A few Quick Question, lambs.

[framac]

Well my wife and I have a small little farm with a few animals and we got 3 bred ewes in the fall. 2 are Purebred Oxford and one is a mutt. The First of the Oxfords gave birth 4 weeks ago to healthy twin rams. She unfortunately passed away and we have been bottle feeding them. The Two lambs are very different, one is tall and long, and the other is shorter but more compact.

Questions.
If we were to keep one of the two as a breeding Ram, what would be a better choice? (I know they are only 4 weeks old, but the difference is noticeable)

Second, at what age/weight should the lambs be slaughtered for best return (Taste and amount of meat)

Third, for anyone who has oxfords, What would be a good weight for 4 week old lambs? This is just for my curiosity.

Thanks,

Chris

[Callieslamb]

I don't know anything about Oxford sheep, but I would go with the longer bodied ram - hoping he would give that trait to his ewes so they would better be able to carry the babies - as well as have more fleece on them. Just me.

[lambs.are.cute]

It depends on the ewes. I like to use a long body ram for my short ewes and a short body ram with my long body ewes. This produces mid range lambs instead of absurdly long or short lambs.

I have heard that oxfords are very similar to suffolks. My lambs are born mid march and are butchered mid september or october (depending when I get around to it). At that age they are between 120-180 lbs. The suffolk fleece is fairly useless excipt for rugs and if the oxfords are as similar as I think they are the wool doesn't matter excipt as a winter covering.

[LibertyWool]

I personally wouldn't keep a bottle fed ram, unless I was only going to use him for one season and then butcher him. Bottle rams can be a pest at best and down right dangerous. Something to keep in mind...