What ram breed am I looking for ???

roosky

Hi all,


Bit of background first :

I have suffolk and texel cross ewes

Using Texel rams and Charolais rams

At mating the CH ram can tip my ewe lambs and my small ewes (1-0 to CH)
At lambing CH lambs are lively mad to suck and texels are lazy (2-0 to CH)

At 8 weeks the texel lambs are way ahead of my CH, they look like a mini finished lamb and grow in proportion until 45 kg when they are killed. (2-1)

The CH lamb grows alright but gets leggy and ugly

I cant get the CH lambs to the same conformation and weights as the texel, for example this week I have 48% of my lambs drafted, with no CH lambs gone yet, this is mental considering that there are half CH half TX lambs.

The Texel knocks out the CH in an overall sense.

So I need a ram that is easy lambing, with lively lambs that will have good conformation and finish off grass quickly....not asking a lot !!!

What ram do I need???

razor8

IME the charlaois are the most improved sheep in the last 5 years. You must of got a poor growing charlaois, there the best rams I ever had here for growing and fleshing, only downside is I can't keep replacements from them unlike a texel
As is commonly said there is more variation within breeds than across breeds. Just be careful where you source you rams

orm0nd

hampshire down

skoger

You're putting the CH to the small ewes so they're at a disadvantage before they start. Are the ewe lambs lambing down after the main flock? This would mean the lambs are younger. Also, would ewe lambs have as much milk as ewes?

ganmo

To me it looks like you got a good texel ram and a bad charolais.

Dickie10

bought a Hampshire down ram last year as i wanted a ramm to put to ewe lambs that was easy lambed but also wanted him to tip ewes that were lambing in early februrary. lambs are easy born 1 out of 16 ewe lambs needed any help. very quick growing in early spring , excellent butcher lamb to 45-50 kg easy. can handle bad weather outside, very easy fattened. dunno why they are not as popular. i think they used to be years ago in ireland. tick all the boxes

Username John

Dickie10 wrote: »

bought a Hampshire down ram last year as i wanted a ramm to put to ewe lambs that was easy lambed but also wanted him to tip ewes that were lambing in early februrary. lambs are easy born 1 out of 16 ewe lambs needed any help. very quick growing in early spring , excellent butcher lamb to 45-50 kg easy. can handle bad weather outside, very easy fattened. dunno why they are not as popular. i think they used to be years ago in ireland. tick all the boxes

What type lambs do you have Dickie?

I wonder would a Hampshire on Suffolk type ewes not be as good maybe - as they'd be a close relation, so not benefit from as much hybrid vigour?

Had a Hampshire ran on suffolky type ewes - was a good enough job, but I wouldn't have said was very easy lambing (was fine, but not in the Charolais scale of easy lambing, if you know what I mean)

roosky

skoger wrote: »

You're putting the CH to the small ewes so they're at a disadvantage before they start. Are the ewe lambs lambing down after the main flock? This would mean the lambs are younger. Also, would ewe lambs have as much milk as ewes?

Well CH ram had no ewe lambs last year, strong hoggets and mature ewes, with regard to my drafting I dont think the ewe has a lot to do with it across all my lambs the texel is way ahead

orm0nd

Dickie10 wrote: »

bought a Hampshire down ram last year as i wanted a ramm to put to ewe lambs that was easy lambed but also wanted him to tip ewes that were lambing in early februrary. lambs are easy born 1 out of 16 ewe lambs needed any help. very quick growing in early spring , excellent butcher lamb to 45-50 kg easy. can handle bad weather outside, very easy fattened. dunno why they are not as popular. i think they used to be years ago in ireland. tick all the boxes

Username John wrote: »

What type lambs do you have Dickie?

I wonder would a Hampshire on Suffolk type ewes not be as good maybe - as they'd be a close relation, so not benefit from as much hybrid vigour?

Had a Hampshire ran on suffolky type ewes - was a good enough job, but I wouldn't have said was very easy lambing (was fine, but not in the Charolais scale of easy lambing, if you know what I mean)

wouldn't dream of using any thing else only hampshire for early lambing & that includes having tried suffolk texel vendeen etc

most of the ewes would be 50% texel & suffolk/mule X

have never used them on ewe lambs , ch or belclare for those

jmrc

the ram is only half the equation....

IH784man

Can you stick up a pic of the two Rams so we can see them.

Willfarman

There is as much variance within breeds as between them. I never could get on with Texels. Always disappoint on the scales against other lambs here.

Having said that the vendeen gets my vote for terminal sire.

Dickie10

i have lleyn x texl ewe lambs but all were 50 kg + at tipping. hampshire is small enough in head and shoulders and a tin roman nose. i finthem good for early spring can be turned out from 3 days old born with wool on top of their head is great for warmth

Ard_MC

Anyone here any thoughts on a polled dorest ram put to hill tx ewes? Thinking about it here...but need easy lambing and able to lamb out doors in March.

roosky

IH784man wrote: »

Can you stick up a pic of the two Rams so we can see them.

Will do if i get a chance

brownswiss

I agree with the above poster who said you just got a bad ch ram. Usually no complaints about the Ch. Anyone know where I can get a Tx that will produce good long ewes for breeding ( for a friend ). Seems a lot of the Tx are producing very short lambs

sea12

brownswiss wrote: »

I agree with the above poster who said you just got a bad ch ram. Usually no complaints about the Ch. Anyone know where I can get a Tx that will produce good long ewes for breeding ( for a friend ). Seems a lot of the Tx are producing very short lambs

Never really keep Texas ewes for breeding. What are they like as mothers seen as they are really produced for meat?
Was offered a few texsl hoggets and unsure whether to purchase. Would be crossing with Charolais Rams.

brownswiss

I have been happy enough over the years with tx or sf x tx . While they are promoted as a meat bred I do not think they are in a league with the ch. Difficult enough to get a Tx ram to produce a good long ewe & also not easy to find a sf ram to produce a good lamb with a clean back side. Happy enough with the Sf I have now but it was not easy to find a good one.

Farrell

brownswiss wrote: »

I have been happy enough over the years with tx or sf x tx . While they are promoted as a meat bred I do not think they are in a league with the ch. Difficult enough to get a Tx ram to produce a good long ewe & also not easy to find a sf ram to produce a good lamb with a clean back side. Happy enough with the Sf I have now but it was not easy to find a good one.

Actually noticed that with current SF ram, I was wondering if the needed a dose .
Hadn't the issue previously, must of been lucky

Willfarman

Suffolk sheep need a smidgen of copper to clean I'm told.

Farrell

Willfarman wrote: »

Suffolk sheep need a smidgen of copper to clean I'm told.

Some copper cobalt so

roosky

brownswiss wrote: »

I agree with the above poster who said you just got a bad ch ram. Usually no complaints about the Ch. Anyone know where I can get a Tx that will produce good long ewes for breeding ( for a friend ). Seems a lot of the Tx are producing very short lambs

I have good lengthy tx cross Suffolk ewe lambs for sale if that route would interest you ???