easyram1
Member
- Location
- North Shropshire
Our new EasyDams maternal composites will be spot on for this.
Maternal tup for Texels
- Thread starter Wazmos
- Start date
Have you got a few more details??
I’m interested as well
- Location
- West Wales
Please don’t let this post turn into the “how to move a dead horse” thread ?
M-J-G
Member
Or flog a dead horsePlease don’t let this post turn into the “how to move a dead horse” thread ?
easyram1
Member
- Location
- North Shropshire
3 way composite containing Romney East Friesian and Texel. So NO they are not Highlanders as they have no Finn in them and have been sourced from flocks dominating the very top of the SIL Dual Purpose ( Maternal) with meat Index.
Aim is a moderate sized mature ewe Av 65Kgs scanning at 200%. In NZ the only ewes introduced into their flocks will have had to lamb as Ewe Lambs and then recovered to weigh at least 60Kgs when tupped as yearlings.
Do you have any photos?
M-J-G
Member
How much East Friesian is in them?
easyram1
Member
- Location
- North Shropshire
Started 50% Romney 25% Texel and 25% East Friesian to get milkiness early female sexual maturity and prolificacy into mix and then reduced. Not sure what current % is and probably breeders don't know either. The only thing that our source flocks are certain about is that they are not based on any Finn. I understand Finn used mainly in N Island composites. Our flocks all from Southland.
easyram1
Member
- Location
- North Shropshire
Yes but they need hunting down. We are just revamping our website and that will have lots of PICs within the next 10 days. I will try to put some here as soon as poss.
- Location
- Scottish Borders
@easyrams- I could take a ram and use him on my ewes and report back on the offsprings good traits / bad traits. If you looked favourably on me price wise, I’m sure the report back would be most favourable !
easyram1
Member
- Location
- North Shropshire
Yes Mr Bill dog but you already give us very favourable reviews and I assume that will continue that policy even with the cheapo EasyRam you snaffled ( 2nd hand) off one of your neighbours last year ?@easyrams- I could take a ram and use him on my ewes and report back on the offsprings good traits / bad traits. If you looked favourably on me price wise, I’m sure the report back would be most favourable !
Are you breeding anything that sheds it's wool yet?? The future in sheep?
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
Sounds very much like what the Highlander does tbh, but I guess a different marketing machine is promoting those.
I dare say both would do a very similar job.
M-J-G
Member
Oh I bet they won'tSounds very much like what the Highlander does tbh, but I guess a different marketing machine is promoting those.
Devil's advocate
Member
- Location
- Posh side of Barnsley
I sucessfully used Hartline tups, when I was in your situation.
easyram1
Member
- Location
- North Shropshire
I can not comment on Highlanders as I have no direct experience of them. The flocks we have sourced stock from certainly use tups from one another and from other flocks to maintain linkages but none of them as far as I aware use or have ever used Highlanders.Sounds very much like what the Highlander does tbh, but I guess a different marketing machine is promoting those.
I guess that everyone trying to breed and sell maternal genetics that are suited for a self replacing flock system like we are doing will inevitably have the same aims and objectives and so will end up with similar sheep as we are all at the end of the day trying to get to the same place.
The trick then for us is to breed sheep that will maximise the profitability of clients flocks and if we can do that then there will be a ready market for our sheep. I would be very confident that we are starting in a much stronger place with our Maternals than when we started Terminal ram breeding 14 years ago. I say this because we now know much more about flocks in NZ and understand much more the very specific requirements of the UK market..
I will take the "Marketing Machine" comment as a compliment but looking in the mirror at an elderly overweight guy locked down against the virus he does not look much of a machine to me
or at the very least one that needs a good overhaul and substantial rebuild.
NZDan
Member
- Location
- Broomfield, New Zealand
Not upset at all, I used to have East Fresians, they grew well and made exceptional hoggets and really good 2ths. They were Ok as 4ths and mostly gone after that.
I mated them to both Finn and TexelRomney ewes, the lamb survival was poorer that the Finn sires over both dam breeds. I did keep a small flock of 1/2 Finn 1/2 EF ewes for a while but they died out on there own, certainly the Finn is a much hardier and robust animal than the EF.
The EF has it's place but it is a high input breed, there are really only 2 composite flocks in NZ that have stuck with a strong EF based composite, one is definitely a high input farming system with ewes wintered indoors and an intensive lambing similar to the UK, I'm not certain of the others farming system.
The EF has had a resurgence in NZ for sheep milking flocks but again constitution and longevity is a big issue, think of a white Zwartble but not as hardy and with a worse udder, most milking flocks are now being crossed with Lacune milking sheep to add some constitution and structural soundness.
Edit. Just had a quick look on SiL for the two main TEFRom flocks and both contain a small % of Finn through many animals, I'm presuming a residual from out side rams, most NZ composite breeders will use other composite rams regardless of breed back ground, providing the ram suits them on both performance and type.
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