High hopes for planned Beltex stud

‘‘We wanted to try out some black face breeds as farmers like to use them for a terminal sire.’’

Of the 72 texels mated 55 got in-lamb to the Beltex along with 42 of the 50 South Suffolks and 15 of the 30 Suffolks.

‘‘We were happy with this result as the rams were lambs and were only out for one cycle>

‘‘Our priority is to look after the ram lambs and grow them out well.’’

So far Michael has been most impressed with the Beltex-Texel cross lambs which he took to the Wyndham A&P Show recently.

He plans to breed a pure Beltex flock by mating his Texel ewes to Beltex and then mating their progeny to the Beltex. The Beltex is a breed of domestic sheep which originated from Belgium and is an off-shoot of the more commonly known Texel – hence the name.

The Beltex was exported to the United Kingdom in the late 1980s and the breed was primarily refined into its modern form there.

The breed is primarily used as a terminal sire in Europe for meat production and classed as a medium to large sized animal.

The main characteristics of the Beltex are double-muscled hind-quarters coupled with fine bones which ensures maximum killing-out percentage of the finished lamb. Beltex sheep have a white face and their wool is of medium length.

Both rams and ewes are generally polled.

Average body weight of the mature rams is around 90kg while the mature Beltex ewes are around 70kg.

He has plans to establish his own Beltex stud and hold an onfarm sale.

‘‘A lot will depend on how much interest there is in the breed – I think people will like how early they can finish their lambs.

‘‘It’s still early days but the more we get into them the more we will learn about their strengths,’’ Michael said.

The Robinsons also mated some of their older commercial romney ewes to the Beltex-Poll Dorset cross ram.

Although they don’t usually lamb hoggets they put the Beltex ram out with them for a few weeks and got 150 in-lamb.

At three to four kilograms the Beltex-cross lambs were no bigger than any other sheep breeds at birth.

Their muscling trait didn’t show up straight away and wasn’t obvious until one to two weeks after birth.

Michael also noticed there had been good survivability in the Beltex-cross lambs at birth.

The Robinsons will retain most of their Beltex-cross lambs this season as they build up numbers.

A lot will depend on how much interest there is in the breed – I think people will like how early they can finish their lambs.

The double muscling of the Beltex is one of its main attributes. An impressive Beltex-Texel cross lamb.