Devil's advocate
Member
- Location
- Posh side of Barnsley
For Feb lambing does anything compare to a Suffolk cross ewe.
Put to Charollais tup or similar.
Put to Charollais tup or similar.
Is any ewe as good as a Suffolk cross for Feb lambing.
- Thread starter Devil's advocate
- Start date
- Location
- Exeter, Devon
Depends on your criteria. If you specifically want a white sheep with black legs and head that originates in the south east of England, then probably nothing will compare!
Devil's advocate
Member
- Location
- Posh side of Barnsley
speed of growth, abilty to eat lots of root crops (good teeth & length to avoid prolapse) conformation of the fat lamb at 44 kg
- Location
- Devon
Your situation may be different but I found that 44kg was achieved as prices were falling with a feb lambing, whilst still incurring the extra costs of early lambing
- Location
- West Wales
Charolais ewe with texel lambs or pure charolais ?
Better survivability than the Suffolk’s for sure!
Better survivability than the Suffolk’s for sure!- Location
- Scottsih Borders
Come to think of it, I can't recall any of our Suffolk crosses having a prolapse of any kind. They are homebred from Texel x Mules, which in turn are homebred from Mules - both of which are prone to prolapse.
And for early lambs, a Suffolk cross takes a bit of beating - ideally put to a Beltexy Texel.
- Location
- Fife
Why lamb in feb? If you want early new season lamb, lamb outside in October.
I’m thinking of lambing my Suffolk crosses early feb to. Lambing in October here means I’d have to find winter grazing for ewes with lambs. Hard enough finding enough grass for ewes over winter
Have you done this @unlacedgecko ?
Would be interested to hear people's thoughts and experiences on this.
I don't think there is a better ewe for feb lambing, I sell a couple of hundred second draw yearlings to a mate of mine who put them to rouge and rouge cross beltex he tops every market they sell at. Also culls the ewes for more than he pays for the yearlings. I usually keep 20 for so that aren't very big for my self, keep them for 2 years and sell them as big 3 year old ewes.
I have not really thought about it but I can't ever remember have a prolapse in a Suffolk cross ewe, and I get loads in mules (there mothers)
Who said anything about October I presume he’s trying to sell lambs now at £110 +
- Location
- Fife
Lambing in October would achieve the same thing without concentrates.
- Location
- Fife
No I haven't. Be read plenty of it.
Supposed to work well for places that burn off in the summer as only ewes are on farm, so low stocking pressure.
Means lambs can be away without any inputs, other than clostridial vaccine.
- Location
- Bedfordshire
Prices are good now, but it's all got to be averaged.
Suffolk ewes aside I have found our Suffolk tup onto tex ewes throw some really good lambs this time. Would say they were easier lambing and faster growing than some of the texels, almost to the point of getting another tup. I agree though the downside is the mucky arses which we have avoided so far. Also find you don’t get the joint ill problems with Suffolk lambs as well.
- Location
- Devon
Indeed. The first draws always look good, but it's the middle and end draws that hit the lower prices generally, and these have eaten the most creep/grass and needed drenching/ fly control.
However I appreciate everyone's situation is different and there may be specific reasons for going for feb not dec/Jan or even oct/Nov as unlacedgecko suggests.
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
If I’d lambed ewes outside last October and outwintered them here, I wouldn’t have many expenses to worry about. There’d be no haulage to pay for, no AHDB levies and no commission.
Mind, there wouldn’t have been any lambs to sell either. It was hard enough keeping ewes alive, let alone milking to feed young lambs.
- Location
- Isle of Man
We lamb outside starting first week of February . Texel cross cheviot put back to the same type of tup. 1st lambs gone 11th may. Tough , don't need too much hard feed, reasonable easy lambed getting 170% plus lambing, lambs getting u and r at between 19 and 21 kgs. Very few dirty tails. Downside is ewes are big heavy brutes, stubborn and can be "lively"! Tried lleyn to calm them down for a year or two but made to hard to get flesh on.
- Tags
- harvesting haulage lambing potato