Comparative Trials

Comparitive Trials – Crossng Sires

Independent comparative trials evaluating different breeds, including British Milksheep, as crossing sires were carried out in South West England in the mid 1980’s and in Scotland in the mid 1990’s These latter trials were by the Scottish Agricultural College to evaluate alternative crossing sires for the North Country Cheviot ewe. British Milksheep rams were one of five breeds used to produce NCC X ewes.

A full account of these trials, and the results, was published in the NSA Summer Focus ’97 entitled “Crossing Sires for the North Country Cheviot ewe” by Linda Marshall of the SAC.

Included are the lambing results (live lambs born per ewe to ram) for first cross females.  Results are shown for ewes of three different ages.

For all ages, the British Milksheep cross daughter had the highest prolificacy rate.

For example, for a three year old ewe, the average lambing percentage for the British Milksheep cross daughter was 243%.  The next highest result from the other four crossing sires was 203%.

Please refer to the full publication for all other results.