Currently we are running easycare ewes and think they are great sheep the only problem we have is keeping them in! I’ve never seen sheep to be able to jump or push under anything like them! When we have them in the pens they are clearing hurdles or pushing under them. I wouldn’t say there wild but it get very frustrating pulling sheep out of the wrong batch several times. Is that the way easycares are being a sort of hill breed or is there anything we could cross onto them to settle them down abit the meatlinc lambs out of the EC ewes are fine I wouldn’t worry about haveing to shear again if it made them easier to work with the rest of the year
Maternal ewe breed
- Thread starter JohnAC
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spin cycle
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- north norfolk
Aspiring Peasants
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- Location
- North Pennines
I think people underestimate the cost of wild sheep. The time spent as you've described, the time and expense on extra fencing, plus the need for much better and so usually much more expensive dogs, plus the potential for injury to yourself, the problems in tagging and ringing lambs within 24 hours in case the mother legs it. Time is a very important commodity. I think shearing once a year and tailing once a year is preferable to problems which are there 365 days a year. I cull on temperament because it makes life so much easier. You could do the same but it sounds like you would have to be very savage. I don't think wild sheep justify the name easycare.
spin cycle
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- Location
- north norfolk
the answer is texel or beltex texel.......'hurdler heritibility' is very strong....i've tried nz suffolk....dorset....exlana.....all 'evil genius''.........but texel and beltex/texel more placid/biddable.....i know feck all in general but on this subject i'm a fekkin 'rocket scientist'
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
If you're not worried about having to shear again, then just ditch the feral Welsh crosses that shed, rather than try to breed them quieter. They have no other benefit that can't be found in 'woolly' maternal breeds, most (all?) of which will be quieter AND more productive.
If you want to try to keep a shedding flock, then some Texels will shed when crossed onto shedders, and the Texel is a calm breed generally. Whether you can quieten them down sufficiently without enough crosses of Texel to cause lambing issues though...
Would the likes of a highlander or such breeds be quieter?
CopperBeech
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- A Welsh man lost in England
Aye
all Wooly sheep will be quieter and more productive than all wool shedders.You heard it first here kids
CopperBeech
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- A Welsh man lost in England
They would be the bestest. Preferably crossed to a Charolais
I've got 400 shedders on parkland with plenty of exposure to people ---you can walk within a few feet of them with no panic
I've 200 on the downs that rarely see anyone ---they keep their distance /are flightier
Isn't a lot of temperament about conditioning?
- Location
- North wales
I trained dogs on a batch of 90 ewe lambs post weaning last year before they went onto tack grazing, they’re a nice quiet bunch as a result the dairy farmer on the tack grazing could move them from field to field without a dog or quad, and said they were a godsend compared to hill ewes he had on the farm in previous years.
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
Aye
You heard it first here kids
‘most’ I said, and I stand by it. Any Welsh x, which is what an Easycare is, will be flighty and search out gaps in fences.
Obviously you’ll have some super cool pets that trot round after you and stay in behind a piece of baler twine.
That’ll be about like the Limmy breeders that tell you theirs are quiet because they handle them. It still doesn’t take a lot to spook the highly strung buggers though.
CopperBeech
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- A Welsh man lost in England
To be fair you are getting somewhat repetitive now. Ok ok ok you’re shedders are pieces of sh!t. But let’s be honest there would be a vast number of wool breeds which are just as shite as your shedders.‘most’ I said, and I stand by it. Any Welsh x, which is what an Easycare is, will be flighty and search out gaps in fences.
Obviously you’ll have some super cool pets that trot round after you and stay in behind a piece of baler twine.
That’ll be about like the Limmy breeders that tell you theirs are quiet because they handle them. It still doesn’t take a lot to spook the highly strung buggers though.
Plenty of folk on here have abs bad experiences with sheep of various breeds, but most of them wipe their chin and move on. You’re on a one man crusade. We get it, you’ve said it, again and again and again and again.
And no, my sheep aren’t very tame and can be a bit wild, but I don’t do very much with them, and they are fine at lambing etc.
You never did take up the offer to see the sheep you keep slating so much ......
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
I've not personally spoken to anyone that has run shedders, of either creed, that has not commented that they are on the flighty side and that they can be challenging for keeping in. That is what the OP was finding a problem.
Would you disagree with that comment, or does it not apply as you use electric all the time?
Shedders are just sheep. They do not offer anything that can't be found in woolly maternals that have been selected appropriately, aside from the shedding aspect. Would you disagree with that?
- Location
- North wales
I like my shedders and would be happy not see a wooly sheep here again, but I agree with your post , it’s a fair assessment imo. Despite how much me/you or someone else likes a breed you have to be able to take a step back and weigh up the good and bad.
- Location
- West Wales
The exlana’s I have are a lot quieter than the welsh and glamorgans they’ve derived from. Mainly because their taller and bigger than the welsh which go through fox holes in fences
Or dig the rocks away under fences so they can fit a tooth through to chew the Earth away.
CopperBeech
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- A Welsh man lost in England
I’m not sure you read what you write ?
“most (all) wool breeds will be more productive” is what you said in your first post.
So soays, shetlands, Southdown’s, gotlands, ryelands, Lincoln long wools, etc etc etc the list goes on .... are all more productive than shedders ?
And hebs, swales, blackies, shetlands, soays, welshies etc eyx all calmer.
There are good and bad in every breed. You just seem to be unable to accept that because yours are sh!t, that other people have pretty / very productive shedders.
You are right and every single person who keeps shedders is wrong and deluded, seems to be the closest stand diatribe.
I’ve always said that probably for me their only real down side is they can be a bit wild. But unless you’ve got shite dogs and can’t handle stock then it’s not an issue. I’ve never failed to pen up or move them and they calm right down at lambing as you’ve seen from the photos.
So yer, maybe they aren’t for poor stock men with average dogs but any half decent shepherd shouldn’t find the wildness a problem.
“most (all) wool breeds will be more productive” is what you said in your first post.
So soays, shetlands, Southdown’s, gotlands, ryelands, Lincoln long wools, etc etc etc the list goes on .... are all more productive than shedders ?
And hebs, swales, blackies, shetlands, soays, welshies etc eyx all calmer.
There are good and bad in every breed. You just seem to be unable to accept that because yours are sh!t, that other people have pretty / very productive shedders.
You are right and every single person who keeps shedders is wrong and deluded, seems to be the closest stand diatribe.
I’ve always said that probably for me their only real down side is they can be a bit wild. But unless you’ve got shite dogs and can’t handle stock then it’s not an issue. I’ve never failed to pen up or move them and they calm right down at lambing as you’ve seen from the photos.
So yer, maybe they aren’t for poor stock men with average dogs but any half decent shepherd shouldn’t find the wildness a problem.
Woolless
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- Location
- Berwickshire, Scottish Borders
@JohnAC I have Easycares and have little trouble keeping them in. They're not too bad in the pens either with the odd exception. Dry hoggs can be a bit wild, as you may expect. I have heard that some strains can be hard work, however. If you think Texel would suit, then a splash of that would slow them up. Make temperament a culling priority for a couple of years, get rid of the worst offenders and things will improve.
I've found that it's takes about a year for sheep to quieten down enough to be able to catch with crook or under neck at the trough with cake feeding a handful of nuts 2-3 times a week too look at feet check for maggots take wool off or change a rams greyon because I got a sh!t dog and I'm not fit enough to too run after them. But some still remain wild or sh1!s too pen up and have off days! Different breeds as well Hampshire charlais suffock mules blue texel . Own breed lambs are obviously easier And il dare say that if I had some of the good shepherds on here sheep I'll never be able to catch or pen them up 
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Guiggs
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- Location
- Leicestershire
I'm not so sure. . My dog is pretty bloody average on a good day but he's a hell of lot better as a sheep dog than I am a stockman.
My shedders were fairly wild when they came here but have calmed down considerably now they are used to seeing me about, only had them penned up twice possibly 3 times in 12 months...
I personally would never change them, infact I'm upping numbers 3 fold this year.
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