The North of England Mule

The North of England Mule is a cross-bred sheep sired by the Bluefaced Leicester ram with either a Swaledale or Northumberland type Blackface dam - all famed for their hardiness, thriftiness and longevity.

The North of England Mule is renowned for her ability to rear ample crops of lambs even under the harshest conditions with minimal attention, offering ease of shepherding.

Lamb crops from well-bred Mule ewes average 175%–200% - more is not unusual.

General practice is to selectively breed from the ewe lamb in its first year.

As well as being a first-rate mother of prime meat lambs, the Mule also produces an easily clipped fleece, good to handle and weighs well.

Lambs from the Mule by a Down or Continental-type sire give a first-class carcass, at 17-22kg. An excellent finisher on grass, it has very good live weight gain and carcass realisation price.

The Mule wether lamb, like its sister, also has outstanding commercial advantages, producing consistent quality carcasses at acceptable weights that can be readily marketed over a long period (July-March).

Quality assurance on behalf of purchasers remains key. Since 1987, all NEMSA lambs must carry the official NEMSA tag, so ensuring full traceability back to the farm of origin. To this day, only sheep bearing the NEMSA tag can be sold through official NEMSA sales.

It’s a cast iron guarantee to buyers of both provenance and quality – and one of the main reasons they come back to annual NEMSA sales year upon year from all parts of the country to replenish stocks  of the North of England Mule, unarguably one of the best all-rounders in the business.