Romney

Knittingbandit

Member
Livestock Farmer
My wee lambed 1 week ago. I live in N. Ireland. When should l shear this wool monster? I don't want her to lose her milk as she's 2 very big lambs
 

dogjon

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Western Oregon
If you have a competent well trained shearer she'll be done in just a few minutes and it shouldnt effect her milk supply at all. Lambs may look at her funny for a bit.
 
Shearing her will increase her appetite and if you have plenty of grass her milk production will get a proportional boost. But if you don't have enough pasture height for her to get good mouth fulls, she won't be able to consume enough to grow both of her young lambs at 300 g/day. That means 7cms of pasture height on offer.
Having farmed 10s of thousands of Romneys, I suggest you prelamb shear which will also speed up the lambing process and make her more active if she has a full length fleece.
 

Agrivator

Member
Shearing her will increase her appetite and if you have plenty of grass her milk production will get a proportional boost. But if you don't have enough pasture height for her to get good mouth fulls, she won't be able to consume enough to grow both of her young lambs at 300 g/day. That means 7cms of pasture height on offer.
Having farmed 10s of thousands of Romneys, I suggest you prelamb shear which will also speed up the lambing process and make her more active if she has a full length fleece.

How many Romneys rear twins that grow at 300g/day.

And if that is a regular achievement, why aren't you still farming 10s of thousands of them?
 

Knittingbandit

Member
Livestock Farmer
Shearing her will increase her appetite and if you have plenty of grass her milk production will get a proportional boost. But if you don't have enough pasture height for her to get good mouth fulls, she won't be able to consume enough to grow both of her young lambs at 300 g/day. That means 7cms of pasture height on offer.
Having farmed 10s of thousands of Romneys, I suggest you prelamb shear which will also speed up the lambing process and make her more active if she has a full length fleece.
Thank you for answering my query
 

Hilly

Member
Shearing her will increase her appetite and if you have plenty of grass her milk production will get a proportional boost. But if you don't have enough pasture height for her to get good mouth fulls, she won't be able to consume enough to grow both of her young lambs at 300 g/day. That means 7cms of pasture height on offer.
Having farmed 10s of thousands of Romneys, I suggest you prelamb shear which will also speed up the lambing process and make her more active if she has a full length fleece.
Pre lamb shear is a total no no here .
 
How many Romneys rear twins that grow at 300g/day.

And if that is a regular achievement, why aren't you still farming 10s of thousands of them?


There are farmers achieving these results regularly as showing up in bench marking programmes. It's not the breed that determines it, but the allocation of pasture on offer. The 7cm pasture height rule is a well researched conclusion. All sheep with a history of specifically being selected for maternal traits are capable of this. Quantity is spring, when quality is all good, is the seasonal top priority.

I chose to retire and enjoy life, leaving the work and chance to grow wealth to the next generation.
 

Agrivator

Member
There are farmers achieving these results regularly as showing up in bench marking programmes. It's not the breed that determines it, but the allocation of pasture on offer. The 7cm pasture height rule is a well researched conclusion. All sheep with a history of specifically being selected for maternal traits are capable of this. Quantity is spring, when quality is all good, is the seasonal top priority.

I chose to retire and enjoy life, leaving the work and chance to grow wealth to the next generation.

Data produced by farmers, at least those relating to their own farms, isn't worth a jot. That is why it is essential in any research work involving livestock, the data are collected by trained recorders.

There is little possibility that Romney ewes, regardless of the tup they are mated to, will produce twin lambs which grow at an average of 300gms daily from birth to (say) 42kg liveweight.

Such an average growth rate won't even be achieved by ewes on clean grass which is kept in a vegetative and fertile state and with no limiting factor such as mineral deficiencies. If they were capable of such productivity, we all be tempted to keep them and ditch our own breeds and crosses.
 

Hilly

Member
Data produced by farmers, at least those relating to their own farms, isn't worth a jot. That is why it is essential in any research work involving livestock, the data are collected by trained recorders.

There is little possibility that Romney ewes, regardless of the tup they are mated to, will produce twin lambs which grow at an average of 300gms daily from birth to (say) 42kg liveweight.

Such an average growth rate won't even be achieved by ewes on clean grass which is kept in a vegetative and fertile state and with no limiting factor such as mineral deficiencies. If they were capable of such productivity, we all be tempted to keep them and ditch our own breeds and crosses.
May - September 42kg easy .
 

Agrivator

Member
I had welsh ewes lamb in May rear twins that are 40kg by September, let alone romneys kept on good graving that have a great weight gain. Maybe instead of pretty faces people should concentrate on growth!

We are discussing average growth rates, not the growth rate of the best.

Have any of you actually conducted grazing trials and measured growth rates? It's not easy to arrive at an accurate figure. How do you account for lambs that die (by the ''missing plot'' technique?) How do you account for the lambs that do well and are removed early.
 

Agrivator

Member
May - September 42kg easy .
Your surplus ewe-lambs should be big enough to sell at the breeding sales at St Boswells.

I wonder how they would compare to the Mules, Scotch Halfbreds, Texel crosses and Suffolk crosses. Or take them to Longtown, and give the Cheviot Mules a run for their money.
 

Hilly

Member
Your surplus ewe-lambs should be big enough to sell at the breeding sales at St Boswells.

I wonder how they would compare to the Mules, Scotch Halfbreds, Texel crosses and Suffolk crosses. Or take them to Longtown, and give the Cheviot Mules a run for their money.
They won’t sell up here not popular enough yet but gaining, the beauty of the Romney is that them involved in them other breeds don’t have them so their mothers don’t live off cake their fathers are not moddy coddled and dressed up and only time outside is sale day , Romney is good hard sheep that lives lambs outside and thrives on poor grazing not cake .
 
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