Texel Sheep: Characteristics, Meat and Production

The Texel breed sheep is native to thetexel island, is also amunicipality of the Netherlands(Holland), the largest of the Frisian Islands. It is located between the Wadden Sea (to the east) and the North Sea (to the west), south of the island of Vlieland and north of the mainland of the province of North Holland, to which it administratively belongs.

This breed of Texel sheep was developed bycrossingof a local breed withLeicester breed sheepandLincoln. Its beginnings date back to the beginning of the 20th century, being in 1909 when it was recorded in the Dutch book of records, being an animal withexcellent dairy reproductive and butcher characteristics.

It has been widely distributed in Europe, mainly in Great Britain and France. In America it has taken a very important rise, hence its presence extendsfrom Canada to Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, etc..

Characteristics of Texel Sheep

His head is short and wide,devoid of hornsand white wool, with a straight, bell-shaped and black nose, the ears are medium-sized, well covered with hair, theneck is medium long, black lips,dark tear duct. Bare limbs of wool. Many may havespots on the ears.

In the male,the muscles are well placed on the shoulders, the chest is deep, moderately full but very slender, back and croup wide, long and straight with good implantation of the ribs. Wide and deep loin, ample muscle mass on the rib cage towards the shoulder, the hindquarters are deep squares and with a lot of muscle mass.

The legs are medium long, well placed and straight, they have strong and large bones. TheFemale Texel sheep have an adult weight of 70 kilograms and male Texel sheep up to 120 kg.. The breed is characterized by its adaptation to humid environments. Meekness, maternal skill and prolificacy make them have aseasonal reproductionHowever, it is reported as an animalearlythat can bemating at 7 months.

You can get a50% multiple births(mostly twins). However, as the breed is very seasonal, outside of this period, prolificacy decreases. Hefleece of the breed is white with a diameter of 30 to 36 micronsand the dirty weight can reach 3-4 kg, with a washing performance of 65-75%.

Hegrowthof lambs can exceed the300g/daysdepending on age, sex and type of delivery.

Reason for breeding Texel sheep

It is characterized by itshigh prolificacyor put another way,fertility, which goes from1.6 to 2 lambs per lambing, being included by various authors in the group of prolific sheep. It is a large breed that is created asline to produce stallions, used to increase the milk capacity of the herds or are used in terminal crossings to improve the meat attitude of other breeds that are destined for supply.

It is considered a modern animal for its lean, heavy meat with good conformation and good yields.

Many sheep farmers who were previously interested only in wool production, today cross a part of their flocks with Texel, to add to their exploitation the production of high-quality lambs. meat quality.

Disqualifying attributes of the Texel sheep breed

The racial classification standard completely describes the animal type, but also details the most relevant aspects thatdetermine the exclusionor not belonging of a sheep to the Texel breed:

• Presence of horns
• Brown spots on the face or extremities
• Black wool in spots or polka dots.

Recommendations

• Check thatthe herd’s reproducers meet the ethnological standardand does not have undesirable or disqualifying characteristics for the breed.
• Include an annual selection based on ethnological criteria when choosing replacement animals.
• Crotalize(insert earpiece identifier)each animal in the herdwith an unrepeatable and permanent number.
• Carryindividual registration of each animalwith data on birth, parents, mating and treatments. For example: inOvinApp
• Register animals in the breed genealogical registry.
• Maintain an official certification of the cabins for the main infectious diseases in the country, among which aremaedi-visnaand ovine brucellosis.
• Start a genetic improvement processquantitative associated with other schools.

The use of OvinApp on your Texel sheep

OvinApp is a sheep management and control app, focused on small and medium-sized meat and wool producers..

You can control everything we have been mentioning in the article.Revenueof daily weight,you ridein your cattle,feedinggiven to your sheep, treatments inhealth, expenses for purchasingration,incomewhen selling animals, data records of thedelivery, registration offather, record of themother, etc.

You can register tasks to do in your Establishment, and every dayOvinAppIt will notify you that you have tasks to complete.

Pay attention to notificationscattle rustlersandPredators, all producers can be in contact and be able to report alert areas.

If you want to learn a little more about all the virtues of OvinApp, follow the following link.

If you want to know how to create your first Texel in OvinApp, follow the following link.

You can see ourYouTube Channelwhere we explain thestep by stephow to start your journey withOvinApp!

Remember to downloadOvinApp for AndroidorOvinApp for iPhoneto improve your sheep management and control. You can also follow us onFacebook.

You can read more about other breeds of sheep, for example theKatadhin sheep breed and how to manage it with the OvinApp software or app.