# Hampshire Cross Breeding



## happycornerfarms (Nov 16, 2020)

Hello all!

I am getting 30 hamp ewes next spring and am wanting to breed them to a suffolk ram. Selling the ram lambs for market lambs and keeping the ewe lambs. Would this cross be advisable to produce a good quality market lamb, and good ewes to increase my flock?


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## Baymule (Nov 17, 2020)

I am not familiar with either of those breeds, I have Katahdin hair sheep. However, I just happen to know some very nice people here who have vastly more knowledge than I do!

@purplequeenvt @Sheepshape @Ridgetop @misfitmorgan


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## purplequeenvt (Nov 17, 2020)

I don’t have personal experience with Hamps or Suffolks, but that is a pretty common cross when breeding for club lamb type animals.

Personally, I’d stick with one or the other as I’m not sure that crossbreeding the two would give you a vastly superior animal over a purebred. Keeping purebred, especially if they are also registered, opens up another market for potential sales. 

Are your ewes coming from show or range/pasture stock?


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## Sheepshape (Nov 17, 2020)

Yes the cross would be a nice chunky sheep, but like purplequeen I would stick with one or the other. Crossing breeds is generally done to confer the advantages of both breeds on the offspring.

Here in Uk, Hampshires and Suffolks are considered 'lowland' sheep so are less well suited to the murky, misty wet hills and valleys of Wales. Where are you from happycornerfarms? 

Baymule is, as always, very kind,,,,her knowledge is encyclopaedic!


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## Baymule (Nov 18, 2020)

Sheepshape said:


> Baymule is, as always, very kind,,,,her knowledge is encyclopaedic!


So funny that you say that. At 2 years old, I spent hours looking at the pictures in the encylopedias, by age 4 I was reading. I read encyclopedias from cover to cover up until High School. Now I have unlimited information at my fingertips with the tap on the laptop pad. You know, I still have the 1953 set of World Book Encylopedias that I absorbed as a child. LOL


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## happycornerfarms (Nov 18, 2020)

purplequeenvt said:


> I don’t have personal experience with Hamps or Suffolks, but that is a pretty common cross when breeding for club lamb type animals.
> 
> Personally, I’d stick with one or the other as I’m not sure that crossbreeding the two would give you a vastly superior animal over a purebred. Keeping purebred, especially if they are also registered, opens up another market for potential sales.
> 
> Are your ewes coming from show or range/pasture stock?



Thank you for the response the animals are not registered. The only reason I was wanting to cross them is that I was hoping to impart some parasite resistance into the flock but it sounds like it wont really help that much.


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## purplequeenvt (Nov 18, 2020)

happycornerfarms said:


> Thank you for the response the animals are not registered. The only reason I was wanting to cross them is that I was hoping to impart some parasite resistance into the flock but it sounds like it wont really help that much.



Crossbreeding like that isn’t going to add any parasite resistance unless you are buying animals that are already proven to have a good resistance.

Frankly though, most parasite “resistance” is actually management. Feeding the lambs right (good feed, higher protein) gives them a better chance at handling parasite overloads. Rotational grazing is also a good tool.


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## happycornerfarms (Nov 18, 2020)

purplequeenvt said:


> Crossbreeding like that isn’t going to add any parasite resistance unless you are buying animals that are already proven to have a good resistance.
> 
> Frankly though, most parasite “resistance” is actually management. Feeding the lambs right (good feed, higher protein) gives them a better chance at handling parasite overloads. Rotational grazing is also a good tool.


Awesome thank you!


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## Kusanar (Nov 18, 2020)

Baymule said:


> So funny that you say that. At 2 years old, I spent hours looking at the pictures in the encylopedias, by age 4 I was reading. I read encyclopedias from cover to cover up until High School. Now I have unlimited information at my fingertips with the tap on the laptop pad. You know, I still have the 1953 set of World Book Encylopedias that I absorbed as a child. LOL


Off topic, but my mom has an old set of encyclopedias that are so old they refer to "the world war" so they were written sometime between WW1 and WW2


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## Baymule (Nov 18, 2020)

Kusanar said:


> Off topic, but my mom has an old set of encyclopedias that are so old they refer to "the world war" so they were written sometime between WW1 and WW2


Very possible. Can you find a date anywhere?


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## Kusanar (Nov 18, 2020)

Baymule said:


> Very possible. Can you find a date anywhere?


I think so, but they're at her house. Her father fought in WW2 and her grandfather in WW1 if I remember correctly so it didn't have to be passed down many generations.


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