Mule gimmer lambs

[Swaley]

Hello all,
I breed and Sell a few north england mule gimmer lambs and I have always tried to breed a smarter gimmer but like alot of smart gimmer lambs they are no where near as strong or long lasting as people say they where 30 years ago when they where out of a traditional type tups, so I was thinking instead of keeping the crossing type tups should I use the strongest traditional tup possible. Would like to here what you all say and your honest opinions.
Many thanks all.

 

[Old Tup]

Depends how important “Bonny Heids” are to you.

 

[Woolless]

Depends how important “Bonny Heids” are to you.

Or to the OP's regular customers. If they are for your own use @Swaley then I would think you are spot on. Someone that knows the mule trade better than me will be along to opine on the potential effect on your trade.

 

[Swaley]

Depends how important “Bonny Heids” are to you.

In my mind Bonney heads arnt everything and I want to sell something with more stature and strength about her. Thanks for the reply.

 

[Swaley]

Or to the OP's regular customers. If they are for your own use @Swaley then I would think you are spot on. Someone that knows the mule trade better than me will be along to opine on the potential effect on your trade.

On about trade I sold 2 very light strong hoggs last year at a last sale and sold them for second top price but I don't know if price would be effected if they where in one go the main sales instead.
Thanks for the reply.

 

[Skintagain]

You know what you should be doing. But if silly nuggets keep buying the Bonny heeds keep breeding them

 

[hill shepherd]

There's good and bad in both the traditional and crossing types of bfl, we use both. If you've the right swale yowes you can breed a bony mule lamb using a traditional type. There's plenty crossing types that will breed a strong lamb aswel. One thing that ive noticed with the crossing types is the amount of black wool in the mule lambs, not that wool is worth bothering about

 

[Agrivator]

Most buyers of Mules buy on reputation - and whether or not they can expect a bit of luck.

But it's amazing how envious folk can be when they can't hope to emulate the most capable breeders of any type of stock. You don't produce Mules that the buyers want without a lot of knowledge and experience. And a bit of creep feed to bring the colours out..

 

[Swaley]

There's good and bad in both the traditional and crossing types of bfl, we use both. If you've the right swale yowes you can breed a bony mule lamb using a traditional type. There's plenty crossing types that will breed a strong lamb aswel. One thing that ive noticed with the crossing types is the amount of black wool in the mule lambs, not that wool is worth bothering about

Do you use the traditional Leicester on swales

 

[Downtrodden Dad]

I totally agree with you that the bonny mules we have today aren't what they used to be, remember the Leicester is only half of the sheep, most of the swales I see today are poor aswell.

 

[hill shepherd]

QUOTE="Swaley, post: 7580794, member: 152944"]
Do you use the traditional Leicester on swales
[/QUOTE]
We sometimes do. Often buy a more traditional type off a certain breeder which we know will cross well with our darker more traditional swales. We use the crossing types on the more modern type swales. If you ask the Leicester men they'll tell you they've bred them like that to suit the modern lighter swales. Talk to a swale breeder they'll tell you they're breeding swales lighter to suit the crossing Leicesters. Think they'd have been better off if they'd left both breeds how they were 30 years ago

 

[Purli R]

QUOTE="Swaley, post: 7580794, member: 152944"]
Do you use the traditional Leicester on swales

We sometimes do. Often buy a more traditional type off a certain breeder which we know will cross well with our darker more traditional swales. We use the crossing types on the more modern type swales. If you ask the Leicester men they'll tell you they've bred them like that to suit the modern lighter swales. Talk to a swale breeder they'll tell you they're breeding swales lighter to suit the crossing Leicesters. Think they'd have been better off if they'd left both breeds how they were 30 years ago
[/QUOTE]
^^ this

 

[hill shepherd]

For me its the swale breebers that have gone the wrong way. The more traditional darker type yowe will breed decent mule lambs with a traditional or crossing type Leicester. These narrow, light legged, grey faced swales with no decent coat are no good for any one. Can't understand why they've bred them like that

 

[Anymulewilldo]

For me its the swale breebers that have gone the wrong way. The more traditional darker type yowe will breed decent mule lambs with a traditional or crossing type Leicester. These narrow, light legged, grey faced swales with no decent coat are no good for any one. Can't understand why they've bred them like that

Fashion.

 

[unlacedgecko]

Fashion.

The undoing of many good lines of stock. Look at this red dog trend in collies.

 

[hill shepherd]

Fashion.

Think I'd rather be unfashionable

 

[livestock 1]

For me its the swale breebers that have gone the wrong way. The more traditional darker type yowe will breed decent mule lambs with a traditional or crossing type Leicester. These narrow, light legged, grey faced swales with no decent coat are no good for any one. Can't understand why they've bred them like that

I can. They ended up with a load of shyte then told everyone that was how they were meant to be

 

[Anymulewilldo]

Think I'd rather be unfashionable

Story of my life.

 

[livestock 1]

When the crossing type Leicester’s first turned up the carcasses were terrible. Narrow shoulders humpy backs and lack of body. Now they are much better but I would say they are bred for the mule lamb breeder in mind as opposed to the keeper of the mule ewe flock. When selling any mule prime hoggs it’s noticeable that they can be difficult to fatten with their ability to grow rather than put weight on. Leicester tups are much bigger now that they ever used to be and the wethers follow this grow and end up putting daylight under their bellies or as I call it giraffe characteristics. With the mule lamb job being so competitive it’s no wonder big tups are in fashion it’s a race to grow lambs as big as possible to hit the September ewe lamb sales.
As far as the hardiness it’s worth considering that there’s hardly any genuine fell sheep left. Most come inbye for some period of the year and in most cases fell ewes are better fed than they ever used to be. Fell flocks producing in around 100% were common 25 years ago now that’s often unsustainable so the cake bag takes over.
As for the colour the traditional type blue faced Leicester will often throw light brown faced lambs and less reliable as far as percentage of Bonny lambs. As it’s dark brown which is in fashion then it’s not much use. Add onto that the white faced white legged Swale ewes and you could be in line for a lot of light faced lambs unless you get a right one

 

[Skintagain]

Kappa poppers were fashionable. It didn’t make them good I had a pair they were draughty. Same comments for my holey jeans that were more holes than jeans - pulled a few birds in them but had blue testicles on January nights out