[Farmer]

Hi all,

I'm considering buying in a Balwen Ram and three Ewes to breed mainly for meat to sell through our Farm Shop; the ram would be registered, but the ewes need not be (can always buy in a registered ewe if needed at a later date). I have no experience of this breed, but research suggests they are similar in size to a Southdown and just as tasty, but breed easier and more prolifically. Any advice/comments would be very welcome.

I already have a pure blood Shropshire ram, which I run with a couple of Texel ewes and this years ram lamb which I intend using on a couple of Southdown X's - I will sell the Shropshire ram in favour of using the Balwen ram on all the ewes in the future and the ram lamb will go to slaughter once he has performed his duty on the Southdowns. Hopefully, I should end up with a single Balwen ram and a flock of seven ewes (3 Balwen, 2 Texel and 2 Southdown).

Any advice/comments?

Regards, Farmer
 

[tirdu]

Balwens, well.............. not the ideal sheep for meat production as they have very small carcasses and mature very slowly also,   but there meat is sweet and wondeful .

[VSS]

Balwens are considerably smaller than southdowns - a sad result of breeding predominantly for markings rather than conformation.

[kaz]

We had Balwens at one stage and they were a nightmare. Rams are inspected before registration and failed to get one up to scratch along with the ewes not having all markings to be registered as the super girls. They are a very small sheep and definitely a mountain breed to fast for the average person without a dog.

[Farmer]

Hi,

Thanks for your comments...since its only an experiment and I still have access to Southdown and Portland lamb as/if required for meat, I'll persevere...the Balwen Ram is Cade, as are all of my other sheep, so I'm hopefull that I can control the new ewes after keeping them in for a while (lots of attention and hand feeding). I'll be collecting the Balwens at the end of September, so I'll post an update when they have settled down...here's hoping things go o.k., but if not they'll do for the pot!

Thanks again
Farmer