# To mix a different breed....



## shy sheep (Aug 14, 2012)

I have 2 Suffolk Hampshire cross sheep. I will probably breed them in a year or two, but I was wondering if I could breed them with anything or if I had to breed them with something specific. Anybody know??? I don't want horrifically ugly babies because I will be selling them.


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## Alice Acres (Aug 14, 2012)

When our kids were in 4-H, we kept a primarily Suffolk herd (registered and grade).
Then we started experimenting. We were having lots of birthing issues, and wanted to improve on that.
The 1st cross was breeding the flock to a Cheviot ram. (Husband shears our sheep, he had back surgery and we needed to get them smaller!)
That worked great. We got speckle faced off-spring, great mothering ability and improved hardiness. The downside was we got the Cheviot flightiness.
Then we added a grade ram that was part Rambouillet....nice addition.
The last 2 rams have been white faced Dorpers (we use each ram 2 years, then move on). That made a nice flock. We did lose our triplets though - used to be all twins and some trips. Now we are mostly twins with some singles. (the lambs in my avatar are from this spring).
Now we are moving to a new ram this year - he will either be Dorper/Finn or Dorper/ something else (can't remember at the moment).


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## SheepGirl (Aug 14, 2012)

Hampshires and Suffolks are meat breeds. You could breed to another cross of these two, or you can breed to a purebred Hamp or Suffolk. If you breed to a blackface breed, the babies will look like crossbreds, but they will still be blackfaced. If you breed to a white faced breed, the lambs will have black/white splotched faces. If you breed to a wool breed, the lambs will have better wool quality than their moms, but it will not be as good as the sire's. If you breed to a smaller breed, the lambs will be shorter than their moms, but sometimes when you breed a short breed to a tall breed, the back legs are taller than the front legs giving the look of a sloped down appearance.

So it's all what you wanna do and what you're selling the lambs for.


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## shy sheep (Aug 15, 2012)

I would never sell my baby girls for meat. Ever. I just wanted to sell wool and be a nice happy family. What would be a good ram two breed for wool that is my babies size??


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## SheepGirl (Aug 15, 2012)

What kind of wool are you looking to produce? There's medium, fine, and long. Your sheep already have medium wool. A Lincoln ram would be the right size for your ewes...that's a long wool breed so the staple length of the lamb's wool will be a LOT longer than your sheep, but it won't be as nice as their dad. Or even a Rambouillet (fine wool breed)...the staple length would be about the same in the lambs, but the wool will be a lot finer (softer) than your sheep, but coarser than their dad.


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## Bridgemoof (Aug 16, 2012)

I have a couple of suffolk ewes that I am hoping will be bred to by my Cormo ram. He is a sweetie and has great wool. He's a little smaller than them, so I don't know if it will work or not.


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## Symphony (Aug 16, 2012)

Bridgemoof said:
			
		

> I have a couple of suffolk ewes that I am hoping will be bred to by my Cormo ram. He is a sweetie and has great wool. He's a little smaller than them, so I don't know if it will work or not.


He'll find a log or something,...trust me.  I have a couple times pasture bred tall mares with a much smaller Arab stallion and he always found a way, lol.


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## Bridgemoof (Aug 17, 2012)

Symphony said:
			
		

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Oh that's funny Symphony! I can picture it now. lol.


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## Bossroo (Aug 17, 2012)

Bridgemoof said:
			
		

> Symphony said:
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One of our neighbors had 3 LARGE QH mares in a pasture with a small Mini horse stallion ... SURPRIZE... the next year those mares produced foals.  Seems that the mares layed down and that Mini bred them.


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