Sunday, September 6, 2009

First Round Breeding Groups and sale ewes

Ok so its not my FIRST round (more like my 30th) but my first official 'blog' entry about it :)

I have 18 ewes that I would like to AI this fall. Now maybe not 18, perhaps 15, but time will tell to see if I'll wittle it down to 15. I have 10 that need to be bred to ground breedings as most haven't lambed yet, or I feel are too small and would only give me a single to the AI procedure...not worth it in my opinion. And a third group of 6 that I'll put to the BFL to make Mules. I'm not going to breed ewe lambs this year, just because I have enough mature ewes to use this year and although a good year of sales, I don't want to press my luck next year :)

I'm still debating on using my F1 ram lambs, or if I should just use my mature rams?

These ewes are available for sale and can be bred to any mature ram before they leave here:

FirthofFifth Evidence of Autumn - mioget ewe - produces great lambs when AI"ed. I do not want to use her on Orion again, so she will be going to the BFL for market lambs this fall. She is available for sale and can be bred to any mature ram prior to pick up if that is more desired. I'm retaining both her ram and ewe lamb from this year.

Justalit'l Shasta - gray flecket ewe - has been used in AI, but have grays now of higher % UK to use. She can also be bred to your choice of mature rams, or I will put her to the BFL for Mules.

Minwawe Flopsy - moorit ewe - proven mature ewe, carrise spots. the structure on her is amazing. I'm retaining her ewe lamb from this year. She is also available bred to any of my mature rams, or will be bred to the BFL.

Minwawe Dark Chocolate - black yearling ewe - she is also structurally beautiful, but too coarse for my taste. she will go to the BFL for mules unless she is purchased. Can be bred to any mature ram of mine.

RYL Rachildas - white illget ewe - Her fleece is higher, but very consistent and crimpy. Structure is nice. I've retained all her lambs so far, that is why she is available. If not sold, she will maybe be bred to Jazz, or more likely the BFL.

WhitePine Columbine - black yearling ewe -. Although her Comfort Factor was 98.6%, and her AFD was 20.6, she had a really high CV. I"m going to breed her to the BFL this year and get a new fleece test done in the spring. If she is still soft, I may put her to a purebred Shetland next year.

Minwawe Sea Breeze - moorit smirslet sokket ewe - She was bred to Jazz and gave me the cutest smirslet sokket with white tail, gray katmoget ewe lamb this year. Her lamb may be reserved by this weekend, but Sea Breeze definitely threw the spots! If she doesn't sell, I'll probably breed her to the BFL as well.

Any of the above ewes are negotiable on prices. Please inquire. Photos of them are on my Ramsay-Farms.com link to the right of this post.


I guess a lot of what I plan to do this fall will hinge on the micron tests of the ram lambs. I really wanted to use mioget/fawn/moorit solid rams (no pattern, or AaAa) on all of my katmoget ewes. I have less and less solid colored ewes so need to step back and use moorit based rams on my patterned ewes.

I'm also going to lamb earlier this year. I'm planning on lambing ALL of my ewes the end of March or Early April. I really need to be done by April 15 this year as our Cardigan National is the END of the month of April and I need to make sure they are all done lambing and bonded with the lambs before I leave for that.
will keep you posted :)

3 comments:

Juliann said...

I'll be curious to see your pairings this year! So exciting, how can people NOT get caught up in the excitement of breeding groups?
You're having the same problem I am, with the kats. I might eventually sell all my kat rams and just keep Aa's.

Oh, I wanted to ask you exactly when you do fall microns? You've convinced me, I'm going to do some as well this year. No use overwintering coarse sheep if I'm just going to end up culling them anyway.

Michelle said...

I want the answer to Juli's testing question as well. Also, (since you sold MY Rachel!) do any of the ewes on your sales list carry polled?

Franna said...

Wow! Lots of posts, Garrett.

Funny how things go. I'm planning breedings around the Welsh Springer National - except it's on the first week of April, so we'll probably have lambs groups before and after. Darn.

Now on the fall micron testing - I'll go back and read your newer post. I have some really nice ewe lambs this year that feel very soft/fine - Buddy daughters - and it would be good to know who to keep. Our flock average micron is coming down, if slowly.

...Mona Lisa and Jacob Reistler - locals. I'm glad you got hooked up with them. :-)
- Franna

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