Primera rams

[d-wales]

Farther recently bought a few of these rams, look ok, what can I expect from them?to be fair to them, there not interested in the cake bag at all, thanks

 

[Yale]

Lambs in just under 6 months.

 

[neilo]

If the claims are to be believed, I'd expect very few assisted lambings and high growth rates, but far from exceptional carcass grades/prices in the mart. Probably better than a Wilt though (tin hat on).

 

[Johnny400]

What neil said is what we found. Tended to get fattier grades the heavier they went to compared to Charollais.

 

[Big Al]

What neil said is what we found. Tended to get fattier grades the heavier they went to compared to Charollais.

I think it's been mentioned before but I think the optimum carcase weight is 18kg before they start getting fatter.

do you sell yours at market or dead weight? I would be interested to hear what prices the lambs make in the ring.
When I saw a bunch of primera rams they all looked very different. Do you get a consistent lamb or do they all look different too.
There is nothing liveweight buyers like better than a mixed bunch of lambs they can discount for no good reason.

 

[norfolk n sheep]

Bought 4 Primeras last year to put on Texel x ewes as a trial. EID;d all offspring and weighed them to obtain DLWG. As a comparison used charolais and texel rams. To be honest there was not much difference in DLWG between all the lambs. One observation was the Primera lambs did keep some fat on them all the way, so I could kill them early if the price is good. Last load of 286 lambs killed out at 20. 86kg. There was only 7 4L's in the whole load, rest 3L's and 3H's. This year have sent all lambs deadweight, although the lambs out of Texel ewes would look good in the market.
At lambing the lambs were out and up and sucking much faster than the other breeds, generally very impressed. I have bought 2 more Primeras this year and will continue to do so until something better turns up.

 

[Johnny400]

I think it's been mentioned before but I think the optimum carcase weight is 18kg before they start getting fatter.

do you sell yours at market or dead weight? I would be interested to hear what prices the lambs make in the ring.
When I saw a bunch of primera rams they all looked very different. Do you get a consistent lamb or do they all look different too.
There is nothing liveweight buyers like better than a mixed bunch of lambs they can discount for no good reason.

Mine are sold dead. The look of the lambs are variable, but as carcasses hung up i recon they would be very similar. They have good length to them.
I dont have many lambs each year, was kinda given a tup years ago and only really use him as a runner. Compared to high ebv charollais tups i get similar growth but the primera will only give r grades where the charollais is giving me U and E grades which is worth an extra 10 and 20p/kg more. Along with an extra kilo or two without getting fat it soon adds up

 

[sherg]

think there's better alternatives out there whilst we sell lambs under the EUROP grid

 

[Devil's advocate]

Any one kept any Primera crosses as ewes?

I think they are Suffolk, White Suffolk & Poll Dorset composites, so some Suffolk in them perhaps similar to Easy Ram Suffolks & Poll Dorset which has early lambing potential & more milk than most terminals.

I would have thought Primera x Mule or similar would have good potential as an early lamber on an arable farm.

 

[Global ovine]

I think it's been mentioned before but I think the optimum carcase weight is 18kg before they start getting fatter.

do you sell yours at market or dead weight? I would be interested to hear what prices the lambs make in the ring.
When I saw a bunch of primera rams they all looked very different. Do you get a consistent lamb or do they all look different too.
There is nothing liveweight buyers like better than a mixed bunch of lambs they can discount for no good reason.

Primera's were developed in NZ where for most of the last decade an 18 kg lamb carcass has been near the top of the desired weight range for the export industry (94% of all lambs slaughtered). That weight range is being extended now NZ is marketing more to emerging markets than driven by EU/UK demand.

Any one kept any Primera crosses as ewes?

I think they are Suffolk, White Suffolk & Poll Dorset composites, so some Suffolk in them perhaps similar to Easy Ram Suffolks & Poll Dorset which has early lambing potential & more milk than most terminals.

I would have thought Primera x Mule or similar would have good potential as an early lamber on an arable farm.

Primera's were developed as a terminal for NZ conditions. There has been no selection for maternal traits, just for terminal traits; survival, growth, meat yield and against fatness. However they may be OK as a dam, whereas Easyram Suffolks, Sufftex and Maternal Texels have been sourced from NZ on maternal and terminal traits being evaluated in the UK on both Terminal and Maternal programmes so buyers can choose the rams best suited to their goals be it kill all lambs or retain daughters for breeding.

 

[rjtfarming]

Interesting thread going on here. Sorry I'm a bit late to the party... thinking of putting a Primera on some Aberfield x NZ Romney ewe lambs this November. I get that the carcase will probably be a bit light and perhaps only an R on the grid, but would the Primera be a good tup just to get a lamb out of a ewe lamb?

 

[sherg]

Interesting thread going on here. Sorry I'm a bit late to the party... thinking of putting a Primera on some Aberfield x NZ Romney ewe lambs this November. I get that the carcase will probably be a bit light and perhaps only an R on the grid, but would the Primera be a good tup just to get a lamb out of a ewe lamb?

I think it probably depends on how you want to sell the lambs if your selling deadweight then fine if your selling liveweight or as stores I'd say there's better bets

 

[Global ovine]

Interesting thread going on here. Sorry I'm a bit late to the party... thinking of putting a Primera on some Aberfield x NZ Romney ewe lambs this November. I get that the carcase will probably be a bit light and perhaps only an R on the grid, but would the Primera be a good tup just to get a lamb out of a ewe lamb?

A Primera would be similar to an Easyram Sufftex (individual ram variation accepted) for ease of birth. Both are bred for increased carcass muscling but not bred for altered skeletal shape required to get high % of E grades, therefore should be suited for ease of birthing. I would advise that you pick both a racy fronted and finer legged ram with good eBVs for survival, if that is measured. Go for low birth weight eBV if Survival not available. I have visited several clients of @easyram1 where claims of high grading % are achieved as well as low lambing intervention outdoors from ewe lamb dams pasture fed only.
Again I reiterate that Primera were developed as a Terminal breed, not screened from a huge population on Maternal traits within the 3 Terminal breeds, Texel, Suffolk and Sufftex in NZ.
My personal choice would be a NZ Suffolk for ease of lambing and growth rate, but I am seeing this through my NZ eyes.

 

[shearerlad]

Bought 4 Primeras last year to put on Texel x ewes as a trial. EID;d all offspring and weighed them to obtain DLWG. As a comparison used charolais and texel rams. To be honest there was not much difference in DLWG between all the lambs. One observation was the Primera lambs did keep some fat on them all the way, so I could kill them early if the price is good. Last load of 286 lambs killed out at 20. 86kg. There was only 7 4L's in the whole load, rest 3L's and 3H's. This year have sent all lambs deadweight, although the lambs out of Texel ewes would look good in the market.
At lambing the lambs were out and up and sucking much faster than the other breeds, generally very impressed. I have bought 2 more Primeras this year and will continue to do so until something better turns up.

Hope I'm not being too critical but would you have be better off putting those lambs away say 10-14days earlier?
Half a kg lighter but a fat class leaner would put more in target spec and therefore higher ppk.
Plus nearly 300 lambs will eat a lot of grub in 2 weeks.

 

[norfolk n sheep]

Yes you probably right. But at the time we were in a fortunate position grazing broccoli aftermath on neighbouring fields. The feed was very cheap and we had to graze it all off for the plough.

 

[masseyman74]

Can anyone advise on a rough cost of one of these rams? I have a friend who has some. I put his rams in with mine on some rented ground. Unfortunately the rented ground has some laurel which the owner has cut and put in a bonfire. Looks like his ram has eaten some and died.

 

[Al R]

Can anyone advise on a rough cost of one of these rams? I have a friend who has some. I put his rams in with mine on some rented ground. Unfortunately the rented ground has some laurel which the owner has cut and put in a bonfire. Looks like his ram has eaten some and died.

Could he have just died from the millions of ways that sheep die? Anything from £100-£900? Ask your friend how much he paid?

 

[masseyman74]

Definitely poison foaming at the mouth and struggling to breathe. I will ask him what he paid. Just feel really bad rhat I was trying to help out as he hasn’t got much grass and this has happened.