefer central progeny testing ) ,
The only way is the long route selling maybe smaller minimally fed quality rams (recorded if possible ) as seed corn to get your foot in the door at maybe a discount to the normal sale run ,Those customers are incredibly loyal after a few years and you will thank them when things like foot and mouth and the like comes along , Theres not much glory in it but incredibly satisfying.
You must ask your friend again next year how he got on , lol , my guess is the breeder refunded against the cost of one of the new ones he bought and why he bought 2 this time

That’s the difference between those that want to create a business and those that want to be on show. And probably why you’re still in business many years later when so many trying to get their name in the papers have come and gone.