Are there many Sheep only farms?

Green farmer

I know very little about hill farming Con, but just seems like a different kind of setup to lowland, over a wider area, less confined then having sheep in 3-5 acre paddocks. Out of curiosity how big would a commonage area be ? And what happens if you cannt find all your sheep ?

MayoAreMagic

I fully understand that con, and see the merits of their system. The point Im making is, those lads in NZ aren't saying they are only losing 10% maximum, and that this is down to simply being superior farmers. They accept the losses as part of the system, they don't pretend the losses don't exist.

Green farmer, commonages can be vast and difficult to search. Many are unfenced mountain ranges that lack road access. You have large mountains with humps, hollows, banks etc in them, I have often been no more than 100 metres from ewes and never set eyes on them, simply because of the terrain. Guys with a few hundred would probably never have all their animals in at once. Some wander away and never come back. Singles are all I ever want to be honest with you. Twin ewe lambs are ok and can do well with some level of management, but as soon as you get a ram lamb, and particularly two ram lambs together, they are rarely going to be anything other than a hungry lamb and a light store.

Dickie10

its a differnet world from lowland farming! however i think lowland farmers are still a bit obsesssed by wanting to breed the perfect texel or charrolais lamb, a bit like what is seen at shows, nstead of what will deliver the most weight in the shortest time, some people will say " oh but the factories want this or that" . are people really worrying about poor factory agent? pff!

Username John

Dickie10 wrote: »

its a differnet world from lowland farming! however i think lowland farmers are still a bit obsesssed by wanting to breed the perfect texel or charrolais lamb, a bit like what is seen at shows, nstead of what will deliver the most weight in the shortest time, some people will say " oh but the factories want this or that" . are people really worrying about poor factory agent? pff!

That's a nice generalisation of lowland farmers there Dickie...

Sure we all know that ALL lowland farmers are ALL pedigree breeders, trying to "breed the perfect texel or charrolais" as your post suggests... :rolleyes:

Cran

Dickie10 wrote: »

its a differnet world from lowland farming! however i think lowland farmers are still a bit obsesssed by wanting to breed the perfect texel or charrolais lamb, a bit like what is seen at shows, nstead of what will deliver the most weight in the shortest time, some people will say " oh but the factories want this or that" . are people really worrying about poor factory agent? pff!

I see this approach in about 1/2 of my STAP group, 'why would you keep Lleyns / Mules / Belclares the lambs are so much lesser quality than out of my Suffolk ewes'. The other half of the group though who are either more dependent on sheep or progressive are focused on a balance between number of lambs, speed to market of R grade lambs. Given that this is a STAP group I would think Dickie your comment is probably more prevelant that most people will acknowledge among lowland farmers.

Green farmer

I think generalising can be dangerous, but I can see the validity in some of yer points there lads. It's up to every man to decide what suits them best and I ain't going to tell any man what they should run, but I personally find it hard to understand why the big Suffolk x ewe is still the most popular breed of ewe on a lowland farm.

AnFeirmeoir

their lambs push down the weighing scales

Username John

Green farmer wrote: »

I think generalising can be dangerous, but I can see the validity in some of yer points there lads. It's up to every man to decide what suits them best and I ain't going to tell any man what they should run, but I personally find it hard to understand why the big Suffolk x ewe is still the most popular breed of ewe on a lowland farm.

What's wrong with Suffolk cross ewes?
ha?
ha?
ha?

Connemara Farmer

Username John wrote: »

What's wrong with Suffolk cross ewes?
ha?
ha?
ha?

.........oh, I just copped that was a rhetorical question

Username John

Connemara Farmer wrote: »

.........oh, I just copped that was a rhetorical question

Ah now...

No need for that kinda carry on...

Green farmer

Green farmer wrote: »

I think generalising can be dangerous, but I can see the validity in some of yer points there lads. It's up to every man to decide what suits them best and I ain't going to tell any man what they should run, but I personally find it hard to understand why the big Suffolk x ewe is still the most popular breed of ewe on a lowland farm.

I just don't understand why people choose a bred of sheep such as the Suffolk that's bred for its terminal qualities over a specialist maternal breed of ewe that's bred especially for its maternal or mothering ability such as the llyen or belclare or mule.

Dickie10

sorry didnt mean to generalise was just trying to get a quick point in. im a lowland farmer too. no that was all i point that maybe some farmers could look at a maternal ewe. i couldnt belive the brother in law who is in sheep 20 years, picks his replacements by the biggest and best ewe lambs in autumn. the last few years his scan rate is around 1.5. most of his ewe lambs were prob single lambs.

i like the suffolk ewe, id rather a suffolk ewe to a texel or charrolais. this year i put the lleyn ram with a few very suffolky ewes as well as my 4 cheviots! im hoping that the suffolkxlleyn will give good prolificy, milk, feet and the shape and weight from the suffolk.

ganmo

We have 1 Suffolk ewe here. She is the biggest wagon of the lot

The big ewes generally give lambs that grow fast.
Lambs that grow fast tend to big when fully grown.

There is a delicate balance between lamb growth and ewe maintenance. Horney mountain ewes could be heavier giving faster growing lambs
Lowland ewes could be lighter reducing their maintenance cost

ihatewinter

I have about 12 Suffolk X here, crossed them back with a Cheviot and I think 9 have twins. The difference between them and the straight Cheviot lamb is unreal. There are about 2 kgs heavier each then Cheviots. Plus they are fatter and I think can withstand a bit more hardship and lean times than a Cheviot ewe.

I didn't think it justified buying a ram for 12 ewes as I'm trying to get proficiency and better ewes back into the main Cheviot flock

Username John

Oh, yes are all very hard on the poor Suffolks...

I suppose I am biased too tho (in that we have Suffolky types)

I wouldnt have massive experience with a lot of breeds to be honest - but mothering or milkiness wouldn't really be an issue, the biggest issue was lambs with big stupid boxy heads... But a Lleyn on Suffolk ewes this year sorted that.

I like the Suffolks then - nice 'meaty' sheep, I think the Suffolk can come from the dam or the ram, but the lambs will still bring that bit of meatiness. Altho I await someone to tell me now that's not 100% correct, but that's what I think

The other issues of dirty back ends, and lameness... well, all of my sheep now are dirty then, but I have some with a bit of charolais, and 1 half-cheviot yoke - and they are all the same... I think its the grass more than anything... (altho the way the weather is going, that 'grass' problem may disapppear soon enough:( )
As for lameness, not a major problem. Some will go lame, but repeat offenders get culled.

Plan now is to keep Suffolk ewe lambs for breeding, to life the lambing % more than anything, will see how that goes I guess

Actually, the biggest thing I like about them, is their temperament, lovely quiet ewes, really nice to work with, no running or bolting in the pen, just nice queit half-dozy ewes... I like that

I dunno, maybe I am a bit old school, but I'd like to think I'll be keeping em for a bit longer anyways.

ganmo

If anyone wants to try out a few suffx ewe lambs I might be able to sort ya out

stantheman1979

The problem i have with suffolks is the big heads and thick legs at lambing time. You know the second u put your hand into a ewe if she is having a suff or a char lamb. Theyre much harder lambed and will take a lot longer to get up sucking and dont seem to go looking for milk. Saying all that once they get going they are good sheep to grow.

davidk1394

Anyone here selling in lamb ewes ? Looking for 50- 100