Hebridean Sheep - Old Breed for New Times

Examples of Cross Breeding with Charrolais

Cross Breeding with Hebrideans

Hebridean ewes can be successfully cross-bred with any breed of terminal sire to produce good quality meat lambs for the commercial market. Despite the ram being usually more than twice the size of the ewe, lambing difficulties are very rare. The lambs, however, quickly grow to be almost the size of their mothers.The lambs usually finish at about 33-37 kg live weight and are typically of conformation R3L. Since Hebridean sheep are typically recessive black, the lambs are usually white in colour as well as being polled. This is of advantage when they are marketed through live auctions. However, some rams from some breeds (e.g. Suffolk) may carry a recessive black gene, leading to a proportion of black lambs when crossed with recessively black Hebrideans.

Example of Cross Breeding with a Hampshire Down and vendeen
	The following breeds of ram have been used very successfully: Beltex Berrichon du Cher Bleu de Maine Charollais Cheviot Hampshire Down Polled Dorset Rouge de l'Ouest Suffolk Texel Vendeen

Example of Cross Breeding with a Hampshire Down
	Trials Indicate Greater Profitability. Trials conducted on several farms in both the north and south of England in the early 1990s, indicated that Hebridean ewes left a clearly greater margin, on a per hectare basis, than "commercial" sheep such as mules or scotch half-breds.

Example of Cross Breeding with a Suffolk