Development of the Swifter breed
The Swifter is a new, higly productive sheep breed, which was developed in the seventies by the Agricultural University in Wageningen, the Netherlands, to increase the productivity of the Dutch sheep stock. Swifters are used as dams for slaughter lambs.
The characteristics are:
- high fertility
- long topping season
- high milk yield
- good carcass quality
To obtain excellent, fast-growing lambs for slaughter, the Swifter ewe is tupped by a ram for slaughter lamb production, the Charollais, the Suffolk or the Texel.
Pedigree Swifters produce 2.5 lambs per lambing on average. 80% of the ewes give birth to two or more lambs in their first year. Births are virtually always without problems.