What breed of ewe to breed for large meaty lambs?

[secuono]

I have Babydoll sheep, ram and ewes. I don't want to get a ram of any other breed, as there's nowhere to put him and I don't want all mutt sheep.
What breed of meat ewe can I cross breed to my Babydoll ram to get bigger and meatier lambs?

 

[SheepGirl]

My neighbor bred a Babydoll ram to Montadale ewes. And another member (I'm sorry, I can't think of her name right off the top of my head) bred her Babydoll ram to her Suffolk ewes. So there's no limit on size, really. But I would go with a Texel ewe because Texels are one of the meatiest breeds out there. Suffolk only trumps them because of growth rate.

 

[secuono]

Now would those be hair or wool ewes and polled or not? I'm not finding those two on CL at all, sigh...

 

[SheepGirl]

All the breeds I mentioned (Suffolk, Montadale, and Texel) are all polled wool breeds. If you can't find anything on craigslist, see if you can find something here or contact breeders on the breed registry's web site and see if they will sell you a commercial or registered ewe (whichever you prefer).

 

[manybirds]

I don't have too much experiance with sheep but i have a hampshire ewe and she was 150ibs at 5 months of age. she's got a wonderful personality and her wool grows fast and thick. in the year we've had her she's had no health problems.

 

[BrownSheep]

Both Suffolk and Hampshire are common meat breeds. If you want a ewe whose wool is still a good quality Dorset and Rambouillet would work well.

 

[feed grass]

get a regular southdown.

 

[SheepGirl]

get a regular southdown.

I didn't even think of that

That would probably be the best option because the lambs won't look like 'mutts' and they would look more purebred, something I think secuono would want.

 

[feed grass]

get a regular southdown.

I didn't even think of that

That would probably be the best option because the lambs won't look like 'mutts' and they would look more purebred, something I think secuono would want.

best option to me-- I would rank the downer as number 1 on my list of meaty, easy to raise sheep... and as a matter of fact is why we have some of them...

 

[Symphony]

Yeah a Regular South down would be perfect with a Baby Doll South down. I don't remember how many different Southdown types there are but if I recall there's the Southdown, Medium Southdown and then the Baby Southdown.