suffolk or charollais for lleyn

[neilo]

Not if the output is weighed at 8 weeks and at least basic proformance recording is done as higher lamb weight at 8 weeks (compared to ewe weight) gives an ewe a much better proformance number.

8 week weights, & the ebv, has to be tempered by traditional shepherding skills. Just selecting on a number will give you plenty of big bagged ewes with teats as big as your forearm ime.
Ebv’s are just another selection tool, always.

 

[ringi]

That why I included "compared to ewe weight" that I think should be in EBV calculations.

 

[unlacedgecko]

8 week weights, & the ebv, has to be tempered by traditional shepherding skills. Just selecting on a number will give you plenty of big bagged ewes with teats as big as your forearm ime.
Ebv’s are just another selection tool, always.

Poor bags and/or poor teat placement is my pet.

No point having an easy born wick lamb if it can't feed itself colostrum.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Cha

would you really keep a terminal Charolais x as a ewe

Fair point, i was really actually meaning Rouge ,which is what i did years ago ,bit of that still in a ewe or 2 ,just petering out now.
Only reason i said Charole in the above post was because @neilo had previously said that there was as much Charolais in the Rouge population back then as anything else which i would dispute with the ones i had because they had redder faces but seriously prolific even if their udders couldn't compliment that aspect

TBh the only ewes i want inj my flock these days are Exlana with a SuffTex as the terminal mainly because of a really good local source.
Anything thing apart from the terminal Rams and lambs with wool is going .

 

[andyt87]

But now....tempting though it is to retain charxlleyn ewelambs as replacements, would I start seeing a reduction in some of the performance figures of the maternal flock (lamb losses, scanning rates, ewe losses/culls). The nice thing about the char rams as B flock sires has been that the B flock ewes have performed just as well as the A flock ewes in every other area (lamb losses, scanning rates, ewe losses/culls), becasue the B flock ewes are maternal lleyn.

More difficult to quantify, isn't it? Thoughts please....

For me your next step is to aim for not an A/B block in terms A being good & B being faulty, but to think of them as replacement and crossing flocks.

If you're now happy with how the Char x lambs are growing and selling, focus on improving the Lleyn base so that you are able to cull a larger % of the poorer ewes from the crossing flock. Feet, assisted lambing, being an arse. Initially it may be moving lowest 1/4 of A flock to B flock, but long term you want to have enough A flock replacements you're happy with that you either sell some as ewe lambs or they improve the crossing flock.

 

[ringi]

I been thinking using sexed AI and ET to get more top quality ewes may be justified for many flocks. Remember each new top 5% ewe enables about 3 top 5% rams to be sold over the next 6 years as well as releasing more good ewe to be pushed into crossing flock.