Why Cross Breed?

When I say cross breed I'm referring to the lambs we produce that are born of a Merino mother and a Dorsett father. Cross breed can also refer to many other mixes of breeds. The Merino is primarily bred for wool while the Dorsett is primarily bred for meat. By crossing the Dorsett rams over our wool cull ewes (the ewes we don't want to breed from due to bad wool traits) we gain a flock of cross bred lambs. These lambs are quicker maturing than our Merinos and provide us with a summer income as we sell them to provide you with lamb roasts, chops, ribs, you name it! The summer income is reasonably cost free as the lambs only require a vaccination and their 'lamb mark' (see previous posts). They don't need to be fed, as spring is our maximum feed on hand time and they don't need to be shorn if we get them away early enough, so no costs there! There aren't many management costs as they stay on mum for as long as possible. All we have to do is monitor them to ensure they don't get fly blown, keep them in a paddock full of feed and draft off the fattest sheep as they reach the right weight. It's relatively easy money for our farming enterprise as long as they stay in the right paddock. Meat breeds can be rather impressive at working out how to get through fences! 

Boarding their truck, very pleasantly on a Monday morning I might add!

Lovely round little lambs :)

And, the way you see them on the roads.