Going Over to The Dark Side......? - Not a Dexter Topic

Tim Watson · Post by **Tim Watson** » Sun Jan 02, 2011 5:04 pm

Apologies for this non-Dexter post but all of you have been so helpful that I am hoping you can point us off in the right direction.
Do any of you know a non breed specific forum that is good for sheep? We are hoping to start up a small flock this year and would welcome the ability to be able to learn as much as we did from this site from one to do with sheep.
The local farmer who keeps us on the straight and narow has a mixed 900 acres with about 400 sheep so will help us out practically but the background information is what we are after.
Again apologies for the post - hope it doesn't get us expelled or suspended or something! :D If you don't want to reply on forum, please pm me.
PS we are carrying on with the Dexters.

Broomcroft · Post by **Broomcroft** » Sun Jan 02, 2011 6:08 pm

Tim, If you want to talk to farmers with masses of experience then there's only one really, The British Farming Forum. It is intensively used and you can get replies sometimes in minutes and apart from some cracks and garbage, you're guaranteed to get some terrific advice.

My advice now would be probably be to buy good quality Lleyns. Be warned, if someone mentions Lleyns on the BFF forum you'll get a lot of stick from die-hard farmers who don't know what a proper Lleyn looks like and they think it's all some great marketing plan!!! There's a reason they have been the fastest growing breed for many years, especially that you can keep pure and have easy lambing and have good quality carcasses. I've got 550 of them.

Good luck.

Here's some shearlings of mine (not for sale).

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Duncan MacIntyre · Post by **Duncan MacIntyre** » Sun Jan 02, 2011 6:33 pm

Best advice really would be to convert the number of sheep you hope to keep into Dexters and expand your herd of dexters. This will depend on the size of sheep you wanted to keep of course. Maybe some counselling would help you. :D

Duncan MacIntyre · Post by **Duncan MacIntyre** » Sun Jan 02, 2011 6:35 pm

Last post went off before quite finished, I had not got to the confession bit about still having a few North Ronaldsays which we have actually had for longer than Dexters. But they ae much more difficult to manage.

Duncan

springwater · Post by **springwater** » Sun Jan 02, 2011 10:45 pm

We did just this, Tim and got some sheep a couple of years ago. My advice - keep to the cows!!!

Honestly, though I am actually quite fond of them they are much more work proportionately than the cows. We've got Hampshire Downs and though they are good for the ground, I think I'd rather just have the cows, though a friend with Lleyns prefers her sheep

Broomcroft · Post by **Broomcroft** » Mon Jan 03, 2011 10:35 am

I'd agree with your friend springwater. We had a meat breed which I would say were a lot harder than the cattle, but with the Lleyns we have I would say they are easier than cattle. There's more to do on occasion, but it's pretty easy. I assume this is because they are maternal breed, so are more feminine and gentle (and more intelligent!!!, no it can't be that!). We had a meat breed in the past, now gone I'm glad to say, and we also have meat breed tups now (Shropshires and Charolais) for crossing/better carcass, and they are hard to handle. I have a young rugby player comes in once a week and he deals with them.

Edited By Broomcroft on 1294047552

springwater · Post by **springwater** » Mon Jan 03, 2011 11:21 am

Clive, I am enjoying the mental image of a young rugby player tackling your sheep :D
Carina

Post by **Mark Bowles** » Mon Jan 03, 2011 11:53 am

What about Wiltshire horn sheep, we only have 3 ewes and 3 ewe lambs at present ( would not want to get much bigger numbers). We take the ewes to visit a ram in november then bring them back.They drift around from field to field and are no trouble, good feet and they do not need shearing of course. 5.5 month old ram lambs came back at 30kg carcase weights which is a bonus.
Added benefits of having a pair of horns to grab for handling.
So my advise is get a few but don't go overboard as they are still sheep!

Inger · Post by **Inger** » Mon Jan 03, 2011 1:17 pm

We have both Dexters and Polled Wiltshire sheep. The Wiltshires are very low maintenance. In fact, its a toss up as to whether I get them into the yards more, to do something with them, than I do with the Dexters?

I know I can sell them in equal numbers (if the market is bouyant) to small block owners, as both breeds tend to just get on with things and I can go through a whole season without needing to intervene in a birth for either the sheep or cattle.

As running both sheep and cattle on the same property helps to reduce worm re-infections, I think its good pasture management to keep both.