North of england mule or masham

[Swaley]

This is for the hill farmers breeding ewe lambs, and the buyers who buy them. Which do you prefer breeding masham or mule. And what do buyers prefer to buy out of the 2 breeds. And which will make a the stronger ewe.
Many thanks all.

 

[Northeastfarmer]

Mules have lost their way these days

 

[Purli R]

Well I"m goin to stand up for the masham before they all come on here spouting about face colour.Mashams will do all or anything a mule can do, except it will still be doing it when a mule has gone broken mouthed or worn itself out. Does not need as much outlay to buy it,unless its a shlg cos they have averaged more than mules(skipton/bentham). Only need to compare a Dalesbred ewe to a swaledale ewe to see why a masham is chunkier than a mule. Only need to compare a Teeswater to a BFL to see why a masham is chunkier. Biggest drawback is they probably carry to much wool for nowadays.

 

[Anymulewilldo]

At this present moment I would swing more for the Masham. But as stated above they do throw too much wool on the lambs. I do put the baldest beltex texel cross tups I can afford on them and they still come a bit too woolly. But shape and weight for size is well in front of lambs out of the “modern” NoE Mule.
I swore 4/5 years ago that I wasn’t buying Mashams ever again. Too much wool & mental too boot. But the NoE mules just haven’t performed as I wanted this last few years hence my swap too Scotch Mules & Cheviot Mules. This autumn I was in the right place at the right time and bought 50 masham tupping lambs avg £92. Too white in the face for a purist but I couldn’t give a damn about that.
When I came too shear them I remembered why I went off them! Mental wriggling swines.
What I struggle to understand is this fad for producing pretty mules that have no strong bone structure, don’t last like they used too and therefore aren’t as productive as they once were? As breeders shouldn’t they be looking at what the likes of me (lowland prime lamb producers) want in a proper functional breeding ewe? Rather than producing pretty little lambs then expecting us to just keep buying them when they aren’t up too the job?

All this is my own thoughts of course. Not too be taken as gospel but there are plenty of outfits around here that have swapped away from the NoE as they just weren’t meriting the input costs?

 

[yellowbelly]

At this present moment I would swing more for the Masham. But as stated above they do throw too much wool on the lambs. I do put the baldest beltex texel cross tups I can afford on them and they still come a bit too woolly. But shape and weight for size is well in front of lambs out of the “modern” NoE Mule.
I swore 4/5 years ago that I wasn’t buying Mashams ever again. Too much wool & mental too boot. But the NoE mules just haven’t performed as I wanted this last few years hence my swap too Scotch Mules & Cheviot Mules. This autumn I was in the right place at the right time and bought 50 masham tupping lambs avg £92. Too white in the face for a purist but I couldn’t give a damn about that.
When I came too shear them I remembered why I went off them! Mental wriggling swines.
What I struggle to understand is this fad for producing pretty mules that have no strong bone structure, don’t last like they used too and therefore aren’t as productive as they once were? As breeders shouldn’t they be looking at what the likes of me (lowland prime lamb producers) want in a proper functional breeding ewe? Rather than producing pretty little lambs then expecting us to just keep buying them when they aren’t up too the job?

All this is my own thoughts of course. Not too be taken as gospel but there are plenty of outfits around here that have swapped away from the NoE as they just weren’t meriting the input costs?

When will you be changing from Anymulewilldo to OnlyaMashamwilldo

 

[Anymulewilldo]

When will you be changing from Anymulewilldo to OnlyaMashamwilldo

The day before I go mad and commit mass murder I think...

 

[tr250]

Mule for me. Masham the lambs go tall lean and woolly. I hate shearing mashams as they fight and are strong. We have given up contract shearing now but there was only one place where I was glad to pull a masham out and they kept them hard and tge mules couldn’t hack it but the mashams kept their condition. Our own mules are plenty big enough for me to shear nowt wrong with a good mule the only thing that will tempt us away from them will be wool shedding

 

[Moors Lad]

Mules have lost their way these days

Aye, judging by the trade this back-end I think you`ve a few guys to convince yet...... (only kidding!)

 

[Estate fencing.]

What about the dales bred mule, they seem to retain there teeth better then NoE mules and have a little better shape.
IMO the NoE mule has really lost its way, all people breeding when want is dark heads and are putting no effort into longevity, the masham on the other hand is a good sheep and probably still being bred the same as they where 30 years ago. The deprecation on a mashams would be nothing compared to mules.

 

[Estate fencing.]

Aye, judging by the trade this back-end I think you`ve a few guys to convince yet...... (only kidding!)

Mule are good sheep to dip in and out of, that's why they are popular this year. I'm in that that camp, if I get 100 acres that I don't think I will keep for a long time it is easy to go to a big sale and buy 400 running lambs and I have 2 options options for them next year. I can always sell them as easy as I bought them.

 

[firther]

just a mental thought here, we used to keep mashams but as said there is too much wool on them. So what would happen if someone put a shedding tup over them.
not been down shedding route here but they were really good ewes when we used to keep em

 

[Anymulewilldo]

What about the dales bred mule, they seem to retain there teeth better then NoE mules and have a little better shape.
IMO the NoE mule has really lost its way, all people breeding when want is dark heads and are putting no effort into longevity, the masham on the other hand is a good sheep and probably still being bred the same as they where 30 years ago. The deprecation on a mashams would be nothing compared to mules.

We tried them. I just couldn’t take too them. Lambs nearly as wool as a mashams but the ewe lambs were dearer too but than a standard mule? That’s all down too what’s in fashion of course!

 

[Skintagain]

My brother has bought a trailer full of lonks and gritstones to breed some mules with some width

 

[Woolless]

At this present moment I would swing more for the Masham. But as stated above they do throw too much wool on the lambs. I do put the baldest beltex texel cross tups I can afford on them and they still come a bit too woolly. But shape and weight for size is well in front of lambs out of the “modern” NoE Mule.
I swore 4/5 years ago that I wasn’t buying Mashams ever again. Too much wool & mental too boot. But the NoE mules just haven’t performed as I wanted this last few years hence my swap too Scotch Mules & Cheviot Mules. This autumn I was in the right place at the right time and bought 50 masham tupping lambs avg £92. Too white in the face for a purist but I couldn’t give a damn about that.
When I came too shear them I remembered why I went off them! Mental wriggling swines.
What I struggle to understand is this fad for producing pretty mules that have no strong bone structure, don’t last like they used too and therefore aren’t as productive as they once were? As breeders shouldn’t they be looking at what the likes of me (lowland prime lamb producers) want in a proper functional breeding ewe? Rather than producing pretty little lambs then expecting us to just keep buying them when they aren’t up too the job?

All this is my own thoughts of course. Not too be taken as gospel but there are plenty of outfits around here that have swapped away from the NoE as they just weren’t meriting the input costs?

Is there any logic in the buyers penalising fat lambs which are a bit woollier? Sounds like the lambs out of the Masham would be better in every regard other than that.

 

[tr250]

Is there any logic in the buyers penalising fat lambs which are a bit woollier? Sounds like the lambs out of the Masham would be better in every regard other than that.

They do tend to go big and lean aswell

 

[Nithsdale]

I think TFF is going to melt down... Here we have a thread where mule fans are bashing the Mule

Agritator will be pissing in his wellies!!

 

[Northeastfarmer]

I think TFF is going to melt down... Here we have a thread where mule fans are bashing the Mule

Agritator will be pissing in his wellies!!

 

[Skintagain]

I think TFF is going to melt down... Here we have a thread where mule fans are bashing the Mule

Agritator will be pissing in his wellies!!

Even mule fans have to buy with extreme caution these days.

The problem with the mule job is the swaths of people buying the running lambs to sell on are drawn in to the dainty pretty things and then grow them into fat monsters that are still dainty once they reel off and people are peed off with how they perform

 

[Agrivator]

I think TFF is going to melt down... Here we have a thread where mule fans are bashing the Mule

Agritator will be pissing in his wellies!!

It's a good job I can't afford to buy a new waterproof pair.

 

[Nithsdale]

Crocs are the in thing... apparently