Favourite breed/type of ewe

DJ98

Mine would be a mayo blackfaced ewe

Username John

Suffolk

I know they're not popular, but I like them

Suffolk cross are prob better all right to be fair...

charolais0153

a couple of years ago we had leisecter ewes and got black ewe lambs we then got texel ewe lambs out of the black ewe lambs and they are the best sheep we have IMO. Crossed with the Suffolk you have length muscle and vigorous lambs most importantly.

orm0nd

ewes , mayo mule & 1st and 2nd x's (suffolk , texel)

tomwaterford

Texel X.....no money would pay you to clip shtie off sheep tbh


Find em good and suit me...once you weed out ones prone to lameness

sheepfarmer92

Moving from breeding mules to using north country cheviots rams on horned ewes and keeoing replacments, using all texel rams on the cross ewes and beltex on ewe lambs, find they work well here

serfspup

sheepfarmer92 wrote: »

Moving from breeding mules to using north country cheviots rams on horned ewes and keeoing replacments, using all texel rams on the cross ewes and beltex on ewe lambs, find they work well here

why did u change from mules ? what kind of horned ewes?

sheepfarmer92

serfspup wrote: »

why did u change from mules ? what kind of horned ewes?

Hard fed, dont last, dont hold their condition great either, plus never had blue leicster rams last that long, always seem to fade away, mixture of mayo/ lanark ewes, buy 300 off the same man every year and keep them for a year to breed replacements for the 800 crossbreds, just very happy with the north country cross ewes, they look kinda like a greyface ewe rather than a mule

Green farmer

Lenghty llyen x ewes (if you can get em) or hilltex ewes, but first X only.

Ard_MC

Hilltex out of a good Perth type ewe

stantheman1979

I like a compact ewe that will have 2lambs rear them, and won't eat u outta house and home. We've mainly belclare and lleyn X ewes. Some mule X (tex) and some NZ Romneys which I really like.

Green farmer

On the same page as yourself Stan,other then the nz , never seen one in the flesh

Lano Lynn

stantheman1979 wrote: »

I like a compact ewe that will have 2lambs rear them, and won't eat u outta house and home. We've mainly belclare and lleyn X ewes. Some mule X (tex) and some NZ Romneys which I really like.

tell us more, how are they doing, are they very woolly? how is their growth rate.would not care for nz suffolks but reckon romneys are a good addition

stantheman1979

We've only 20 but I really like them. They're fairly woolly alright no more than the neighbors Cheviots tho imo. They nearly all have 2 lambs and are really good mothers. Their lambs are always within sight. I put my best belclare ram on them and plan on keeping some ram lambs for breeding. They should breed nice ewes.

Cran

Must be hill breed somewhere in them, no more than 1/4 Texel but do like touch Texel in them and no Suffolk. Currently use Mules and 1st / 2nd cross mule Lleyns

razor8

stantheman1979 wrote: »

I like a compact ewe that will have 2lambs rear them, and won't eat u outta house and home. We've mainly belclare and lleyn X ewes. Some mule X (tex) and some NZ Romneys which I really like.

Bought a romney last year and put him out with my best commercial ewes, very happy so far, looking forward to breeding replacements next year, mightn't be everyone's cup of tea to look at but growth rates and fleshing are good so far

Did you breed yours or buy them?

nagshead

Not long enough in sheep to have a strong opinion but most of my ewes are suffolk x mule which i would be happy enough with, nearly all had twins, lambed easy other than a few that had texel lambs and all have lots of milk , there is 2 out of 50 that have dirty behinds,
trying to decide whether to use a belclare or lleyn ram this year for replacements, i also have 15 lleyn hoggetts which have really impressed me, they really do seem to be low maintenance sheep that lamb on their own and have bags of milk, no foot problems or dirty behinds.My favourite ewes from my small flock (70 ish) are 3 lleyn x mule hoggetts they do the same as the lleyn i have just mentioned but have a slightly bigger lamb which i think will go to bigger weights easier. Dont have any nor did i ever see any in ireland
but i did see cheviot mules in the north of england ( BFL x NCC ) fantastic looking sheep with lambs the size of calves running after them. Anyone have them here ?

stantheman1979

We bought 10 2yr old ewes with 20 lambs a few yrs back. Kept all the lambs. Used the ram lambs on a few older belclare ewes and was impressed with the lambs they had. So I'll def continue to breed replacements from them.