# Any Suffolk sheep enthusiasts?



## Funkyfilly024 (2 May 2013)

Hi I'm wondering if I can have some guidance on price, I have been offered a 4 year old pedigree registered Suffolk ewe and am not sure what is a reasonable offer to make on her? She is good shaped and pedigree good but nothing exceptional. I know what I would usually want to pay for a ewe of that age but have no idea of prices of registered Suffolks,
Thanks in advance!


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## jrp204 (2 May 2013)

What is her breeding? We have pedigree suffolks and Texels.


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## Alexart (3 May 2013)

If she is in good health, is a nice looking animal with all her teeth I'd say £100-£120 maybe a bit more if she's really nice quality, not much difference to any other breed really at that age, although I've been out of breeding them for years so am not upto date with prices but they aren't great at the mo!  You'll get another few of years maybe out of her if she doesn't have the suffolk death drive!! 
Has she had lambs this year? - if not, and she went to the ram, I would offer meat price as you've got to feed her another year before getting anything back, IF she takes which is the gamble and there is no underlying reason she didn't take last year, plus trying to get the flab off a suffolk ewe that has had a year off to increase the chances of taking are a faff!  We bought a ewe scanned not in lamb, gorgeous sheep though from Glenisla lines, so we paid £65 for her, turned out she was in lamb but lambed in May, she would never take to the ram until december so was always lambing way after all the others, she kept lambing though until she was 10 and lived till she was 15 which is pretty old for a suffolk!!!  Nice lambs though so kind of worth the faff, lovely sheep but boy are they stupid!!


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## jrp204 (3 May 2013)

You paid £65 for a Glenisla?? Guess that was a while ago. Robbie Wilson of Strathisla has some cracking stock, may have a little trip up to Scotland in the summer, OH is keen to go as he wants to look at the Texels.
Don't Suffolks make you smile, its bad when the reason you want a breed is because they make you smile, and to be fair I wanted something i could go into the field of Texels and know which were my sheep!


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## Alec Swan (3 May 2013)

I'll be honest,  Suffolks aren't really my sheep,  and their popularity is waining,  annually.  I went up to St. Boswells,  last autumn and bought 225 Lairg type Cheviots ewe lambs,  to run round and sell this autumn.  I was surprised at how many Suffolk tups I saw on the journey,  because here in Norfolk,  the move is to Continental sires,  and Suffolks only seem evident with the commercial boys keeping Suffolk/Mule ewes.

As terminal sires,  Suffolks produce too high a percentage of bone,  in the bone to meat ratio,  and buyers will pay more for white faced lambs.  The Suffolk bred lambs are faster growing,  I grant you,  but they will never achieve the conformation scores of the Continental tups.

All breeds of sheep have developed,  but now,  with most,  we seem to have stagnated.  The Suffolk needs to develop and acquire an improved conformation,  and bone to meat ratio.

As the Suffolk seems to be slipping from popularity,  it would be a great shame if it were a breed which slipped below the level where there was a strong and viable gene pool to support its existence.

Just as a matter of interest,  does anyone know if semen is in storage,  from the more valuable,  though declining lines?

Alec.


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## Funkyfilly024 (3 May 2013)

I haven't bred pure Suffolks before, only have suffolk crosses in with the commercials , only reason for interest is I am buying some other pure bred ewes of this person and they are needing to home her. Yes she has had a lamb this year, just weaned a couple of weeks ago and I would be looking to put her to the pedigree Suffolk tup we have.
In her lines are a couple of Cairness and a Stockton in 3rd n 4th teir which in my limited knowledge I know are good names? 1st n 2nd teir there is Rhaeader, Woolways and Thurston and Fosse.
Does that mean anything to anyone? His reason for selling is he wants to keep her lamb as a future tup


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