What breed of sheep should I use?

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What breed of sheep should I use?
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gil
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18409

Posted: Thu Jul 20, 06 9:34 pm Post subject:

A large part of the taste of the meat is what the lambs eat.
It would be possible to ruin a perfectly good-tasting lamb of any breed by fattening it quickly on turnips etc.
I used to rear bog-standard [for round here] Suffolk tup x Greyface ewe (Scottish Blackface x Blue-faced Leicester) lambs. The taste difference was they were grazed on species-rich, organic upland pasture that had not been re-seeded within living memory.

Lionheart

Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 427
Location: Cheshire

Posted: Fri Jul 21, 06 6:32 am Post subject:
If you're going to go down the native breed route then might I suggest you amble along to the rare breed show and sale at Melton Mowbray livestock market on Friday 8th and Saturday 9th September. It would be a good opportunity to see all of the breeds in one place and to talk to their respective owners and breed societies. Cris

Stacey

Joined: 18 Jul 2005
Posts: 8380
Location: Kernow

Posted: Fri Jul 21, 06 7:15 am Post subject:

We've got Poll Dorsets and we let them lamb when they like so we don't have to find room in the freezer for all the lamb at once. They're very wooly though. We also have shetlands and you're right about the slaugter costs - the meat is delicious though - sweeter somehow than the dorset. However, the shetlands are just huge fluffballs on tiny legs - if you're not interested in wool they'd be a pain I reckon.

RRR's idea about the rare breed show sounds an excellent idea. We've learned so much from talking to breeders at agricultural shows.

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