Easy Lambing Ram???

Western Pomise

I have very little knowledge of likes of Texels,Charolais etc as personally I use Suffolk ram to cross with Suffolk x ewes and Cheviot ewes to produce stores...and try to take hols from work to coincide with lambing.
Have a young first cousin who's going farming from now on part time.Has bought in 50 ewes and he is selling the lambs off them at mo.He wont be with them except once a day come lambing time as He works and will be lambing the ewes out next March/April on fairly dry sheltered ground.
He has asked me to source a ram for him....so I'm thinking for ease of lambing a Suffolk wouldn't be realistic or safe.

So what are pros and cons of likes of Texel,Charolais etc...aren't they easier lambed?
His ewes are all mature,at least two yr olds,mix of texel x,brocket (sprickled face),and horned x.They were bought with good enough sorts of Suffolk x lambs at foot with them this yr.
Sorry for length of post;)

rangler1

Western Pomise wrote: »

I have very little knowledge of likes of Texels,Charolais etc as personally I use Suffolk ram to cross with Suffolk x ewes and Cheviot ewes to produce stores...and try to take hols from work to coincide with lambing.
Have a young first cousin who's going farming from now on part time.Has bought in 50 ewes and he is selling the lambs off them at mo.He wont be with them except once a day come lambing time as He works and will be lambing the ewes out next March/April on fairly dry sheltered ground.
He has asked me to source a ram for him....so I'm thinking for ease of lambing a Suffolk wouldn't be realistic or safe.

So what are pros and cons of likes of Texel,Charolais etc...aren't they easier lambed?
His ewes are all mature,at least two yr olds,mix of texel x,brocket (sprickled face),and horned x.They were bought with good enough sorts of Suffolk x lambs at foot with them this yr.
Sorry for length of post;)

Jasus, everyone would be lambing ewes if you only had to see them once a day at lambing, doesn't matter what breed but if there's a head down and she's left 24hrs, the outcome will be the same no matter what breed,
Texel and Suffolk wouldn't be easy lambing, after that any of the continental breeds would be a lot easier,

Western Pomise

rangler1 wrote: »

Jasus, everyone would be lambing ewes if you only had to see them once a day at lambing, doesn't matter what breed but if there's a head down and she's left 24hrs, the outcome will be the same no matter what breed,
Texel and Suffolk wouldn't be easy lambing, after that any of the continental breeds would be a lot easier,

Thanks for reply rangler1....and of course I know once a day herding at lambing is far from ideal but that will be his situation.I've seen his ewes and they are good strong sheep and know myself that generally ewes you lamb out have less problems than ones lambed indoor...less pucking at feeders etc,so back to my question...I had thought that if you got a Texel with a smallish head he might be ok...or do their lambs be big enough?
Of the other breeds like Charolais what are there main plus points at lambing if your familiar with them?
He's in Mayo...and generally mart trade for lambs is for Suffolks or Texels around here so want something too for him that will be saleable as forward stores or kill out well in factory.
Thanks again.

weatherbyfoxer

If i could only look at my ewes once a day at lambing time id get out of them..between ewes suffering for hours with lambs stuck in them and increased losses in genral it wouldnt pay or be fair from an animal welfair point of veiw

Easiest lambed terminal ram is a charlois. i have used these on ewe lambs in the past to good effect..but are born with less wool than other breeds so might not suit lambing out

Username John

weatherbyfoxer wrote: »

If i could only look at my ewes once a day at lambing time id get out of them..between ewes suffering for hours with lambs stuck in them and increased losses in genral it wouldnt pay or be fair from an animal welfair point of veiw

Would have to agree here.

Could your cousin not take 2 weeks holidays - this is what I do, not the ideal solution, but it works good enough.

Alternatively - maybe store lambs over the winter? No holidays required really.

DJ98

In my experiences with rams, I found the belclare to be good, easy to lamb and lambs are up in a couple of minutes sucking

AnFeirmeoir

why just once a day ? he really will have to spend an couple of hours with them before work - thats where most of lambing problems will be sorted i think.
and check them after work.

Don't have charolais - but they seem to be th easy lambing terminal breed of choice. - some say the lambs are more prone to poor weather

Western Pomise

Thanks lads for input,with his job,hols for lambing not feasible,don't worry I've explained to him that once a day herding at lambing is far from ideal!...he was talking about a Suffolk ram but I stopped that in its tracks.His ground would not be overstocked and would put lambs to factory fit or close to it.
That's why I thought Texel?.... I had heard alright that Charolais are a bit bare of wool when lambed.
Would a Belclare cross well with the ewes as I described them?....strong sheep,fairly milky,Texel x,brocket,and Horned x.
Know that Belclare are prolific though that might lead to trouble of triplets arriving!.

Western Pomise

AnFeirmeoir wrote: »

why just once a day ? he really will have to spend an couple of hours with them before work - thats where most of lambing problems will be sorted i think.
and check them after work.

Don't have charolais - but they seem to be th easy lambing terminal breed of choice. - some say the lambs are more prone to poor weather

There's no decent shed on the land but he intends working on that in the backend....he has a young family and a non farming mad wife;)......so I can say hand on heart that it will be once a day herding for him....either before or after work!

Arrow in the Knee

If you have seen the size of shearling Texel rams heads they're so big and blocky and people say Suffolks have big heads :rolleyes:

Charollais seem to be easy lambing and good to suckle.

If your cousin is only going to look at them once a day at lambing then he shouldn't have sheep IMO.

AnFeirmeoir

he'll learn after this year. Cant bare having sheep suffering because of my mistakes.

Username John

The more I read this thread, the more I think this is a really bad idea...
- Your cousin will be under pressure from work
- They will be under pressure from home, with a young family
- If their missus isnt on-board with farming, and the time it takes, they will be hard-pressed to even justify the once a day check

The last one is probably the one that will be the toughest...

50 is a small number to some, but its enough too if they they start going against you.

I know this isnt the response you wanted, and you were just asking about the ram to use...

Could you lamb the ewes for him? And when lambed, they take it from there.

Western Pomise

Username John wrote: »

The more I read this thread, the more I think this is a really bad idea...
- Your cousin will be under pressure from work
- They will be under pressure from home, with a young family
- If their missus isnt on-board with farming, and the time it takes, they will be hard-pressed to even justify the once a day check

The last one is probably the one that will be the toughest...

50 is a small number to some, but its enough too if they they start going against you.

I know this isnt the response you wanted, and you were just asking about the ram to use...

Could you lamb the ewes for him? And when lambed, they take it from there.

His land is a good ten miles from me so realistically even if I could give him a bit of a help out lambing it would only be for an hour+ a day.
Couldn't 'lamb' them for him as my setup suits exactly the no of ewes I run...re shed space and lambing some out...and tbh he wouldn't be the easiest lad to advise:)...that's why I want to break him in gently this yr to his 'hobby' farming if ya know what I mean!....so am trying to curtail poss problems by choosing a ram that will give saleable lambs that come out easy,and stand up to been born on a bad morning!;)

Lets put it this way...after next spring he might take my advice...which was to buy in nice ewe lambs each yr and sell them as breeding Hoggets the following yr.

weatherbyfoxer

Lets put it this way...after next spring he might take my advice...which was to buy in nice ewe lambs each yr and sell them as breeding Hoggets the following yr.[/quote]

Thats sounds a better plan alround..on the ram front tex rams would be the hardest lambed with the big broad heads being the problem..lyen or belclare would be easier in my opinion saying that i ran a small suffolk with 30 ewe lambs a few years ago and hadnt many losses

ganmo

most lambing problems come from the ewe, what breeding are they?
if he wants a near trouble free lambing he should scan and only keep singles and get the feeding bang on, under feed them is better than over feeding

we wouldn't keep a constant eye on our ewes during lambing but they'd be checked at least 4 times

Western Pomise

weatherbyfoxer wrote: »

Lets put it this way...after next spring he might take my advice...which was to buy in nice ewe lambs each yr and sell them as breeding Hoggets the following yr.

Thats sounds a better plan alround..on the ram front tex rams would be the hardest lambed with the big broad heads being the problem..lyen or belclare would be easier in my opinion saying that i ran a small suffolk with 30 ewe lambs a few years ago and hadnt many losses[/quote]

For my own flock I always try to buy a good Ped Suffolk ram with a smallish head for ease of lambing,over the yrs have had a few what I would call 'athletic' Suffolk rams....tall,long and not overly wide and match them up with smallest and widest of my ewes to bring a bit of growth to their lambs.

Maybe I should be thinking of an 'Athletic' Suffolk for him?
Thing is up this neck of woods likes of Belclare,Charolais,Rouge De Maine etc...are few and far between so if he was showing lambs as forward stores they might not do v well in mart.He could always put a Cheviot with them but some of his ewes are open wooled enough so I'd be afraid the cheviot might not produce a great lamb off them.With 50 ewes he would need a mature ram anyway.

Western Pomise

ganmo wrote: »

most lambing problems come from the ewe, what breeding are they?
if he wants a near trouble free lambing he should scan and only keep singles and get the feeding bang on, under feed them is better than over feeding

we wouldn't keep a constant eye on our ewes during lambing but they'd be checked at least 4 times

I mentioned their breeding above..he bought them in small bunches in Spring with lambs at foot,most had twins.To be fair to him he did a bit of research before buying them....ie he wasn't buying someone else's trouble.....
50 ewes,mix of Texel x,brocket(sprickled face)... And horned x.
Good hardy ewes.They reared their lambs well.

rangler1

Western Pomise wrote: »

I mentioned their breeding above..he bought them in small bunches in Spring with lambs at foot,most had twins.To be fair to him he did a bit of research before buying them....ie he wasn't buying someone else's trouble.....
50 ewes,mix of Texel x,brocket(sprickled face)... And horned x.
Good hardy ewes.They reared their lambs well.

Vendeen is every bit as good as charolais with the bonus that they have wool when they're born....very easy lambing

Western Pomise

rangler1 wrote: »

Vendeen is every bit as good as charolais with the bonus that they have wool when they're born....very easy lambing

How would they cross with horned x ewes etc as described.Are they a 'hardy' lamb when born?....and are they hard to put flesh on?

rangler1

Western Pomise wrote: »

How would they cross with horned x ewes etc as described.Are they a 'hardy' lamb when born?....and are they hard to put flesh on?

I wouldn't know about crossing with horned cross, but they are quick to get up and suckle, and once the wool gets dry and the mother has enough milk they don't look back.
as for flesh, all ours grade u and r 3 mostly off grass

Western Pomise

rangler1 wrote: »

I wouldn't know about crossing with horned cross, but they are quick to get up and suckle, and once the wool gets dry and the mother has enough milk they don't look back.
as for flesh, all ours grade u and r 3 mostly off grass

Thanks will keep them in mind...you breed them don't you?

grassroot1

If outdoor lambing and no helping I would think NZ Romney, Highlander and possibly llyen would be your only hope but as with posts above losses could be difficult to bear.
Not to mention the mental and physical torment when things go wrong.
I sponge the ewes and take a week of work for Jan lambing, later lambing might have less repeats and he could have 90% lambed in a week for April lambing

rangler1

Western Pomise wrote: »

Thanks will keep them in mind...you breed them don't you?

Yea, have to fly the flag for them, actually selling them out this year...have finally lost patience with Sheep Ireland

Sheep breeder

western promise
the best ram for these ewes to save lambing trouble,less sheparding and no animal welfare issues is NO RAM,
this the only ram to do the job your looking as this sounds are crazy way to lamb ewes and what ever ram that would be used could not fix all the short comings.

Username John

rangler1 wrote: »

Yea, have to fly the flag for them, actually selling them out this year...have finally lost patience with Sheep Ireland

You giving up the Pedigree game Rangler?

rangler1

Username John wrote: »

You giving up the Pedigree game Rangler?

Too old fashioned...didn't start pedigree breeding to be admiring figures.

Western Pomise

Sheep breeder wrote: »

western promise
the best ram for these ewes to save lambing trouble,less sheparding and no animal welfare issues is NO RAM,
this the only ram to do the job your looking as this sounds are crazy way to lamb ewes and what ever ram that would be used could not fix all the short comings.

Ah but that's just it as I have said in earlier posts Sheep breeder,it's not me that wants the ram...it's one of your 'hard talked' to younger generation;)....he may well learn some hard lessons in Spring,I'm just getting advice on best most practical ram to buy as he insists on getting one!...might be paying a visit to you yet Rangler:).

MrMuscles96

We have mostly texel x ewes and crossed them with a Charlaois ram this year for a change. Lambs were lively at birth and up and sucking in no time. We lost a few alright from Pulpy Kidney so if he vaccinates the ewes he might be alright with the Charlaois? Were using Charlaois this and the auld lad has decided he'll fork out the few pound for the vaccination (Hepatavic-P)

Arrow in the Knee

MrMuscles96 wrote: »

the auld lad has decided he'll fork out the few pound for the vaccination (Hepatavic-P)

That's very big of him :rolleyes:

He'll have to do the ewes 4 weeks before lambing and then the lambs twice for full immunity.

MrMuscles96

Arrow in the Knee wrote: »

That's very big of him :rolleyes:

He'll have to do the ewes 4 weeks before lambing and then the lambs twice for full immunity.

It was hard enough to convince that it should be done! If could get him to do abit of spraying and topping it would be the next thing!

Western Pomise

Updating from initial post- no talking to the first cousin re what ram to go for so I told him to go find one himself!:(..... And not to be coming looking for me in the Spring if he has problems with a hard lambing ram.

Some people just have to learn the hard way.