NATIVE tup for large flock

[Keepers]

If you were to start a large commercial fat lamb producing flock from scratch (1,500+) but had to chose a native tup to sire the fat lambs ( I am not going to go into reason why, so don’t ask ) what would you chose and why?

Obviously first which came to mind was the Suffolk, however I am not a Suffolk fan at all and I would always go for continental tups, so finding this one hard

Also I am still unable to work at the moment and I am bored so I don’t care how many cans of worms this may open

Thanks

 

[JP1]

 

[Devil's advocate]

What breed of ewe? Lambing inside or out? What time of year lambing & intended market, creep???

Suffolk's are not that bad are they?

Southdown (modern type) perhaps an alternative.

 

[Keepers]

What breed of ewe? Lambing inside or out? What time of year lambing & intended market, creep???

Suffolk's are not that bad are they?

Southdown (modern type) perhaps an alternative.

Not specific to breed of ewe, could be mule/lleyn/Romney

In or out, I guess what tup would you use on a large flock regardless of in or out, just asking what native tups are most commonly used or considered on a large flock

Other information is not important at this time

From my experience I just prefer a continental or white faced tup, due to many reasons, it would take an awful lot of research to find one I liked before going back to a suffolk but I am open to anything anyway

 

[Whitepeak]

I'm guessing for fat lamb production you've basically got the down breeds to select from- Southdown, Suffolk, Hampshire, Oxford, Dorset etc. Would Shropshire and Clun Forest count as well??
I'd regard the rest of the native breeds as being either wool breeds, hill, upland or primitive except maybe llyen and Romney that are more maternal

 

[Guiggs]

If you could source a decent one I'd say Suffolk
If wooly heads wouldn't be a problem then Hampshire ,
If you wanted the option of keeping females then a lleyn,
My 2 pence for what it's worth!

 

[Agrivator]

North Country Cheviot is the obvious choice.

 

[Man_in_black]

NCC?

 

[Devil's advocate]

NCC?

I guessing Park type/

 

[Man_in_black]

I guessing Park type/

Yeah or caithness. Chap in our village has flock of couple hundred, strong ewes.

 

[hendrebc]

UK texel
I know a few people using lleyn rams on Welsh mountain flocks.
Didn't charollais start off as Southdown?

 

[MJT]

Have you considered Hampshire or Dorset downs ? After college worked as shepherd for couple years in Berkshire outdoor lambing big flock of texel x ewes . Put a lot of them to Dorset downs, cracking lambs fair play, really impressed considering I knew little about them beforehand. Also some to Hampshire which I couldn’t fault either.

 

[JP1]

Where's the head honcho for native sheep @Cab-over Pete when you need him

 

[Keepers]

Have you considered Hampshire or Dorset downs ? After college worked as shepherd for couple years in Berkshire outdoor lambing big flock of texel x ewes . Put a lot of them to Dorset downs, cracking lambs fair play, really impressed considering I knew little about them beforehand. Also some to Hampshire which I couldn’t fault either.

If you could source a decent one I'd say Suffolk
If wooly heads wouldn't be a problem then Hampshire ,
If you wanted the option of keeping females then a lleyn,
My 2 pence for what it's worth!

Woolly heads not a problem, do Hampshire’s mature at lighter weights than say a Suffolk?
I do know that Southdowns tend to mature on the lighter side just due to overall mature size being smaller

I honestly don’t know an awful lot about Dorset Downs, what are they like compared to a Hampshire?

Basically looking for a breed that could be a little bit special, but still 100% commercially viable and able to produce a mainstream saleable product, whilst being able to carry a little bit of a “story” and be native without going as far as into rare breeds.....

Do many use a NCC as a terminal? In a hill flock I am guessing so, and yes I have seen lleyns and lambed lleyns who could basically be dual registered

 

[Ffermer Bach]

North Country Cheviot is the obvious choice.

Meatlinc

 

[Al R]

Hampshire, Southdown, Dorset.
The hamp is heavy boned like a oxford and Suffolk. I would never use Suffolk again but know a few who use Hampshire’s and they have some seriously early lambs (on par with charolais but less length)

British charolais
The witshire horn isn’t a bad shaped animal, remove the horns and its a good animal..

 

[Highland Mule]

Yeah or caithness. Chap in our village has flock of couple hundred, strong ewes.

You live in Nottinghamshire. There’s more distance in geography, history and culture between your place and Caithness than there is between it and Holland. NCC is less native than Texel would be, by many measures.

 

[Danllan]

Easy Care...

 

[BDBed]

For what my opinion is worth. Find the right Suffolk as the main point on you post is commercially viable. Yes a lot have had bad experiences with them. But I have some pedigree customers that are being very pro active in their breeding and their aim is to breed commercials viable tubs. They may be hard to find but they are out there!

 

[Cab-over Pete]

Where's the head honcho for native sheep @Cab-over Pete when you need him

I don’t know about that!

We love our Hampshire Downs but I’m not blinkered, there are other good sheep. Nearly as good anyway

Easy lambing, up and sucking quickly, fast growth rates, finish well. They will put a layer on if kept too long, but that’s the shepherds fault not the sheep.

If it’s a big flock try several.