Microning lambs

I'm writing this post in response to Juliann and Michelle's questions in one of my last posts.

First of all I'm not expert on this subject! Several people who ARE are Cynthia Allen, Linda Wendleboe and Karen Valley. All three I consider great mentors in my micron learning. If at any time I'm wrong, please do correct me.

I was told early on that micron testing was just one more inexpensive tool to use when doing breeding groups and trying to improve your flock.

I micron test as I truly believe that Shetlands should be fine (average 23 microns according to SSS 1927 standard) and having had zero experience with sheep or wool before my Shetlands, I needed all the factual help I could get!

When I first started micron testing and first got my sheep there were very few people who micron tested, and fewer who shared those results. Now, several years into it, there are many more people micron testing and sharing the results, but still, not everyone is sharing, for whatever reasons.

Its my personal opinion that if you micron test you should make them public as we are all working together for breed improvement, for the betterment of the breed. Its not to say that Farmer A has better sheep than Farmer B. Ultimately we can all help each other out by sharing this information.

Its kind of like testing your dog for Hip Dysplasia and then not submitting the results (even if they are not passing) to the open database. What is that proving? Why hide it? I have a dysplastic dog and he is in the open database. I would think if you spend the money and were hoping to better the breed with good results, bad results are also 'good' for the betterment of the breed because maybe someone has something out there that can help you (in terms of softer rams or ewes).

I digress (gosh I do that a lot on here too don't I?)

I had been told that a fall lamb micron test will be the very softest the lamb will be with very few exceptions. In my area of the country we tend to get shorter days and cooler nights around mid September and the colder nights is what is needed for the micron to really start turning out to be what it 'should' be as they mature.

A lamb fleece in the fall that is over 25 microns is really too high for me at this point as it will more than likely coarsen up to over 30 microns by old age. Again...more than likely. I've had only once instance where they've gone down in the 100+ animals I"ve already microned, in my experience, 1 in 100 is quite an unusual feat.

IF you are truly going to cull coarse animals (my goal is mature ewes (meaning 6 years or older) under 27 microns) why hold them over to do a spring sample when a fall sample would suffice?

Here are several links to YoCom-McColl information on what the staple length should be and how big and what to do with it. They test their fleeces differently than Texas A&M so this should not hold true completely for Texas A&M.

http://www.ymccoll.com/micron_reports.html Understanding Micron Results
http://www.ymccoll.com/archives.html#444 Micron testing is not a fad

I would truly suggest emailing Karen, Linda or Cynthia in regards to why lamb microning so is important. Now at only 2.00/sample its still a very inexpensive way to micron test and I will do it in the fall for lamb fleece, spring for yearling fleece and again every spring after that to get an idea of where my animals will be. Some lines of Shetlands will be very fine as lambs only to get extremely coarse as yearlings (over 30) or as adults. I had several 5 month old fleeces from lambs I bought a few years ago that were already 34 microns! Way too coarse for me and really for anyone who is trying to breed Shetlands to the Standard and the average of 23 micron.