Inverdale Gene (Aberdales)
- Thread starter Chev54
- Start date
- Location
- Gods country (England)
Chuck a blue face on them that’ll increase your scanning percentage no end
Pistonbroke
Member
At one time they said a 60% increase over the mother. Only problem is they get a lot of that increase by having several triplets and quads if the ewes are flushed at all.
- Location
- Fife
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
Iirc sheep with a Gdf 9 gene will infer a 30% increase in scanning %, with none of the downsides of infertility, midget litters, etc.
Cambridge rams can be sourced tested positive for it I think, and I seem to recall @easyram1 was breeding/testing his NZ Texels for it?
Many simpler, more easily managed, options than paying a fortune to lease an Aberdale ram for a year I would think.
Cambridge rams can be sourced tested positive for it I think, and I seem to recall @easyram1 was breeding/testing his NZ Texels for it?
Many simpler, more easily managed, options than paying a fortune to lease an Aberdale ram for a year I would think.
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MJT
Member
Feel free to PM me . Run over 1000 Inverdale ewes bred from own Welsh and chev ewes.
Depends on your ground and system whether they will suit you or not, if you’re on sort of ground where mules wouldnt perform at all
Then the inverdales would be something to consider . People who have silly amounts of triplets or quads with them are on a too good a ground for them, this year we only had one quad scanned and I think one triplet ewe had an extra lamb too. Also find that even if they are having 3 they seem to carry the triplets a lot better than mules ever did, bugger all prolapses (only have 5 harnesses and never used them all) and less twin lamb .
Not flushed ours do 190% in an average year, key to it is checking ewes BCS a few times in the months prior to tipping . If they’re a 2 then they get slightly more grass but if they’re 3 or above then old perm pasture and not much of it is ideal for them . And leaves the autumn grass growth for the lambs and autumn calving cows .
With regards to leasing the rams from Innovis, it’s expensive and there are alternatives which you can PM me about also.
Depends on your ground and system whether they will suit you or not, if you’re on sort of ground where mules wouldnt perform at all
Then the inverdales would be something to consider . People who have silly amounts of triplets or quads with them are on a too good a ground for them, this year we only had one quad scanned and I think one triplet ewe had an extra lamb too. Also find that even if they are having 3 they seem to carry the triplets a lot better than mules ever did, bugger all prolapses (only have 5 harnesses and never used them all) and less twin lamb .
Not flushed ours do 190% in an average year, key to it is checking ewes BCS a few times in the months prior to tipping . If they’re a 2 then they get slightly more grass but if they’re 3 or above then old perm pasture and not much of it is ideal for them . And leaves the autumn grass growth for the lambs and autumn calving cows .
With regards to leasing the rams from Innovis, it’s expensive and there are alternatives which you can PM me about also.
Thank you . How much did the Cambridge increase scanning by ? What sort of size and shape are they ? Do they milk ?
Pistonbroke
Member
Similar here,our Welsh ewes don't bring many twins so our homebred mules were at best 150% so we put aberdales on both. The ones out of the mules were cracking ewes. Not so fussed on the ones out of the Welsh , they seem to have more issues with prolapses and twin lamb. Smaller and less body capacity I suppose. Cost of the leases buggered the job but never say never. Alternative supply may help
cheviot53
Member
- Location
- Dumfries & Galloway
Depends on your ground , about 10 yrs ago 3 of us on neighbouring farms tried them in ARGYLL , for me all old grass with only small amounts of fert , home bred northie drafts scan 140 % only a couple of trips , put to texel scan 160% still only a few trips no quads , put to aberdale scan 180% , no flushing always plenty quads ,trips . Next door similar ground bit more fert SBF X ABERDALE , but he flushed scan 260 % ( didn't flush the next year ) quins /quads /trips but he was lambing outside and ended up kicking cattle out to bring in the multiple bearing ewes . 3rd farm good grass tex x aberdale not flushed ,scan 220% but lambed inside . After 4 years no more rams plus the middle farm sold all his Aberdale x's
Some Lleyn rams carry a similar gene. Boost lambing percentage by around 0.7 to 0.8. We have some carrier ewes and get more triplets but not ever many quads. I know someone with a few carrier rams if you’re interested
Tup the Cheviots with a decent BFL then Tup the progeny with your Texel....given a bit of decent management 200%+ scanning will be no problem.
Much simpler than all the Innovis “Smoke and Mirrors”.....
Classic way to show a massive increase in Scanning % is to start with a flock that has crap Management......% is equally as much to do with Management as the type of Sire.
All that glitters etc......
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MJT
Member
Whilst I don’t believe in a lot of the Innovis fads ,this can’t really be classed as smoke and mirrors , it’s a gene that actually exists , not some well sold magic idea / breed .
With regards to putting a bfl on them then a texel , I’d suggest just using the lambs inverdale ram which is just a prolific texel and miss out the BFL and all the problems it brings with it altogether
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
With the gene testing done, you can choose how much of a lift you want (flier from Malvern sheep event a couple of years ago): View attachment Cambridge sheep.pdf
The Cambridge is a composite made up of Clun, Llanwenog, Lleyns and a few others. A dark headed, medium sized breed, that milks ok and has decent enough feet. The prolificacy seems to hold on, even after generations of breeding to other sires, ime. We had 15/16 Texels bred up from our Cambridge crosses, that would consistently scan at 220-230%, despite the Texel sires all being deliberately selected for being singles.
So what problems?
Prolificacy?
Milkiness?
Docility?
Length?
Which one is the problem......
Buy a decent BFL a Blue one not one of the Camels.......buy it from some one who Winters their BFLs outside.....not one of the Mollycoddled Showmens specials....
Perhaps one step further......
Buy two or three BFL ewes Tup them with a decent Texel......use the tups produced to Tup the Cheviot Ewes.....Hybrid vigour with the above plus better conformation.
- Location
- East Sussex
We have around 9 Aberdale tups for 800 ewes.
They have a set annual fee which declines with age, starting at £800 but they occasionally have an auction so you can bid for the better rams at a premium price above the annual fee. I try to select the tups I want and am happy to pay a sensible premium for the first year to get the best EBV's and easy lambing tups. They are free for the 5th season and the lease cost goes down every year you have them.
We have customers for all the ewe lambs we can produce now at a significant premium and are usually off the farm in August. It suits us well and a neighbour also uses the tups in an outdoor system.
The Texels they use are mostly good rams so the wether lambs finish easily and at good weights. The Aberdale Romney ewes do need managing so as not to get too many triplets or quads so it is important not to flush the ewes. 200% is normal and if you want can get to 220% plus.
MJT
Member
Not to get away from the original post but When we used to breed own mules I did just that and bought 6 BFL ewes from a farmer who was well known for breeding harder BfLs and out wintered his Leicester’s. After scanning at I think It was 5 twins and a triplet I couldn’t wait for lambing , by weaning there were 4 ewes and 3 lambs left, they couldn’t hack it on the forage system that everything else could, so why would I want to put that into a ewe . Though I will admit that they will put more frame and length into their offspring than a texel ever will .
MJT
Member
PM me if you’re interested in an Inverdale ram lamb or 2
- Location
- Fife
What price for an inverdale ewe lamb?