Romney x maternal wethers..

[Keepers]

Hi!
For those who have previously crossed a different maternal tup onto their Romney ewes for whatever reason (Lleyn, aberfield, anything not terminal etc)

The resulting large bellied, woolly, high value ( ) little lambs.. hang around all winter types? Finish in good time but smaller weights type?
Would they be at a decent size to sell before spring after wintering on nips?

cheers

 

[neilo]

Iirc @Frank-the-Wool puts an Aberdale on some, or did?

 

[exmoorromney]

Hi!
For those who have previously crossed a different maternal tup onto their Romney ewes for whatever reason (Lleyn, aberfield, anything not terminal etc)

The resulting large bellied, woolly, high value ( ) little lambs.. hang around all winter types? Finish in good time but smaller weights type?
Would they be at a decent size to sell before spring after wintering on nips?

cheers

We put an Aberfield ram over some Romneys last year as I was short of a Suffolk ram, the lambs are cracking and a good size. Sold the wethers in November and kept some ewe lambs with the idea of keeping them to breed but sold the best ones fat 2 weeks ago and the ones that weren't quite there yesterday, the fat ones were 44kg, they had just been running around with my Romney ewe lambs on pretty average grass. So yes I would say they would finish before Spring very easily as do pure Romney lambs.

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

Iirc @Frank-the-Wool puts an Aberdale on some, or did?

We cross around 800 ewes with an Aberdale as we now have customers for all the ewe lambs we can produce. It is a fantastic cross but it is not for the faint hearted as it will do well over 200% unless managed correctly.
One of the farms we supply crosses them to a Beltex and sells them at a great price from June through to August. They I believe scanned at 215%.
The good thing is that the cull ewes are also easy to sell.

 

[Keepers]

We put an Aberfield ram over some Romneys last year as I was short of a Suffolk ram, the lambs are cracking and a good size. Sold the wethers in November and kept some ewe lambs with the idea of keeping them to breed but sold the best ones fat 2 weeks ago and the ones that weren't quite there yesterday, the fat ones were 44kg, they had just been running around with my Romney ewe lambs on pretty average grass. So yes I would say they would finish before Spring very easily as do pure Romney lambs.

Cheers that’s good to know, and will be either on turnips or red clover from November onwards so should definitely finish over winter well then

 

[Keepers]

We cross around 800 ewes with an Aberdale as we now have customers for all the ewe lambs we can produce. It is a fantastic cross but it is not for the faint hearted as it will do well over 200% unless managed correctly.
One of the farms we supply crosses them to a Beltex and sells them at a great price from June through to August. They I believe scanned at 215%.
The good thing is that the cull ewes are also easy to sell.

An Aberdale has better conformation than a pure maternal such as a BFL? Or a Lleyn maybe? (For example)

That’s some %.. definitely one to sit down after reading

 

[neilo]

An Aberdale has better conformation than a pure maternal such as a BFL? Or a Lleyn maybe? (For example)

That’s some %.. definitely one to sit down after reading

It will have, it’s essentially a pure Texel but carrying the Inverdale prolificacy gene.
Innovis only hire the rams out iirc, for extortionate money, but I think a few other people may have bred Inverdale carriers up now.

 

[unlacedgecko]

It will have, it’s essentially a pure Texel but carrying the Inverdale prolificacy gene.
Innovis only hire the rams out iirc, for extortionate money, but I think a few other people may have bred Inverdale carriers up now.

Innovis stopped hiring out tups a couple of years ago I believe.

 

[Keepers]

It will have, it’s essentially a pure Texel but carrying the Inverdale prolificacy gene.
Innovis only hire the rams out iirc, for extortionate money, but I think a few other people may have bred Inverdale carriers up now.

Ah I see, so resulting lambs will essentially be a terminal cross type rather than a maternal x

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

It will have, it’s essentially a pure Texel but carrying the Inverdale prolificacy gene.
Innovis only hire the rams out iirc, for extortionate money, but I think a few other people may have bred Inverdale carriers up now.

You are correct that you can only lease them. They are very expensive but the right rams are easy lambing and good growth rates. You have to run them at as a high a rate as possible so 100 or 120 to a ram. You can compare this to producing Mules , this is a similar system, the BFL have a high cost and are not renowned for longevity and the wether lambs from them are more difficult to sell compared with a Texel cross lamb, the Texel cross cull ewe is significantly more than a Mule.
The Tups do all have EBV's, but best to inspect the rams.

Recently though Innovis have not had enough surplus rams which has limited the numbers. The Romney cross appears to be the most successful.

 

[unlacedgecko]

Ah I see, so resulting lambs will essentially be a terminal cross type rather than a maternal x

That's what my home bred stud ewe lambs are, easycare X inverdale. Although my undertake tup is 3/4 texel 1/4 cheviot