Easy Care Sheep

Ashill5

Hi All

Just wondering if many have experienced Easy care sheep and how ye found them in comparison with traditional breeds.

No shearing, less dirty tails , less dragging and less lambs getting caught in briars this time of year.

I have a few Texel crosses and cross them with a Beltex and find them grand but was thinking of getting a few Easy Care, to try them out.

Thanks in advance for any advice

razor8

@Green Farmer

Green farmer

razor8 wrote: »

@Green Farmer

Early days yet, but bought a easycare ram last year and put him to some ewes last year. Lambs got on fine, so he was kept and put to ewes again recently. Too early to tell what the breed is like overall, but so far so good. Lambs were up fast and thrived well. Had excellent survival rates and k.od well. Only drawback is they dont appear to sell well in marts, but no issue selling to factory. Didnt have to dag any. The breed itself are cautious sheep and like to keep their distance, but I can see what people mean when they say they like to get on with things themselves. As I say early days, but ya, seem like decent sheep. Cannt comment on what easycare ewes are like yet, but reckon they'd be good mothers as well. My plan is to integrate them over time with the flock, so they'll pick up the traits in the rest of my sheep, ie hopefully well behaved.

J.O. Farmer

Green farmer wrote: »

My plan is to integrate them over time with the flock, so they'll pick up the traits in the rest of my sheep, ie hopefully well behaved.

They're sheep so more likely to teach yours bad habits than become well behaved.

JJayoo

If you crossed an easy care ram with a mountain ewe would the offspring shed their wool?

Green farmer

J.O. Farmer wrote: »

They're sheep so more likely to teach yours bad habits than become well behaved.

Haha, your right. I'm quick on dispensing cull tags, so anything that steps out of line gets one.

mrfitz

@razor8

What breed of ewes did you mate the Easycare ram with?

I've read a few things about them;
Pros - good maternal traits, the non-shedding and dagging, hardy lambs etc
Cons - the breed isn't around long enough to know to much about (only what you hear from breeders, and they're hardly gonna knock what they have)

I'd be interested to know more about them though.

foxirl

One thing I have noticed over the last 3 years is they are very quick to foster a lamb onto compared to some of the other breeds. I supposed that is the maternal instinct in them.
When I bought my first few back in 2017 my father ( 60 years of farming) though I was mad. However he bought all my ewe lambs this year and also bought 20 more ewe lambs & 20 hogget ewes in the mart so there must be something good about them.

I think people think that there will be wool all over the fields too. That doesn't happen. The only place you will see some wool is along fences where the ewes will rub up against.

As @greenfarmer mentioned above you may need to sell in the factory to get the best price but hopefully that will change over the next few years. I think the episode about them on ear to the ground the other week might stir a bit of interest in them .

foxirl

JJayoo wrote: »

If you crossed an easy care ram with a mountain ewe would the offspring shed their wool?

No. Would take 2 or 3 crosses depending on wool type on initial ewe

wrangler

I think it was Campell Tweed that introduced them to Ireland and has done a lot of promotion as well

https://farmweek.com/easycare-sheep-on-view-at-ballycoose-open-evening/

Green farmer

Heres some 1st cross ewe lambs out of lleyns in the field. As you can see various shedding ability

razor8

mrfitz wrote: »

@razor8

What breed of ewes did you mate the Easycare ram with?

I've read a few things about them;
Pros - good maternal traits, the non-shedding and dagging, hardy lambs etc
Cons - the breed isn't around long enough to know to much about (only what you hear from breeders, and they're hardly gonna knock what they have)

I'd be interested to know more about them though.

Never had one. I assume this was for green farmer

davidk1394

I had them in a commercial flock for a few years before I sold them all. A good breed and I regretted I didn't get into them earlier instead of wasting time with Zwartables.

mrfitz

@green farmer


What breed of ewes did you mate the Easycare ram with?

I've read a few things about them;
Pros - good maternal traits, the non-shedding and dagging, hardy lambs etc
Cons - the breed isn't around long enough to know to much about (only what you hear from breeders, and they're hardly gonna knock what they have)

I'd be interested to know more about them though.

Green farmer

mrfitz wrote: »

@green farmer


What breed of ewes did you mate the Easycare ram with?

I've read a few things about them;
Pros - good maternal traits, the non-shedding and dagging, hardy lambs etc
Cons - the breed isn't around long enough to know to much about (only what you hear from breeders, and they're hardly gonna knock what they have)

I'd be interested to know more about them though.

I put the easycare ram to lleyn x ewes.

Young95

davidk1394 wrote: »

I had them in a commercial flock for a few years before I sold them all. A good breed and I regretted I didn't get into them earlier instead of wasting time with Zwartables.

How did you find the zwartables out of curiosity? Hard to finish the lambs ?