Terminals for shedders

[CopperBeech]

Sort of been done to death this but here goes ......

If you keep wool shedders of whatever type .....

Do you use a terminal over some / all or breed pure ?

If you use a terminal, what breed and why?

Would you consider using a shedding terminal?

If yes, what traits would be important / key to you?

Cheers!

 

[Al R]

Yes

 

[neilo]

I’ll start. I put a Texel over all of my shedders this year, in order to try to breed some functionality into them and improve their temperament.

 

[CopperBeech]

I’ll start. I put a Texel over all of my shedders this year, in order to try to breed some functionality into them and improve their temperament.

I do feel sorry for you, that you ended up with the worst ones on the planet. Sounds like someone mugged you right off.

 

[neilo]

I do feel sorry for you, that you ended up with the worst ones on the planet. Sounds like someone mugged you right off.

I’m sure they’ll sort themselves out given time, as they’re struggling to rear enough lambs to even replace themselves.
I even have a pair of them in the singles paddock, sharing parenting duties of a tiny lamb.

 

[CopperBeech]

I’m sure they’ll sort themselves out given time, as they’re struggling to rear enough lambs to even replace themselves.
I even have a pair of them in the singles paddock, sharing parenting duties of a tiny lamb.

Like I said, I don’t think it’s your poor shepherding ..... as I know you’ve managed to farm other sheep well enough. So I can only assume its either your poor selection, or someone conned you good and proper. But I suppose at least you always popping up to have a dig at them, provides a bit of balance. It would look a bit odd if it was 100% positive feed back, 99% is more believable isn’t it

 

[serf]

I’m sure they’ll sort themselves out given time, as they’re struggling to rear enough lambs to even replace themselves.
I even have a pair of them in the singles paddock, sharing parenting duties of a tiny lamb.

Sounds like your onto a winner with them .....

 

[Nithsdale]

I’ll start. I put a Texel over all of my shedders this year, in order to try to breed some functionality into them and improve their temperament.

Texel?

 

[Aspiring Peasants]

I’m sure they’ll sort themselves out given time, as they’re struggling to rear enough lambs to even replace themselves.
I even have a pair of them in the singles paddock, sharing parenting duties of a tiny lamb.

I'm confused I thought these were the magic sheep of the future

 

[Woolless]

I have used Hamphire Downs as terminal sires on the B flock and to chase up Easycare tups up until this year. A friend of mine breeds them, run very commercially and recorded. I've found them to be fairly sharp and easy to lamb. They can be a bit of a hard sell as stores, though.
This year I have used a Beltex/Texel bred by another friend. I'm setting my stall out to sell them as stores, better matching demand with grass growth. Beltex influence will hopefully hold down birth weight. Lambing them now. Twins are great but getting a few big singles but that can be true of virtually any breed.
Shedding terminal? Mine have a fair splash of shedding Texel as it is. A couple of the old F1s lambed yesterday and I was just thinking that the best of them are tough to beat. If you sell dead weight, shedding terminal could be an option. As things stand, if you sell as stores/live I would say they will sell better if they are woolly. The extra would probably cover the cost of fly prevention treatment.

 

[exmoor dave]

Sort of been done to death this but here goes ......

If you keep wool shedders of whatever type .....

Do you use a terminal over some / all or breed pure ?

If you use a terminal, what breed and why?

Would you consider using a shedding terminal?

If yes, what traits would be important / key to you?

Cheers!

Pure at the mo,

But probably will go with a B flock of lesser sheep in the future if we give up early lambing.
Been pretty chuffed with lambs from a NZ Suffolk out of some other ewes, so likey go that way.
Have used sufftexs for years but over a exlana or cross, they throw alot of white faced lambs which means having to be pretty careful with grouping &/or record keeping to avoid mistaking those lambs as pures.

Thinking with a suffolk, the lambs would be at least patchy faced to differentiate from the pures

 

[Woolless]

Pure at the mo,

But probably will go with a B flock of lesser sheep in the future if we give up early lambing.
Been pretty chuffed with lambs from a NZ Suffolk out of some other ewes, so likey go that way.
Have used sufftexs for years but over a exlana or cross, they throw alot of white faced lambs which means having to be pretty careful with grouping &/or record keeping to avoid mistaking those lambs as pures.

Thinking with a suffolk, the lambs would be at least patchy faced to differentiate from the pures

That's why I will still use a Hamp to chase up the EC tups, you can tell the lambs at a glance.

 

[Ffermer Bach]

how about Meatlinc then?

 

[CopperBeech]

I'm confused I thought these were the magic sheep of the future

We’ve heard enough about neilos 20 shitty sheep..... let’s get back to the original question. If you want to latch onto those 20 ewes to run down a whole type of sheep ...... you’re obviously desperate.

 

[CopperBeech]

I have used Hamphire Downs as terminal sires on the B flock and to chase up Easycare tups up until this year. A friend of mine breeds them, run very commercially and recorded. I've found them to be fairly sharp and easy to lamb. They can be a bit of a hard sell as stores, though.
This year I have used a Beltex/Texel bred by another friend. I'm setting my stall out to sell them as stores, better matching demand with grass growth. Beltex influence will hopefully hold down birth weight. Lambing them now. Twins are great but getting a few big singles but that can be true of virtually any breed.
Shedding terminal? Mine have a fair splash of shedding Texel as it is. A couple of the old F1s lambed yesterday and I was just thinking that the best of them are tough to beat. If you sell dead weight, shedding terminal could be an option. As things stand, if you sell as stores/live I would say they will sell better if they are woolly. The extra would probably cover the cost of fly prevention treatment.

I think that as time goes on, there won’t be much issue selling clean skin sheep in live markets. A man I know sells 1000s of shedding lambs through live marts and does fine. Once the buyers know, they know. Also if you are in possession of a large chunk of the market they have to take note.

 

[CopperBeech]

Pure at the mo,

But probably will go with a B flock of lesser sheep in the future if we give up early lambing.
Been pretty chuffed with lambs from a NZ Suffolk out of some other ewes, so likey go that way.
Have used sufftexs for years but over a exlana or cross, they throw alot of white faced lambs which means having to be pretty careful with grouping &/or record keeping to avoid mistaking those lambs as pures.

Thinking with a suffolk, the lambs would be at least patchy faced to differentiate from the pures

Would the differentiation be an important point to you when considering buying a shedding terminal ?

 

[exmoor dave]

Would the differentiation be an important point to you when considering buying a shedding terminal ?

Yes I think so, esp as we've moved away from recording in-field at lambing and towards making everything as simple as possible

 

[CopperBeech]

Yes I think so, esp as we've moved away from recording in-field at lambing and towards making everything as simple as possible

Would you prefer a shedding terminal sire ..... or a better growth and meat yield maternal sire ?

 

[neilo]

We’ve heard enough about neilos 20 shitty sheep..... let’s get back to the original question. If you want to latch onto those 20 ewes to run down a whole type of sheep ...... you’re obviously desperate.

It was 112 last year. Well, until the end of lambing, then I was down to 47…

I’m confident it can’t just be my failings as I bought a bunch of Aberfield x Romney ewe lambs last back end (not that I’m in any way a fan of Aberfields or the Innovis marketing machine).
They are currently showing those shedders up in every conceivable way, apart from having wool.

But yes, back to your terminal sire thread…

 

[CopperBeech]

It was 112 last year. Well, until the end of lambing, then I was down to 47…

I’m confident it can’t just be my failings as I bought a bunch of Aberfield x Romney ewe lambs last back end (not that I’m in any way a fan of Aberfields or the Innovis marketing machine).
They are currently showing those shedders up in every conceivable way, apart from having wool.

But yes, back to your terminal sire thread…

Let’s be very honest though. You have a habit of doing it. You jump on any thread at all to slag off wool shedders, based upon your small (and obviously terrible sample). It’s just quite odd that you bought 100 odd and they have all been so so lacking in maternal ability ...... and yet the many many thousands owned by other folk on this site ....... don’t display the same traits ?

This is not a personal, despite your numerous attacks on shedders. But if they are so poor, how do I manage to lamb 1200 of them, with next to no mothering issues ? And a friend lamb 1800 with one man, and again next to no mothering issues. I’ve recently lambed a batch of ewe Hoggs early, they were themselves born early on cover crops last year and this year lambed down outside in Feb. Out of the whole batch (admittedly only about 100) I had to catch and lamb I think 5, didn’t have one reject a lamb, including multiple twins, and off the top of my head think I lost one out of a pair to lambing issues (two coming at once) and one out of a pair killed by a badger ........ they are home bred though. So maybe it’s just that I’m a hell of a breeder. Either that, or you’ve managed to hunt down every w*maker in the breed and buy it