Vendeen Ram

Insp. Harry Callahan

Just looking for a bit of advice-anyone on here used a Vendeen ram?
What are the lambs like?,easy lambed? killout ok?,Profilic?
Our ewes would be suffock x,texal x and charolais x. I was using a charolais ram on my ewe lambs,but he is a bit long in the tooth,probaly would need to replace him this year,thinking of a vendeen but have no experience of them.
Thanks.

Arrow in the Knee

Rancher on here should help ya!

He'll probably praise them to the hills!!!

snowman707

horses for coarses,

we have a couple of vendeen (some of rancher's)

more difficult lambing than Ch, however lambs have good vigour and are survivors, lambs respond very well to creep

KO on par with CH

find more feet problems with the Vend rams than ch (my neighbour finds like wise)

most likely will buy 2 texel and 1 vendeen ram this season

rancher

Arrow in the Knee wrote: »

Rancher on here should help ya!

He'll probably praise them to the hills!!!

Not much point in me praising them, you won't believe me.
500 ewes lambed here annually and if any thing gives hassle, footwise or lambing, they get the gate....
Started using them here because they are born with a cover of wool, some of my land is very exposed,
Don't use them for breeding replacement ewes, they are very prolific, but very poor milk,...bad combination.
Would be very interested to here how you get on with texel,we keep accurate records here, texels take fortnight longer to get to 45kg here and then don't kill out as well

Insp. Harry Callahan

Thanks for the info, aye we operate a closed flock,only buy the rams since a bad bout of enzootic abortion bout 15 years ago, vaccinated all flock and stopped buying in replacements,no problems like that since.
mainly suffock and texal x and a few charolais ewes, finding them a bit lively though at lambing.
bought a belclare ram 10 years ago,never again. put him to 40 suffock ewes a year, kept the ewe lambs out of them for breeding, for a few years.they were wild,far too proflic, we had 70 ewes carrying triplets out of total of 300. a few fours aswell. tiny lambs and not great mothers. weaning 1.6 lambs/ewe every year.
i wouldnt keep records of the different breeds but find suffock lambs usally the 1st away every year, not much difference though.texal lambs a bit cleaner.
what other breeds would be easy lambed would you reckon?
milkiest ewe?

Arrow in the Knee

Maybe a Hampshire Down.

Never used them but supposed to be very milky!

Username John

Arrow in the Knee wrote: »

Maybe a Hampshire Down.

Never used them but supposed to be very milky!

Bought two hampshire rams this year, we always used Suffolk so this is a bit of an experiment. Time will tell...

Arrow in the Knee

Why did you go for the Hampshire Down Username John?

Just curious

Username John

Arrow in the Knee wrote: »

Why did you go for the Hampshire Down Username John?

Just curious

Hi Arrow,

Wanted a change from Suffolk - have easier lambing, but not lose growth. Was thinking Charolais, but they're a bit mad Plus, want to build up the flock, and I wouldn't keep Charolais ewe lambs, not that impressed with them as mothers.
Also, I sent lambs to the factory for the first time this year, and my lambs could have done with more flesh I thought, or easier flesh i guess. And I was told Hampshire put on flesh on grass easier...
From what I found out, Hampshire should help with with these.

Like I say - time will tell. It's a bit of an experiment... Plus I like the look of them

Am thinking of keeping the ewe lambs, maybe crossing them with Charolais... But that's a bit away

What do you think Arrow? Or anyone else for that matter, anyone have any experiences with hampshires?

Cran

Username John wrote: »

Hi Arrow,

Wanted a change from Suffolk - have easier lambing, but not lose growth. Was thinking Charolais, but they're a bit mad Plus, want to build up the flock, and I wouldn't keep Charolais ewe lambs, not that impressed with them as mothers.
Also, I sent lambs to the factory for the first time this year, and my lambs could have done with more flesh I thought, or easier flesh i guess. And I was told Hampshire put on flesh on grass easier...
From what I found out, Hampshire should help with with these.

Like I say - time will tell. It's a bit of an experiment... Plus I like the look of them

Am thinking of keeping the ewe lambs, maybe crossing them with Charolais... But that's a bit away

What do you think Arrow? Or anyone else for that matter, anyone have any experiences with hampshires?

Cousin keeps them for early lambs and swears by them, he doesn't keep the ewe lambs has a Dorset he uses for ewe lambs though. Dont think their a maternal sire, lack numbers for that.

Arrow in the Knee

Never used them but I hear they grow fast and are milky.

They are like a Suffolk with a wooly head.

Not a whole lot of breeders in the Republic as far as I know.

Don't know much else about them only from a few leaflets/brochures that I got from various show events.

I'm sure someone has better knowledge about them than I do on here.

Username John

Cran wrote: »

Cousin keeps them for early lambs and swears by them, he doesn't keep the ewe lambs has a Dorset he uses for ewe lambs though. Dont think their a maternal sire, lack numbers for that.

A Dorset? Interesting. What's the benefit of a Dorset over a Hampshire, that he uses the Dorset for replacements?

Insp. Harry Callahan

never tried the Hampshire,seen the odd ram about at the marts,would consider trying one. what about Lleyn?.any you chaps used them?

Cran

Insp. Harry Callahan wrote: »

never tried the Hampshire,seen the odd ram about at the marts,would consider trying one. what about Lleyn?.any you chaps used them?

Bought a Lleyn last year to breed some replacements, impressed so far they are tough and not as bad to finish as I thought they would be...

Insp. Harry Callahan

What breed of ewes did you cross the Lleyn with Cran?

rancher

Insp. Harry Callahan wrote: »

What breed of ewes did you cross the Lleyn with Cran?

We've used Lleyn for the last 9 years, crossed them on texel ewes, they have worked really well, very easy care, maternal, minimal foot problems, and very prolific without too many triplets, the males get randy very young and can be hard finished because of that, we got over that by castrating them with rings at a day old, we lamb them at a year old to vendeen and even the few we have to pull lambs from get up looking for their lambs,

Arrow in the Knee

No experience with Lleyns but on the BBF forum posters have mixed views about them.

Some posters say their great while others say they would not go near them again!

Cran

Insp. Harry Callahan wrote: »

What breed of ewes did you cross the Lleyn with Cran?

Cheviots and mules, mules crosses are really nice lambs. Mules seem quicker to finish too there's more shape to them. Cross charollais with ewes as terminal and they work well with 10 Lleyns I had as a trial 2 years ago...

cianlynchali

they are the best for easy lambing and great weight.

tabby aspreme

Been using lleyn rams for 5 years now so a lot of the ewes are lleyn cross texel, find them good ewes all round, there can be a big difference within the lleyn breed as some lambs are much easier finished than others