What breed for outdoor lambing

[tepapa]

Just reading these comments and thinking, you need to go and see where you potentially buy replacements from in the middle of lambing. If the shepherd is too busy and has no time for you maybe it's not the place to buy from. If he says pop round whenever, I do rounds at 7am, 12 and 5pm you can hitch a ride on the bike then its likely worth a visit.

 

[Al R]

Just reading these comments and thinking, you need to go and see where you potentially buy replacements from in the middle of lambing. If the shepherd is too busy and has no time for you maybe it's not the place to buy from. If he says pop round whenever, I do rounds at 7am, 12 and 5pm you can hitch a ride on the bike then its likely worth a visit.

Always got time for visitors

 

[paul&mandy]

Just reading these comments and thinking, you need to go and see where you potentially buy replacements from in the middle of lambing. If the shepherd is too busy and has no time for you maybe it's not the place to buy from. If he says pop round whenever, I do rounds at 7am, 12 and 5pm you can hitch a ride on the bike then its likely worth a visit.

Good plan, just more we are too busy to go looking. Only 2 of us juggling nearly 1100 ewes and doing other contracting work in between.
Hopefully in 3 weeks we will be on tail ends and can get some to take a look at ours while we can both go look at some.

 

[CopperBeech]

What would a texel mule be like? Would rather keep something we could keep the replacements though.
What are these exlana easy care etc like to finish the males and keep the pick of the bunch females to run back into the flock. My main concerns would be finished fat lamb out of them. They need to get to near 22kd dead.

I kill all my exlana dead. Good weights, good grades, finish well on forage / roots.

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

I won't knock the Exlana but the Romney will do a similar job and crossed with a Texel or Beltex gives a lamb that is easy to sell.
I already have orders for breeding sheep, draft ewes and ewe lambs! The order for 200 draft ewes was a new record in that it came in at the end of March!
Still have plenty more if anyone wants to put in orders now. First come first served.

 

[MDL POWERUP]

Why do they need to get to 22kg dead?
If the ewe is smaller/more efficient than those big ewes, you will keep more per acre. Output in kg of lamb per acre needn’t necessarily be lower with smaller carcasses, and would more likely be higher.

Do those ewes that can't produce 22kg dead scan high tho? I bought a load of Welsh but I need twice as many as a normal ewe as they don't scan anywhere near as well as the others. I've found 55-60kg ewe best of both worlds

 

[Al R]

Do those ewes that can't produce 22kg dead scan high tho? I bought a load of Welsh but I need twice as many as a normal ewe as they don't scan anywhere near as well as the others. I've found 55-60kg ewe best of both worlds

A lot of my Welsh will rear 110% of their body weight before weaning on my worst land, will a Suffolk ewe ever achieve 110% of its body weight reared on good land?
My Welsh scan around 180% and usually rear 175% with under 5% helped at all including tubing lambs, show me any Suffolk flock that is doing that with hundreds of ewes?

why anyone wants 22kg DW lambs I have no idea? 18-19kg 2/3L is what most contracts want.

 

[paul&mandy]

I won't knock the Exlana but the Romney will do a similar job and crossed with a Texel or Beltex gives a lamb that is easy to sell.
I already have orders for breeding sheep, draft ewes and ewe lambs! The order for 200 draft ewes was a new record in that it came in at the end of March!
Still have plenty more if anyone wants to put in orders now. First come first served.

Do you remember we had some of your draft ewes many years ago. Did us very well. What we did so wrong to deserve anything with Suffolk in it afterwards I don't know!

 

[jendan]

I won't knock the Exlana but the Romney will do a similar job and crossed with a Texel or Beltex gives a lamb that is easy to sell.
I already have orders for breeding sheep, draft ewes and ewe lambs! The order for 200 draft ewes was a new record in that it came in at the end of March!
Still have plenty more if anyone wants to put in orders now. First come first served.

What is a "draft" ewe in Sussex?

 

[Tim W]

I won't knock the Exlana but the Romney will do a similar job and crossed with a Texel or Beltex gives a lamb that is easy to sell.
I already have orders for breeding sheep, draft ewes and ewe lambs! The order for 200 draft ewes was a new record in that it came in at the end of March!
Still have plenty more if anyone wants to put in orders now. First come first served.

The realisation that farming will no longer be carried by SFP coupled with the understanding that keeping sheep doesn't have to involve so much hard work is having a large effect & the subsequent interest in self replacing maternal ewes has been accelerating over the last few years
We have trouble keeping up with demand at the moment

 

[MDL POWERUP]

A lot of my Welsh will rear 110% of their body weight before weaning on my worst land, will a Suffolk ewe ever achieve 110% of its body weight reared on good land?
My Welsh scan around 180% and usually rear 175% with under 5% helped at all including tubing lambs, show me any Suffolk flock that is doing that with hundreds of ewes?

why anyone wants 22kg DW lambs I have no idea? 18-19kg 2/3L is what most contracts want.

I must have bought different Welsh in then! Scanned 120% here compared to 180 for other mature ewes in the 55-60kg weight bracket and they will raise lambs that hit 45kg live a lot faster.
Horses for courses or we'd all have £40 broken mouth welshies

 

[neilo]

Do those ewes that can't produce 22kg dead scan high tho? I bought a load of Welsh but I need twice as many as a normal ewe as they don't scan anywhere near as well as the others. I've found 55-60kg ewe best of both worlds

I certainly wasn’t suggesting getting in a hill breed, but a 60-65kg ewe, suited to the area the op is farming.
Plenty to choose from, but my point was regarding the lower maintenance costs of keeping a smaller ewe, meaning more could be kept on the same ground.

I remember my old Sandwich Year boss costing out his Suffolk Scotch Halbred ewes against some draft Beulahs he’d bought in. Both flocks reared around 150%, with the Beulahs obviously rearing their lambs slower/to lighter weights, but they had exactly half the feed costs. Those Suffolk crosses never saw a ram again, on that farm anyway.

 

[jendan]

I certainly wasn’t suggesting getting in a hill breed, but a 60-65kg ewe, suited to the area the op is farming.
Plenty to choose from, but my point was regarding the lower maintenance costs of keeping a smaller ewe, meaning more could be kept on the same ground.

I remember my old Sandwich Year boss costing out his Suffolk Scotch Halbred ewes against some draft Beulahs he’d bought in. Both flocks reared around 150%, with the Beulahs obviously rearing their lambs slower/to lighter weights, but they had exactly half the feed costs. Those Suffolk crosses never saw a ram again, on that farm anyway.

Would have been better off just using proper Half Breds instead.

 

[Al R]

I must have bought different Welsh in then! Scanned 120% here compared to 180 for other mature ewes in the 55-60kg weight bracket and they will raise lambs that hit 45kg live a lot faster.
Horses for courses or we'd all have £40 broken mouth welshies

My Welsh are in the 65-75kg bracket and certainly cost a lot more than £40! I put BFL on half and Exlana on the other half, they start lambing mid March and I’ll have a few draws of lambs off them before the ewes go July 1st

 

[neilo]

Would have been better off just using proper Half Breds instead.

He actually put a Cambridge on the Beulahs the next year, then kept Texel crosses from them, giving a 60-65kg ewe producing close on 200%.

He was the reason we got involved with Cambridge sheep at home, who’s descendants I am still lambing today.

 

[Hilly]

What I notice with the Romney compared to the Cheviot, and lleyn in the past, is they don’t pinch lambs anywhere near as much.
They nest up, and are content with their own. So a busy lambing field holds less dread than the lleyn days.
Not bashing lleyns in any way, just my observation!

I’ve had four Romney ewes lamb together with no stealing no miss mothering they appear mixed to me but they know who’s who’s , I used to keep mules that would be a days work fixing that

 

[Al R]

I’ve had four Romney ewes lamb together with no stealing no miss mothering they appear mixed to me but they know who’s who’s , I used to keep mules that would be a days work fixing that

My dad said he had 4 exlana ewe lamb twins lamb near each other a few weeks ago, he dotted what he thought was right but carried on checking other fields came back and all 8 lambs sucking and none of his “pairing” was right

 

[paul&mandy]

It's kind of why I'm looking now, we do tend to get them too late that's why I'm doing my home work now. No good waiting till October looking for the shite that's left No1 wants.
Hell of a lot to think about. Just got it my head to start recording things better and only keep the best of the best as our own replacements and build a flock that I like.
Just Suffolk is not a starting point....
Obviously they Suffolk x will be here for a bit bit want to start a flock b and see how we go with that

 

[Estate fencing.]

Better if like us you have come from anything with Suffolk in it. I get there are nz types but I'm put off.

I gave up with keeping Suffolk cross's 10 years ago because they just wouldn't mother there bloody lambs. but this year have 40 nz Suffolk and they are like chalk and cheese in comparison, the theaves follow and mother so well, Iv had no problem with them at all in that respect, but have a traditional suffolk cross 4 year old (that been keep for some reason) she had tries to steel every other lamb for 3 days, lambed yesterday and it bought the memories back to me, 2 massive lambs that I had to pull and then she stood in the corner of the pen shouting into the distance for 12 hours and never even licked the lambs.

 

[Estate fencing.]

I’ve had four Romney ewes lamb together with no stealing no miss mothering they appear mixed to me but they know who’s who’s , I used to keep mules that would be a days work fixing that

Tell me about it, had 5 mule triplets lamb on top of each other last night, 8 lambs that it seems everyone wants and 7 that nobody wants