Selecting Replacement Ewe Lambs

DJ98

What do ye look for when selecting ewe lambs to keep?

Username John

DJ98 wrote: »

What do ye look for when selecting ewe lambs to keep?

DJ98 wrote: »

What do ye look for when selecting ewe lambs to keep?

What I do
Select the nicest looking lambs
Weigh em - make sure they meet your target weight
Check their history - any reason not keep them, then don't (lameness, prolapse, poor milk, trouble lambing, wild, anything at all )

There is merit in keeping from doubles - but I want to keep a good few this year, so will be keeping and singles and doubles.

That's what I do anyways - more could be done to select from better ewes. But for me - as long as you are not keeping around bad traits, and breeding from your best performing ewes - that'll do me...

razor8

Would go along with UJ but keep the best ones and don't be tempted to get cash in on bigger ones and keep the smaller ones. Backwards step in the long run. Also if there bred from a terminal sire like a Charolais I wouldn't be inclined to breed from them as their generally poor milkers

I keep a few lanark/swale ewes here and run a blue Leicester with them and keep the best along with first crosses. Always try keep lambs from ewes that are trouble free and had twins every year and generally from the older ewes that are tried and tested

I'm very tempted to try a romney ram this year if I can manage to get one at reasonable money to run on first cross from mules

Western Pomise

Don't let ewe lambs to the ram,prefer to let them firm up for the yr and breed as Hoggets.
As Username John said keep best looking lambs,prefer twin lambs if they are strong enough or better still triplets:).
If can identify lambs from good breeders they are kept.

razor8

Western Pomise wrote: »

Don't let ewe lambs to the ram,prefer to let them firm up for the yr and breed as Hoggets.
As Username John said keep best looking lambs,prefer twin lambs if they are strong enough or better still triplets:).
If can identify lambs from good breeders they are kept.

IMO it's a waste not to lamb ewe lambs. Far better mothers the next year and if managed well it has no negative effect. I run the singles with the rest of the ewes and ones that have twins go on their own and the lambs are creeped

Cran

DJ98 wrote: »

What do ye look for when selecting ewe lambs to keep?

Keep Lleyn Rams here just to bred replacements, after that poor feet, poor mouths and poor thrives are sent to factory

DJ98

razor8 wrote: »

Would go along with UJ but keep the best ones and don't be tempted to get cash in on bigger ones and keep the smaller ones. Backwards step in the long run. Also if there bred from a terminal sire like a Charolais I wouldn't be inclined to breed from them as their generally poor milkers

I keep a few lanark/swale ewes here and run a blue Leicester with them and keep the best along with first crosses. Always try keep lambs from ewes that are trouble free and had twins every year and generally from the older ewes that are tried and tested

I'm very tempted to try a romney ram this year if I can manage to get one at reasonable money to run on first cross from mules

Bred from Belclare ram

DJ98

Username John wrote: »

What I do
Select the nicest looking lambs
Weigh em - make sure they meet your target weight
Check their history - any reason not keep them, then don't (lameness, prolapse, poor milk, trouble lambing, wild, anything at all )

There is merit in keeping from doubles - but I want to keep a good few this year, so will be keeping and singles and doubles.

That's what I do anyways - more could be done to select from better ewes. But for me - as long as you are not keeping around bad traits, and breeding from your best performing ewes - that'll do me...

What should the target weight be?

Username John

DJ98 wrote: »

What should the target weight be?

They say lambs should be at least 60% of their mature weight.


I wouldn't be putting anything to the ram under 50kg, and if I can, I might up that number. My ewes would be up to 80kg - so 60% would be 48kg.

I wouldn't know a whole pile about Belclare - but they wouldn't be too different weight wise I'd imagine?

Green farmer

I keep it simple here. I pick ewe lambs with slender feminine heads on them . After that just cull hard which eliminates the under performing or trouble ones after the first year. Life's too short to be putting up with any bad traits. Going to get an ear notcher to notch them at birth next year. I've a llyen ram whose daughters will form the backbone if the flock from now on. Worst mothers I've had here have been Charolais x ewe's.

DJ98

Would these need to be fed meal cover the summer or would good grass just do so that they could go to the ram this year?


Would a belclare be ok for them or would you need to cross themwith another breed e.g. Suffolk, texal or charolais ?

Username John

DJ98 wrote: »

Would these need to be fed meal cover the summer or would good grass just do so that they could go to the ram this year?


Would a belclare be ok for them or would you need to cross themwith another breed e.g. Suffolk, texal or charolais ?

Fed meal - No, I wouldn't do this. Best to leave them come on on grass, and then see if they are good enough for breeding.

Belclare ram on belclare ewes - you are losing on hybrid vigour

DJ98

What ram would you recommend?

Username John

DJ98 wrote: »

What ram would you recommend?

ha ha - that is one I dont have an answer for - I have the same question myself for my own few ewes

AnFeirmeoir

DJ98 wrote: »

What ram would you recommend?

I use a beltex and have very little trouble with them

DJ98

What are the advantages of a beltex over lets say a texal? Where would you pick up a beltex ram? (Is there special sales)

AnFeirmeoir

Beltex, charolais are known for having smaller lambs - so would suit when lambing from, ewe lambs

Willfarman

I run into a lot of bother this year with toxo. Vaccination on cards this year.

Green farmer

Struck here a few years back. Nasty thing it is.

DJ98

Willfarman wrote: »

I run into a lot of bother this year with toxo. Vaccination on cards this year.

What u mean by toxo?

DJ98

I was thinking of using a Kerry Hill. Ram any one got any experience with them. I'm told they are easy to lamb and hardy!

Willfarman

DJ98 wrote: »

What u mean by toxo?

Toxoplasmosis. A lot of my ewe lambs aborted, some went full term... They were the nastiest.

IH784man

DJ98 wrote: »

I was thinking of using a Kerry Hill. Ram any one got any experience with them. I'm told they are easy to lamb and hardy!

And stone mad,what about a dorset ram to breed ewe lambs for replacments,they will lamb 3 times in 2 years and are very milky sheep.

DJ98

IH784man wrote: »

And stone mad,what about a dorset ram to breed ewe lambs for replacments,they will lamb 3 times in 2 years and are very milky sheep.

Not a big fan of Dorset. Kerrys are mad but have great lambs, good and strong that's what ya need

IH784man

DJ98 wrote: »

Not a big fan of Dorset. Kerrys are mad but have great lambs, good and strong that's what ya need

What's wrong with the dorset

DJ98

IH784man wrote: »

What's wrong with the dorset

Nothing, they sure are great looking sheep

serfspup

DJ98 wrote: »

I was thinking of using a Kerry Hill. Ram any one got any experience with them. I'm told they are easy to lamb and hardy!

have used KH rams since '94 great on first timers esp.texels
kept the females great mothers lamb themselves and feck of with their lambs
they are lively but you don't have to catch them for much otherwise they are dead:D


kerry cross ewes with april born lleyn & hampshire lambs

DJ98

They are lovely. Are there any special Kerry Hill sales in Ireland?

serfspup

there are kerry hills sold at the rare breed sale in the north other wise contact a breeder usually found on donedeal.well worth taking the effort to get a good one (watch out for narrow sholders , top lines and long pasterns)
very underrated breed

Username John

serfspup wrote: »

there are kerry hills sold at the rare breed sale in the north other wise contact a breeder usually found on donedeal.well worth taking the effort to get a good one (watch out for narrow sholders , top lines and long pasterns)
very underrated breed

How are they to put on meat serf?

(I know nothing about em, but the fact that they have hill in the name makes me think not meaty - but I could be totally wrong saying that)

ganmo

Username John wrote: »

How are they to put on meat serf?

(I know nothing about em, but the fact that they have hill in the name makes me think not meaty - but I could be totally wrong saying that)

their name is misleading...they're not from co kerry

DJ98

ganmo wrote: »

their name is misleading...they're not from co kerry

There a Welsh breed of sheep

serfspup

we would always have a few kerrys in the first load of lambs to factory and there would be very few left at the last load (other breeds in flock charollais,vendeen,texels,cheviots,bleus)
they are not e or u grade and may be a lighter carcass, they are a little short, but they do finish
tend to flesh on the tail and rib and feel lean on the top of loin in comparison to terminal breeds.

the kerry cross ewes were crossed back to texels but found that lambs were very short so changed over to charollais then vendeen (for better birth coat) and currently hampshire and lleyn(to breed replacements)

have had mixed results from kerry X cheviot and cheviot X kerry can end up very narrow and very wild best results if NCC rather than wicklow