Whats the stabiliser cow of the sheep world?

i do my final check at 10pm.....had an exlana x starting but thought feck it and left her....she was fine.....today exlana hogg......left her while popped out.....fine to

point being i'm getting confident in leaving them where as my others i wouldn't :)
Did the same with one of my Easycare triplets last night, just starting at 11pm so I chuckled her in a loose box. Three lambs up and sooked this morning (y)
 

Anymulewilldo

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Cheshire
Where does someone find a good old fashioned one ?? ;)

I've often thought about splitting the flock and putting half to a BFL but after a few years of seeing BFLs out of Stirling land here after the ram rendezvous there's no much left of them come Xmas, if they make it that far!!
The last place I saw real old fashioned BFL with real bone and proper blue heads was at the tup sale Longtown have the same day as their Mule Ewe lamb sale. Hardly see them anywhere now! I've seen Chevi mules by the brown faced BFL, they were that good I didn't bother too look twice in the pen.
 

Anymulewilldo

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Cheshire
i've learnt the hard way that you're no good to them knackered ;) ....i still dread first look in the morning though:rolleyes:
Luckily for us there is me and my younger brother. He wakes up every morning at 5.45, has done since he was a kid so he does all first checks then works till 6pm. I don't start till 8.30am unless there is a cock up to solve. Evening feeding is all finished by 5.30pm and by 10 they are usually all lying down going too sleep. I do the "night" lambing but it's very very rare I'm out after 11.30.
The morning he found me in the shed the little sod ought it was pay back time for all the sh!t he'd put up with while we were growing up. 5 gallons of bloody cold water out of the cattle trough. He stayed well away from me until lunchtime that day!
 

tr250

Member
Location
Northants
Easy at lambing maybe but with lambs to look after worm move electric fence etc all winter I’m not sure they are that easy as they seem to be about so long. Wool shedding is the most important thing. Mules will do everything else quite happily
 

Bury the Trash

Member
Mixed Farmer
bfl 's are very noticeable in their absence in the 'land of the long white cloud'.......:unsure:



i think my Exlana must use andrex as they never have dirty arses...

no easier to lamb than Lleyn tho, what i mean is their pretty good, not with the average Texel tho, same is the lleyn in that respect. breed them pure or Char i guess.

mind you i have tried a Southdown on a few but still waiting to see what they are like
 

tr250

Member
Location
Northants
1EECBDE0-4804-43FC-93FA-BA55C9549F30.png
No mention of heifers
 

Dkb

Member
Artificially created composites by get-rich-quick companies, targeted at gullible would-be sheep farmers, come and go. Meanwhile, those breeds and crosses established by dedicated sheepmen over generations seem to remain.

I just can't understand it. We have all had ample opportunity to adopt Stabilisers (in the cattle world) or the equivalent Highlanders (in the sheep world), but for some peculiar reason, we still favour the tried and tested breeds and crosses.

It’s probably for the same reason that so few farms have properly designed and implemented grazing rotations. They always did it that way.

I wonder if all direct payments went in the morning which would people adopt?

Traditions and SFP are keeping a lot of people doing why they always did in my opinion.
 

Agrivator

Member
The Blue-faced Leicester (producing mules) ousted the Teeswater and Wensleydale as a Maternal sire in traditional Masham Country.

It ousted the Border Leicester as a maternal sire on Blackface ewes from Sutherland to Roxburghshire and North Northumberland.

And more recently it has ousted the Border Leicester as a maternal sire on all types of Cheviot, from Caithness to all points South.

It truly is the aristocrat of all sheep breeds. In fact, the opening question could have been: What beef breed is the equivalent of the Blueface? I would nominate either the Simmental or the Limousin, because they can be used to produce acceptable finished cattle or good breeding cattle from all traditional hill and lowland breeds.

But if I still had the opportunity to develop a new breed, I would try to stabilise a cross between the Lincoln Red and a traditional Aberdeen Angus (free of North American black Holstein). In about 1970, Lincoln Red X Aberdeen Angus suckled calves, bred on the SAC farm of Clashnoir in Glenlivet, topped the Granton-on-Spey calf sale. And that was some accolade.
 
The Blue-faced Leicester (producing mules) ousted the Teeswater and Wensleydale as a Maternal sire in traditional Masham Country.

It ousted the Border Leicester as a maternal sire on Blackface ewes from Sutherland to Roxburghshire and North Northumberland.

And more recently it has ousted the Border Leicester as a maternal sire on all types of Cheviot, from Caithness to all points South.

It truly is the aristocrat of all sheep breeds. In fact, the opening question could have been: What beef breed is the equivalent of the Blueface? I would nominate either the Simmental or the Limousin, because they can be used to produce booth finished cattle or breeding cattle from all traditional hill and lowland breeds.

But if I still had the opportunity to develop a new breed, I would try to stabilise a cross between the Lincoln Red and a traditional Aberdeen Angus (free of North American black Holstein). In about 1970, Lincoln Red X Aberdeen Angus suckled calves, bred on the SAC farm of Clashnoir in Glenlivet, topped the Granton-on-Spey calf sale. And that was some accolade.
Would AA and Lincoln Red not be similarly bred, going well back. I think the Shorthorn also shares the same tap root. This sounds like an ideal opening for @Wolds Beef to share his knowledge!
 

Agrivator

Member
It’s probably for the same reason that so few farms have properly designed and implemented grazing rotations. They always did it that way.

But SCOPS has done its best to discredit clean-grazing systems, that's what it what it was set up to do in the 80s, by veterinarians who never forgave a non-veterinarian for developing the Clean Grazing System. And of course there is no financial gain for vets or drug companies from promoting it.

Just have a look at the confusing SCOPS recommendations - there is little or no credence given to, or guidance on, how to control internal parasites by grazing management.
 

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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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“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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