Thinking of getting a beltex...am I mad

liammogs

Member
And a damned good ram he was too. I’m glad he worked well for you.?

Thanks! Really pleased with how he's worked! All his ram lambs are in this video! Had a lot more ewe lambs than tup lambs, be interesting seeing his daughters come in the flock cause there exactly like the tup lambs real machines, best crop of lambs I've bred!
 

Llmmm

Member
It was noticeable that the Beltex ring stayed busy all day, but when I popped into the Texel ring after lunchtime, it was very quiet. A few faces who would always have been Texel buyers in the past stayed in the Beltex ring all day and were buying tups.

Certainly, there's plenty of Texel tups can be bought at other marts, but the Beltex is on the rise at these other centres too. Be interesting to see the trade at UA tomorrow.
Has the texel become too hard lambing with the beltex getting bigger people may switch.Its strange how breeds change due to farmer demands then when theres a problem farmers abandon the breed iv also noticed the charolais rams i buy are getting hardier but bigger at birth look at the demise of the suffolk its not the breeders fault its farmer demand which ruined the breed
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Has the texel become too hard lambing with the beltex getting bigger people may switch.Its strange how breeds change due to farmer demands then when theres a problem farmers abandon the breed iv also noticed the charolais rams i buy are getting hardier but bigger at birth look at the demise of the suffolk its not the breeders fault its farmer demand which ruined the breed

Is it not the breeders’ fault for failing to spot the problem, through lack of connection with actually running commercial sheep, then carrying on in their own little bubble where size and fashion is all that matters? It happened with Suffolks, it’s happening with Charollais and with Texels. If you breed a bigger Beltex, but lose the extreme hindquarter, then you’ve just got a poor Texel imo, and I see plenty gone that way already.
I always thought one of the advantages the Texel breed had, was the number of commercial shepherds involved in the breed. More big money men have gone in to play with their expensive hobby in the last decade or so, who are making some real strides in the Suffolk direction.

If the breeder satisfies their customers, rather than chasing the latest fashion, then their customers won’t change. There are still plenty of big Suffolk breeders doing OK, they just aren’t generally the ones breeding big heads & bone as a priority.
 

shearerlad

Member
Livestock Farmer
Any beltex breeders here know of an import ram called the bulldog?
Is he a good tip then?
Would his daughters be any good do you think?


From what I can remember, his sons were quite small, blocky sheep that weighed like lead, hence his name.
Not sure if he would be suited for breeding females, maybe a bit small in the pelvis but I’d be happy to stand corrected
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
I'm not certain but it might be colin roots freckelton line, I'll find out!

I seem to remember seeing a ram called Freckleton Nimrod in a pedigree in a catalogue somewhere, but he doesn’t appear on Grassroots (a system that seems to let some sheep disappear somehow). I can’t remember who owned him now though.

Edit: Found him by Googling the name. Owned by Glenkeen, Freckleton Nimrod (FBT:N3777) was a ram, so the name couldn’t have been used for a female. ‘N’s would have born a long time ago now, especially in Beltex years. :D
 
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shearerlad

Member
Livestock Farmer
204FE830-0301-4F9E-A935-C19199998251.jpeg


Edit. He is (was) owned by the Glenkeen flock in Northern Ireland
 
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Guiggs

Member
Location
Leicestershire
I've got to the bottom of it now,
The beltex shearlings I'm looking at are sired by freckelton Bradley who is a son of woodies Arthur and their dam is from a son of Matt's time square...
Grand dam goes back to clary Kaiser chief.
That's a load of cod fish to me but maybe it means something to someone..
@neilo @shearerlad @liammogs
 

liammogs

Member
I've got to the bottom of it now,
The beltex shearlings I'm looking at are sired by freckelton Bradley who is a son of woodies Arthur and their dam is from a son of Matt's time square...
Grand dam goes back to clary Kaiser chief.
That's a load of cod fish to me but maybe it means something to someone..
@neilo @shearerlad @liammogs

Woodies and Clary be big names in the beltex world, freckelton a fairly big name sells a lot of tups, but always find his tups tend to be a bit on the small side for me
 

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

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