Post by farmwench on Jun 11, 2012 18:15:58 GMT -5
I have a small flock of sheep; Romney rams, a few pure Romney ewes (2 mature and 1 yearling to be bred first time this fall), and most ewes Romney crosses with a little Suffolk. Am interested in others experiences/opinions of Romney's thriftiness, hardiness, growth rate, etc.
I love my girls, but I've resigned myself that they're not quite the wonder sheep I had hoped for. The pure Romney have a notably slower (aggravatingly so) growth rate than the crosses; I haven't raised any other breeds, so don't know if the difference is greater or less than would be for any other pure vs. cross comparison.
The historically greater parasite resistance (from the breed's developement in England's Romney Marsh area) may or may not still linger in the breed; I have no other pure breed to compare mine to, but this was one of the factors in my choice of this breed. Again, have no other breed experience to compare my Romney and Xs parasite vulnerability to.
The Romney are supposed to be (historically) resistant to foot rot, again from their developement in the Romney Marsh area. Mine definitely never read that PR brochure! Their feet are inclined to be terrible- quickly overgrow and get funky fast, and want to stay that way. Some of this may be attributable to the Suffolk ewes who founded my crosses, because they came with disaster feet.
They have not been good milkers so far, have required grain supplements to provide for their lambs and still don't milk like they should. I am hoping to breed in better milking through my current senior ram (he was a triplet out of a ewe that I was assured produced triplets yearly and nursed all three with very little supplemental grain.
The ewes and lambs have required a lot more attention at lambing than I had hoped; I wish I had a flock that could lamb safe and healthy out on pasture and everybody live, but I don't have the numbers of sheep required to cull for those lovely traits. (Sigh!)
The good news is, they are delicious, and even a 2 yr old ram (cross) was tender and tasty. My senior ram has a fabulous fleece (a hand spinner told me "Keep him!"), and a number of my crosses have notable fleeces as well. My mature purebred ewes don't have remarkable fleeces, but the yearling ewe's fleece is quite an improvement.
Curious what input those of you with Romney experience might share. Thanks.
I love my girls, but I've resigned myself that they're not quite the wonder sheep I had hoped for. The pure Romney have a notably slower (aggravatingly so) growth rate than the crosses; I haven't raised any other breeds, so don't know if the difference is greater or less than would be for any other pure vs. cross comparison.
The historically greater parasite resistance (from the breed's developement in England's Romney Marsh area) may or may not still linger in the breed; I have no other pure breed to compare mine to, but this was one of the factors in my choice of this breed. Again, have no other breed experience to compare my Romney and Xs parasite vulnerability to.
The Romney are supposed to be (historically) resistant to foot rot, again from their developement in the Romney Marsh area. Mine definitely never read that PR brochure! Their feet are inclined to be terrible- quickly overgrow and get funky fast, and want to stay that way. Some of this may be attributable to the Suffolk ewes who founded my crosses, because they came with disaster feet.
They have not been good milkers so far, have required grain supplements to provide for their lambs and still don't milk like they should. I am hoping to breed in better milking through my current senior ram (he was a triplet out of a ewe that I was assured produced triplets yearly and nursed all three with very little supplemental grain.
The ewes and lambs have required a lot more attention at lambing than I had hoped; I wish I had a flock that could lamb safe and healthy out on pasture and everybody live, but I don't have the numbers of sheep required to cull for those lovely traits. (Sigh!)
The good news is, they are delicious, and even a 2 yr old ram (cross) was tender and tasty. My senior ram has a fabulous fleece (a hand spinner told me "Keep him!"), and a number of my crosses have notable fleeces as well. My mature purebred ewes don't have remarkable fleeces, but the yearling ewe's fleece is quite an improvement.
Curious what input those of you with Romney experience might share. Thanks.