Mules are still supreme
- Thread starter Agrivator
- Start date
Colliepup123
Member
- Location
- Devon
Of course they can, the dearer sheep at hawes this week where by far the better sheep. Everybody has their own opinion, but who doesn’t like to go in the ring with their stock that is turned out to their best? If that means trimming and dipping then go for it, if your happy with them as they are go for that to.
the knockers do tend to ignore the element of pride in a job well done, the craftsmanship.
- Location
- Dumfries & Galloway
Lleyn Sheep Society :: Carlisle Sale Report 2020
www.lleynsheep.com
Gimmer average of ÂŁ192.50 at Carlisle today... Mules still playing catch up?...
And there's no face trimming or colouring to be seen in the females or rams!!
livestock 1
Member
Yes thanks I was looking at this sale today they have been a real trade.
Is this sale a breeders sale only? Or is it a reflection on commercial values too?
It may not count for much scientifically, but when you have a couple of hundred recipients to implant on a joint flushing day and somebody brings Lleyn ewes they are the most awkward buggers to handle. Four land anchors and a nose to the ground if you want to move them. If you’re in a pen with them they’ll lean on you, the pen, each other in the back corner. By the end of the day I absolutely hate the barstewards.
Aspiring Peasants
Member
- Location
- North Pennines
That was our experience when we bought 50 to try some years back.
- Location
- Dumfries & Galloway
It's a mix. The ewe lamb trade is pure commercial. Gimmers are mostly commercial - you have to sell females to be allowed to sell rams. Breeders will be buying some of the top pens, but most will go to purely commercial flocks who don't breed/retain their own.
Same with the rams - the top end are breeders buying. They'll be the tups with the right breeding and figures... but there's an awful lot of faces I know are there just to buy rams to run on their commercial ewes.
- Location
- Northumberland
"four land anchors and a nose to the ground"
Great description of immovable sheep! We used to breed pure Suffolks years ago and they were just like that.........and they were big.
- Location
- Perthshire, Scotland
Surely that is the breeds selling point that they are self replacing?
Fair enough if flocks are expanding numbers and don’t have enough females
Despite all the hype, it appears that the Lleyn is in terminal decline.
They are relatively wild. They jump out of the pens. They jump out of the trailer. They have no shape, and hardly anyone wants to buy Lleyn-looking lambs sold live as stores or fat.
A number of real farmers tried Lleyns when they first came on the scene, just like a number tried Bleu du Maine. Ile de France and Rouge tups.
There are a lot of hobby farmers who will buy them, just as there are a lot of hobby farmers who will buy all sorts of peculiar breeds and crosses - mainly because they can't tell one sheep from another.
There were some who even bought Cambridge crosses.
They are relatively wild. They jump out of the pens. They jump out of the trailer. They have no shape, and hardly anyone wants to buy Lleyn-looking lambs sold live as stores or fat.
A number of real farmers tried Lleyns when they first came on the scene, just like a number tried Bleu du Maine. Ile de France and Rouge tups.
There are a lot of hobby farmers who will buy them, just as there are a lot of hobby farmers who will buy all sorts of peculiar breeds and crosses - mainly because they can't tell one sheep from another.
There were some who even bought Cambridge crosses.
spark_28
Member
- Location
- Western isles
i might just be a 'hobby farmer' but i havent found the problems you listed with mine.
they are ideal for what i want. superb mothers and plenty of lambs requiring little input. Infact they had more lambs and weaned more than two people around me with mules. and probably required far less input.
as for 'They have no shape, and hardly anyone wants to buy Lleyn-looking lambs sold live as stores or fat' mule wethers are very much the same id say....
The number sold were very small. No seller had more than a handful of sheep. In fact, only two sellers had more than 100, and they were both ewe-lambs.
- Location
- Dumfries & Galloway
I agree but it's the only conclusion I can come to as to where the ewe lambs and Gimmers go.
Unlike Mules, there's no dealers 'flipping' them
- Location
- Dumfries & Galloway
Haters gonna hate.
Do you want some vinegar, to go with all that salt? You've already got the chip...
- Location
- Dumfries & Galloway
My pure Lleyn lambs sell fine fat or store. I've put plenty through Longtown with no issues
But you need your eyes tested if you think a Lleyn is as poor carcased as a Mule
spark_28
Member
- Location
- Western isles
mine sold fine too, got sold along side texel cross lambs.
for me though weight is not what im chasing just now. i want quantity over quality. quality will come later.
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
New flocks just getting into them would be looking to source females too..........if only the breed wasn't in terminal decline of course.
You'd think there'd be no trade for rams or ewes though, seeing as everyone is apparently going back into mules, having tried all the others.
irish dom
Member
You'd be a great man on a survey. You seem to know everything everyone else is doing.
If it's alright with you I will keep expanding lleyn numbers and getting good heavy premium for ewe lambs from other supposedly "real" farmers who think the breed in terminal decline might do a job for them.
P. S. The pure ram lambs made a fiver a head more than my Suffolk mules side by side.
Skintagain
Member
- Location
- Perched on the Pennines
@Agrivator gets some good bites, I’ll give him that