As part of the plan to keep lambing to a short period having put the tups in on the 31st October with the majority of the action happening on the 1st and 2nd of November, this weekend was the opportunity to take at least some of the tups out.
For the Jacobs our main tup 'Tom' had completed his task with his 7; 1 of the 2 of his offspring, Sarah's favourite had also covered his 4 (our old favourites) leaving only the 4 that had lossed or retained sponges. each of the other 2 tups then, each had 2 ewes left. Sunday evening (7/11/10) sees them with only 1 left each. The white allsorts still have their 2 texels in with them but I am pleased to say that our on loan pedigree cheviot tup who succesfully completed his tasks very early on in the week was brought in to the race and loaded without incident. I feel priveliged to have been able to use a tup from such a prolific and regarded flock, but with Tina's tups selling for over £1000 a time, it is with some relief that we send him back in one piece. Hopefully all 6 ewes have taken!!
Looks like a very a handsome chap. Did you cross him with any of your Jacobs or are you sticking to pure breed lines?
ReplyDeleteCheers Nigel
P.s. Thanks again for the advice about vaccinations, been chatting with Robert Locker too and we are using Heptavac P now.
Hi nigel; no crossing; just trying to keep the jacobs pure. did use my jacob tup 2 year's ago on all of the sheep and although a little slower growing, the lambs did quite well. I have one of his ewes put to the texel this year. glad it is all going well, lots of people willing to provide advice; (thank goodness!) your new posts are looking good; I need to take some video!!
ReplyDeleteHello again
ReplyDeleteHows the weather with you? We are just waiting for the snow to fall, sheep already have hay at the ready!
Cheers Nigel
Hi Nigel I am assuming the snow is with you now! we are quite lucky being right on the coast that if it comes it doesn't stay! still plenty of grass so don't expect to start using the hay until christmas; just feeding 4 ewes who are quite thin. hope all is well with you. i have to tag and register my 2 jacob ewe lambs this weekend
ReplyDeleteHello
ReplyDeleteYeah the snow has hit us with approx 3 or 4 inches but more forecast this evening. We are supplementary feeding with feed and hay. Robert's tup is still with our ewes and we will remove him next weekend. We hope he has done his job as we have only tupped our four starter ewes and need their lambs to increase our stock size. We are looking to purchase our own tup next summer when our stock size will be big enough to justify it.
Take care
Cheers
Nigel
Hello guys
ReplyDeleteWe are looking forward to seeing some pictures from your neck of the woods if you have time to take any? How is the weather with you now? We probably have at least a foot of snow now and took the bold decision to borrow a 4x4 and move all our stock nearest our home yesterday which was particularly dangerous. We tried driving in our estate car and got stuck at least twice. We were having to walk out to our stock which was almost a mile away and heavy work with hay and concentrate. So peace of mind to have the ewes, lambs and most importantly Robert's tup safely home.
Well take care and keep warm. Please don't think I'm being pushy about you taking pics, just interested to see how you highlanders do it.
Cheers Nigel
Happy New Year!!!
ReplyDeleteBest Regards
Nigel and Rachel