Belclare X

foxylock

Well lads.

Has anyone ever put a Belclare ram on hornies? Would be interested in trying it. Is it a good cross, hardy, prolific?

Thanks.

razor8

Father did it here 30 years ago with mayo hornys, lots of lambs and no milk to rear them was the findings, never again

foxylock

razor8 wrote: »

Father did it here 30 years ago with mayo hornys, lots of lambs and no milk to rear them was the findings, never again

Ah jaysus! Did it increase the lamb crop from the hornies? Looking to increase prolificy here wondering what's the best route

serfspup

If you are running hornies on hill ground they are limited in their prolificacy more by nutrition than genetics.
belclare crosses are not going to successful if they have a big crop of lambs and don't have the feed to match.
Lleyns may be hardier.
but sometimes less is more.
would improving your type of horned ewes be a better option?,good horned lambs and broken mouth ewes making good money the last few years

razor8

As said in another post the ram has nowt to do with prolificacy despite many peoples claims. I agree with above post, nutrition and correct mineral balance most important tools to increase proflifacy. When you have that bit right I would say genetics are next in line IMO ie keeping your own replacements from ewes that have twins every year

foxylock

Used a Lleyn this year so will keep some replacements outta him. Working on better grass management but most years have enough grass but as numbers increase the hornies will be pushed to the hill a bit more.

eire23

foxylock wrote: »

Used a Lleyn this year so will keep some replacements outta him. Working on better grass management but most years have enough grass but as numbers increase the hornies will be pushed to the hill a bit more.

serfspup wrote: »

If you are running hornies on hill ground they are limited in their prolificacy more by nutrition than genetics.
belclare crosses are not going to successful if they have a big crop of lambs and don't have the feed to match.
Lleyns may be hardier.
but sometimes less is more.
would improving your type of horned ewes be a better option?,good horned lambs and broken mouth ewes making good money the last few years

Using a lleyn on hornies here the last three years but going back to using a wicklow cheviot this year. The ewes seem to lack mature size and tend to have very small lambs when compared to the pb lleyn and mayo x cheviots that are getting the same feeding and treatment.

foxylock

eire23 wrote: »

Using a lleyn on hornies here the last three years but going back to using a wicklow cheviot this year. The ewes seem to lack mature size and tend to have very small lambs when compared to the pb lleyn and mayo x cheviots that are getting the same feeding and treatment.

No easy answers is there 😞

serfspup

got to agree lleyn ewes are small,lambed my first crop of lleyn crosses this year since the 80's.in lamb to a cheviot they had a lot of singles:( that had to be pulled .
I blame myself that they were not well enough done.but the lambs seem to be growing well.
hopefully they will have a better crop next year

OneMan37

serfspup wrote: »

got to agree lleyn ewes are small,lambed my first crop of lleyn crosses this year since the 80's.in lamb to a cheviot they had a lot of singles:( that had to be pulled .
I blame myself that they were not well enough done.but the lambs seem to be growing well.
hopefully they will have a better crop next year

How have the Lleyn x Cheviot done for you in recent years ? Considering buying in some cheviot's and using a Lleyn ram on them.

wrangler

OneMan37 wrote: »

How have the Lleyn x Cheviot done for you in recent years ? Considering buying in some cheviot's and using a Lleyn ram on them.

Lleyns are small, I crossed them with a texel for replacement ewes, mature weight was about 70kg which is ideal but wouldn't like them any smaller though.