Sheep breed low birth weight lambs, meat production?

[TelesnaAg]

South Downs can be chunky mind .

Don't forget that a too fat Dam will not help.

Feeding and timing of ....the in lamb ewe is as ever a big part of the equation.

That will be an issue as they are hospital flock and 1 of them “mummy” has been on a darn good paddock!!

Ant

 

[TelesnaAg]

Disappointed that @unlacedgecko didn’t say his usual “cull it” phrase, but the question should be asked of course. If the animals aren’t fit for mating, should they be? Not to say yours aren’t, but you really should consider if it’s fair to them and what your end game is.

Yes they are pets but they look like they will become a decent size, and will be well past old enough come October, anything to small will be kept out.
This is just a handy mob I have trained like dogs, and are so handy rather than sitting on the lawn mower, I have enough lane ways, house paddocks to run 30 ewes and try sell 40 lambs off them, handy dollar for areas not classed as production areas.
I don’t round these up anymore, I call them and they come, and if it’s starting to get dark they come home themselves and put themselves to bed, so to handy to sell and may as well try make a buck off em.
Ant

 

[TelesnaAg]

No insult intended Ant, and please do take the advice on board. Nothing worse than seeing a pet suffer because of something you’ve done to it.

These are all healthy and fighting fit, as with hospital flocks they didn’t get the best start so achieving there biggest possible frame size is limited, some may surprise come October, but they will be about a texel or Southdown size, a few of them are actually big and I mean big!!
Clare pushes my pet heifer around who weighs 300kg
Ant

 

[TelesnaAg]

Thanks for all the advice, southies probably my easiest option to grab from my location, I will have to diet them so cheers for that!! And they do have very good shelter for lambing time, which will be autumn to early winter.

wonder if I can rent a ram?
Ant

 

[unlacedgecko]

It did cross my mind but I want the offspring to live!! Merino is Spanish for die yes??

cheers, Ant

I believe there are some data driven merino breeders who are achieving some excellent lamb survival rates.

Kerin Poll Merino

Home | Kerin Poll Merino

www.kerinpoll.com.au

Anderson Rams

Domain Default page - This domain is parked

www.andersonrams.com.au

These are the 2 I can think of off the top of my head. I'm sure you'll find plenty local to you with a bit of research.

 

[TelesnaAg]

If i was a big farmer which im not, id be tempted to try Dohne breed or a dual purpose.

There is a big sheep show in hamilton in August, i will go along as they have a heap of stuff on display, and have a nosey around.

When they ask my flock size i will say "27"......um is that 2700 or 27,000...."cryptically i will answer "neither".

In cattle this is a very easy task so wws thinking sheep be the same, but alot just claim easy lambing??? Really!!!

Ant...

 

[Bury the Trash]

That will be an issue as they are hospital flock and 1 of them “mummy” has been on a darn good paddock!!

Ant

not sure what sort of SD you get down there but online they look whiter faced than ours look about same body wise

Ive only got one ,hes from a very old bloodline and is very basic no frills chap ,hardy bugg.er and seems to keep fat cover on him with little or not much fancy forage or conc even, just ordinary grass and not much either seems to do on not a lot.
I cant remmeber pulling a lamb of his, but then my memory isnt what it was either
used on ewe lambs /hoggs and ewes here. whatever is put in front of him .

Not had anything to do with Beltex now ,they do look fancey to me, and (adults) dont look to have particularly natural locomotion (is that the word im looking for? i forget ) the ones ive seen ,show sheep more like.

 

[TelesnaAg]

The buyers chase southdown here real hard due to yield apparently, ive seen this many times.

The wooly face is a turn off for big farmers due to grass seeds and flies.

Generally smaller frame and fatten easily.

Ill chat to some studs and see if they got any smaller frames cheap!

Beltex? Are they texxel crossed with something??

Ant...

 

[unlacedgecko]

The buyers chase southdown here real hard due to yield apparently, ive seen this many times.

The wooly face is a turn off for big farmers due to grass seeds and flies.

Generally smaller frame and fatten easily.

Ill chat to some studs and see if they got any smaller frames cheap!

Beltex? Are they texxel crossed with something??

Ant...

Depending on who you talk to, they're a strain of texel.

 

[Global ovine]

As far as I know, no Beltex genetics have entered Australia for 3 reasons:

1. The Aussie IHS cert. for ovine germplasm and live sheep prohibits importations from NZ because of Scrapie, as NZ uses a different a different criteria based on more recent science and has a recent handful of Beltex flocks. The genetic trade both ways used to be large. The last imports from Europe occurred over 2 decades ago using embryos from old aged type 5 (Scrapie resistance genoytypes) Charollais donors to get around the Scrapie question plus quarantine status for some time.
2. The Aussie sheep industry is very reliant upon growth rate because of their short growing season in most sheep regions. A slow growing terminal defeats that aim. Carcass weight grades extend higher than in Europe.
3. Only one processor pays a yield premium (using Viascan).

 

[neilo]

As far as I know, no Beltex genetics have entered Australia for 3 reasons:

1. The Aussie IHS cert. for ovine germplasm and live sheep prohibits importations from NZ because of Scrapie, as NZ uses a different a different criteria based on more recent science and has a recent handful of Beltex flocks. The genetic trade both ways used to be large. The last imports from Europe occurred over 2 decades ago using embryos from old aged type 5 (Scrapie resistance genoytypes) Charollais donors to get around the Scrapie question plus quarantine status for some time.
2. The Aussie sheep industry is very reliant upon growth rate because of their short growing season in most sheep regions. A slow growing terminal defeats that aim. Carcass weight grades extend higher than in Europe.
3. Only one processor pays a yield premium (using Viascan).

Was Ian’s Charollais export really twenty years ago? How time flies.

At the time, those would already have been ‘old’ genetics, as the National Scrapie Plan meant that most genetics available would have been Group 1 or 2.
The Charollais from that time, especially given 20 years of commercial selection in Australia, would surely be ideal for the OP’s requirements, giving easy lambing and good growth.