Journal of the British
Texel Sheep Society, May 1986
"The Complete Sheep"
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Texel Sheep .... "The Meat Producers"
All Texel sheep come originally from the Netherlands. They are
the result of cross breeding, in the late 1800's, of Lincoln, Leicester,
Wensleyday and Hampshire Down. In 1908, some influential
breeders decided not to crossbreed anymore because the results
did not meet their expectation. They started to select within the
sheep population they had available to them. Most of these farmers
were from the Isle of Texel which is located just off the north coast
of the Netherlands.
They were selecting for:
1. Medium sized, easy fleshing, excellent foragers.
2. Easy to handle, docile and quiet.
3. Active breeders, prolific - usually producing twins.
4. Dark strong hooves.
5. Very hardy, aggressive lambs at birth.
6. Fast growing lambs, even on grass.
Today's Texel is a meat-type sheep with excellent slaughter characteristics.
mature rams weigh approximately 260 lbs. while mature ewes should weigh
approximately 200 lbs.
The Texel head is covered with white hair (no wool) and the nose is black.
The body is rectangular shaped with strong loin, broad rump and round
well muscled hind quarters. The legs are strong, dry and sturdy with white
hair and no wool.
One of the advantages of the Texel compared to other breeds is their
characteristic to develop only minor fat covering of the body, therefore
the Texel slaughter lamb can be sold over a longer period without loss
of slaughter quality.
Another advantage of the Texel is that well muscled lean rams put that
superiority onto their crossbred off-spring. That is the main reason
why Texel rams are often used in crossbreeding programs. Strong Texel
characteristics show up even in 1/2 blood
lambs.
Texels are considered to be specialized grazers which means that they
have a long growth period. Tests in the U.S. show that they grade
best 10 days older than competitive terminal sire breeds; however,
their carcass grade and yield is considerable higher. Under Canadian
grading, 1/2 crosses usually grade 4-5 for leg, back and shoulder with
higher percentage Texels being 5's for all three.
The Texels grew in popularity and were imported into Britain in 1970,
and by 1990 grew to over 100,000 registered purebreds with innumerable
crossbreds. As well as Europe, Texel sheep were imported into New
Zealand, Australia and South America, where they are rapidly increasing
in numbers.
By 1989, they hit the North American market. They are increasing very
rapidly due to the excellent meat and muscling quality of the carcass. It is
a high-quality, lean carcass with dressing percentages of 60% being the norm.
As a terminal sire breed, they greatly improve the carcass quality of any
pure- or crossbred ewe to which they are mated.
Texels are versatile and can be sold as superior quality Easter lambs or
kept and sold as heavier weights due to the heavy meat gain with minimal fat.
They are a low maintenance sheep, preferring good quality forage to grain.
Texel wool is medium length, bulky and grading at 33 microns. These sheep
are extremely placid and easy to handle, with rams being docile but aggressive
breeders. When you sell Texels for slaughter, expect to receive more calls
for the same type of lambs again.
Dutch Texels
A lot of Texels have been exported to different countries around the world.
Some of the breed organizations in those countries selected the Dutch Texel
they imported from their own special demands and needs. Some went to a
more prolific Texel while others were after a taller, longer type. In most cases,
they lost on the typical Dutch Texel muscling and lean carcasses. In cross-
breeding programs and for commercial producers, it is essential to start
with well muscled and lean rams so you can get the good carcasses you are
expecting of your half Texel butcher lambs.
Danish Texels
Texels were first imported into Denmark in 1954 and today make up about
80% of the Danish sheep population. They have an average weight of 176 lbs.
for ewes and 260 lbs. for rams. They are not double muscled, but rather
heavily muscled. There is a substantial difference.
The ewes traditionally lamb in February - April (the ovation period is five months)
and normal lambing percentage is 175%. First lambers (bred at five months)
rarely produce twins. Twins are expected by second lambing and demanded by
third, with triplets being rare. Average birth weight is 10 lbs. and lambs are born
easily because of the triangular head and greater length. Lambs have a real will
to live are up sucking within minutes.
QUICK FACTS:
The most outstanding feature of the Texel breed, however, is its remarkable
muscle development and leanness. Research results from Clay Center and the
University of Wisconsin indicated that Texel-sired lambs typically have a 6-10%
advantage in loin-eye area when compared to American black-faced-sired lambs.
(In fact, many Texel breeders routinely scan loin-eyes as a selection tool and
are finding 4+ square inches to be quite common with 5 square inch eyes
appearing fairly often.) Texel-sired lambs also show an advantage of one full
leg score in these comparisons and less total carcass fat This is significant in
that seam fat is much harder to trim manually during fabrication than are
subcutaneous and internal fat deposits. Curiously, even thought Texel lambs
in these trials grew slightly slower than the black-faced ram lambs, the Texels
required about 16 lbs. less feed to produce 60 lbs. of gain.
The Texel has become the dominant terminal-sire breed in Europe. It has
currently surpassed the Suffolk in market-share in the United Kingdom. The
breed is also gaining in popularity in Australia and New Zealand as their
production systems have shifted away from primary emphasis on wool to
greater emphasis on lamb meat production. The breed clearly offers an
opportunity for the North American sheep industry to improve the carcass
merit of its product well.
ERDMAN TEXELS:
These are the first Texels I saw in 1986 at the Royal Agricultural Show in
England. I was so impressed with the muscle in these sheep that I came
back to take these pictures.
I had been raising purebred hogs for the last thirty years and in 1993 I purchased
a purebred Texel ram from US Marc and 3/4% Texel ewes from the University of
Wisconsin. In 1997 I saw the need for some new bloodlines and was involved
in the importation of Texel semen from Britain.
My goals are:
1. To breed Texels who would consistently produce heavy muscled
productive sheep.
2. To develop a healthy flock with a strong health program
For more information check out
The Texel Sheep Breeders Society
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