Just got through catching up on your thread. I hadn't been able to find it. I often lose these threads and can't find my way back to them!
If you are planning to sell your sheep commercially you might as well go to what is desired by the buyers. No point in raising sheep that are not going to sell. Granted the larger Hamps and Suffolks will give you a larger carcass. It will have more bone, thus more weight, but will also cost more to put the meat on. Smaller framed and boned Dorpers are coming into favor among commercial breeders and packers because they put meat on smaller frames producing meatier market lamb in less time on less feed. However, since the Hamp and Suffolk breeds and speckle face crosses are what your customers want that is what you have to provide. Using your Polypay ram on your Hamp and Suffolk style ewes will hopefully put more meat on the frames and help them gain better. Eventually, once you have built your flock up a bit you can look into Texels as terminal sires. When crossed with other breeds they have the reputation of putting huge amounts of meat into the lambs. You don't want to keep any breeding stock out of those crosses though. All the Texel sired crosses should go to slaughter. Texels are only used as terminal sires to produce cross bred market lambs, or with purebred Texel ewes to produce breeding stock. Where are you planning to market your lambs?
If you plan to increase your flock of woolies though, you might want to look into getting a used electric shears. If you have a good heavy duty horse clipper with a removable head, check if the manufacturer makes a sheep head for it. Buying a sheep head for a heavy duty large Oster type horse clipper will be much cheaper. A sheep head is heavier than a standard cattle/horse/goat head. It will take the larger and coarser blades you will need for shearing. The fleece on sheep is thick with grease and the clipper has a hard time cutting through it. Trying to shear sheep with a standard horse/cattle clipper will burn it out PDQ. Clippers come in all different price ranges and grades. If you can find an older Oster sheep shears they can be rehabbed. The older clippers are very good although heavy. Once you find a clipper and buy blades learn how to sharpen your own blades. It will save you tons of money. Be very careful with those shearing blades though. They can take off a man's finger along with a ewe's teats, and a ram's dingus. That will ruin the value of your breeding stock for sure! LOL just remember to keep the blades sharpened You will dull a set of blades every 3-4 sheep depending on the dirt in the fleece. You will need several sets of blades even if you can sharpen them yourself If you send them out for sharpening look to pay $5 to $10 per blade (2 blades per set) to have them sharpened. Using Kool Lube on the blades while shearing will help. The shears below are 20-25 years old, but in good shape and still cutting beautifully.
Andis electric clipper & blades - these are about 20 years old
Hoenigger electric clipper, detachable head, & blades - about 25 years old
Hand shears - great for small jobs but for big ones OUCH! - about 50 years old
Since you have made the acquaintance of the Polypay breeder, see if you can go over to his place during shearing and learn how to use the big electric shears. They will probably be happy for the help and you can get tips on doing it yourself. Your crutching job with the hand shears was great, but shearing a whole flock with those hand shears will make you think your hand is crippled! The Polypay breeder might even have an old set of shears he will sell you, or know of someone with one. If you have wool sheep and are able to shear yourself, they are worth the money.
So glad I found your journal. Can't wait to see your new lambs. GusGus is hoping they are all ewes.
