Swaledale boys...

Plopper

Member
Anyone on here any experience crossing swale ewes straight to a Texel , Suffolk etc rather than a BFL, bought some swales ewes in for the first time last year and pretty happy with how they've done , very low maintenance , all lambed themselves to a BFL tup but ive ended up with 75% wether lambs so not ideal. I know some people use BFL x Texel tups with decent results but just wondering if going straight to a texel is the way forward.
 

Agrivator

Member
A good tight-skinned Texel is ideal. Many do it.

If you use a BFL x Tex tup, you will end up with a bit of segregation, so if you only have a few sheep, I guess you would be better having lambs as uniform as possible.

And if you keep any of the Texel crosses for breeding, they will keep their flesh better than Mules,

But they will speak to their lambs in a slight Dutch accent, rather than in the the local dialect.
 
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Sandpit Farm

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Derbyshire
This is exactly (rather predictably) what I’d recommend Roussin for. You’d finish the males well and the females would be prolific like a mule. You’d just need a prolific ram. Most breeders I’ve spoken to have lambed their pures over 200% this year.

No idea about Texel or Suffolk I’m afraid but I guess if you are after purely slaughter lambs, they’d do the job.
 

FE35

Member
Location
Cumbria
I put a texel on to older/ poorer Swales & use texel as a sweeper so any late lambs have a chance of catching the main crop. Nice lambs that are born easy & tough - seem to make good sheep - I’ve a ready market for gimmers privately but am keeping a few myself this time instead of buying in expensive mule shearlings.
 

copse

Member
Mixed Farmer
I put a texel on to older/ poorer Swales & use texel as a sweeper so any late lambs have a chance of catching the main crop. Nice lambs that are born easy & tough - seem to make good sheep - I’ve a ready market for gimmers privately but am keeping a few myself this time instead of buying in expensive mule shearlings.
Would you be able to put some pictures up of them?
 

Sandpit Farm

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Derbyshire
How much do rousin yups go for usually? And what's the lambing like? I put hamp and suff over swale drafts this yewr but would be interested in something with maternal traits that could potentially be retained or just be faster growing.

They’d not be expensive, but of course it depends on quality. Good commercial tups would start at £250ish for ram lambs and more for Shearlings. That’s usually the upstart price in the sales. The top price ever was 1800gns so they aren’t silly money.

If you had to lamb anything, I’d be surprised. Any breeders selling hard-lambing tups would be frowned upon in a big way. Breed standard even specifies that shoulders will be narrower than the rump.

In terms of growth, they’ll do a good job. A ‘good’ Suffolk or Hamp will probably have the edge on them but they’d hold their own.

We have some Hamps actually and the ewes are great, but they are big and hungry so a maternal flock of Hamps wouldn’t be ideal.
 
I’ve tried both. To be fair you cannot beat a bfl tup on a Swale. The Texel is quite commonly used on Swales but I pretty much hate the lambs. Too light don’t grow right don’t look right. Gimmer are bad to lamb and don’t crop well. Put a Suffolk on and kill the lot. Not bad lambs will weigh better than the texels
 

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