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 ram
s 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.

 

 

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 scottish half-breds.

 

Which Breeds?

The following breeds of ram have been put to Hebridean ewes very successfully:

• Beltex
• Berrichon du Cher
• Bleu de Maine
• Charolais
• Cheviot
• Hampshire Down
• Polled Dorset
• Rouge de l'Ouest
• Suffolk
• Texel
• Vendeen