Thinking of getting a beltex...am I mad

[neilo]

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

Have you seen the sheep? That’s more important than the papers behind them, especially in an out & out terminal like the Beltex.
I’ve seen, and judged, plenty of pee poor terminal sires with fancy breeders behind them, often where people have bought them for good money because they were from a fashionable name. It doesn’t necessarily make them good sheep ime.

 

[liammogs]

Have you seen the sheep? That’s more important than the papers behind them, especially in an out & out terminal like the Beltex.
I’ve seen, and judged, plenty of pee poor terminal sires with fancy breeders behind them, often where people have bought them for good money because they were from a fashionable name. It doesn’t necessarily make them good sheep ime.

Judge the animal first before judging the papers, I'll always go around the pens first mark what I like in the book, go for a sit down and a coffee and look at the breeding after

 

[Guiggs]

Not seen them in the flesh yet, I won't be buying them based on their papers I was just interested in peoples opinions on their breeding as I know absolutely nothing about them.

 

[Plopper]

Sorry to go off topic slightly but do any of you tup beltex x gimmers? I normally send them all fat but down a bit on numbers with the gimmers going to tup this year and was considering keeping a few of them to go back to a beltex tup , am I better off being down on numbers a little and saving myself the hassle ?

 

[MDL POWERUP]

Sorry to go off topic slightly but do any of you tup beltex x gimmers? I normally send them all fat but down a bit on numbers with the gimmers going to tup this year and was considering keeping a few of them to go back to a beltex tup , am I better off being down on numbers a little and saving myself the hassle ?

Lambed a few and wouldn't want to do it again, not enough room to get lamb out. Tupped by beltex as well.

 

[glensman]

Sorry to go off topic slightly but do any of you tup beltex x gimmers? I normally send them all fat but down a bit on numbers with the gimmers going to tup this year and was considering keeping a few of them to go back to a beltex tup , am I better off being down on numbers a little and saving myself the hassle ?

Are they pure or crosses, if crosses what type?

 

[Skintagain]

It depends what else they have got in the mix. Beltex x mules would be fine.

 

[Plopper]

Are they pure or crosses, if crosses what type?

they are out of north of England mules

 

[glensman]

they are out of north of England mules

As long as they are a decent size they should be fine as ewes.

 

[Islandcrofter]

Sorry to go off topic slightly but do any of you tup beltex x gimmers? I normally send them all fat but down a bit on numbers with the gimmers going to tup this year and was considering keeping a few of them to go back to a beltex tup , am I better off being down on numbers a little and saving myself the hassle ?

Yes not the best had to help all lamb even aged ewes still got to help. Only plus is they are hardy run and treated same as bf. In few weeks only 1 ewe will be left....

 

[Northeastfarmer]

Sorry to go off topic slightly but do any of you tup beltex x gimmers? I normally send them all fat but down a bit on numbers with the gimmers going to tup this year and was considering keeping a few of them to go back to a beltex tup , am I better off being down on numbers a little and saving myself the hassle ?

Nearly all my ewes are beltex cross

 

[liammogs]

Think @beltextexel used to tup a lot of beltex sired ewe lambs and sell as couples, and always had a toppers of a show of hogs and lambs to be fair

 

[neilo]

Nearly all my ewes are beltex cross

Yes, but you like to make work, as we saw in the thread about bagging feed up.....

 

[Skintagain]

Yes, but you like to make work, as we saw in the thread about bagging feed up.....

Meow

 

[Aspiring Peasants]

Out of mules you should be fine. We have tupped 3/4 beltex hoggs without a lot of bother. They need to go to a smallish beltex tup that is not to extreme and with a small head. Don't over feed them prior to lambing. Singles don't need any cake.

 

[Beltexnewbie]

Looking for tips on lambing pure beltex after buying some in lambers. Been told not to feed prior to lambing at any cost! Anything else I need to know?

 

[Northeastfarmer]

Looking for tips on lambing pure beltex after buying some in lambers. Been told not to feed prior to lambing at any cost! Anything else I need to know?

Give them plenty of water and a bit of hay...if they are still hungry give them some more water

 

[MJT]

Looking for tips on lambing pure beltex after buying some in lambers. Been told not to feed prior to lambing at any cost! Anything else I need to know?

Feed twins as normal , feed singles hay and minerals. No problem

 

[Longlowdog]

Hay/haylage and a harder type mineral tub unless you have amazing grass and 6 weeks before they are due change them to Lifeline blocks. A fortnight before they are due add a small amount of whatever food you are going to throw at them in quantity after they lamb, this will allow their digestive systems to adapt to the hard feed and they won't foul their fleece and cover their lambs in squit. The Lifeline blocks seem (in my opinion) to give a wet slippy lamb, something you need in a tight hipped ewe.
Give the ewes PLENTY of time to lamb, they are not like mules that you can pull a lamb a minute after the water bag comes out. If I see a ewe begin to press or show a water bag I'll have a smoke, then walk to the house and have a coffee and a biscuit. Then I'll have a pee, walk back down and have a smoke. Then have a feel to see where she's at.
I might be teaching my grandmother to suck eggs here but if you have trouble getting that shapey head out due to the brow line pop two fingers in the anus to help lever the lamb from behind the forehead and take some strain off the legs.
You have bought Beltex, you will assist a lot of lambings, if they are real extreme types you might help them all if they are large lambs, you will discover how resilient to pulling a lamb is, you will learn how to dilate a ewe. I don't mean to put you off but will admit they would challenge an impatient, novice lamber. However once born they are teat-seeking-missiles and will give you a lot of pleasure watching them grow like weeds. Or...maybe you know all this already and have lambed tens of thousands of sheep in which case I apologise for the long winded reply.

 

[Beltexnewbie]

Hay/haylage and a harder type mineral tub unless you have amazing grass and 6 weeks before they are due change them to Lifeline blocks. A fortnight before they are due add a small amount of whatever food you are going to throw at them in quantity after they lamb, this will allow their digestive systems to adapt to the hard feed and they won't foul their fleece and cover their lambs in squit. The Lifeline blocks seem (in my opinion) to give a wet slippy lamb, something you need in a tight hipped ewe.
Give the ewes PLENTY of time to lamb, they are not like mules that you can pull a lamb a minute after the water bag comes out. If I see a ewe begin to press or show a water bag I'll have a smoke, then walk to the house and have a coffee and a biscuit. Then I'll have a pee, walk back down and have a smoke. Then have a feel to see where she's at.
I might be teaching my grandmother to suck eggs here but if you have trouble getting that shapey head out due to the brow line pop two fingers in the anus to help lever the lamb from behind the forehead and take some strain off the legs.
You have bought Beltex, you will assist a lot of lambings, if they are real extreme types you might help them all if they are large lambs, you will discover how resilient to pulling a lamb is, you will learn how to dilate a ewe. I don't mean to put you off but will admit they would challenge an impatient, novice lamber. However once born they are teat-seeking-missiles and will give you a lot of pleasure watching them grow like weeds. Or...maybe you know all this already and have lambed tens of thousands of sheep in which case I apologise for the long winded reply.

This is really helpful, thank you! Used to lambing pedigree Suffolk’s which were not easy lambing remotely. Some of the breeders who had also had Suffolk’s before said the beltex were generally easier lambing which is a bonus. But I get beltex are still specialist so won’t be a walk in the park. So leave them to their own devices then go from there! Using this as a tester year to see how we get on with the breed, so fingers crossed lambing goes well.