My three own lambs that I sent to Yocom-McColl were a vast improvement on their mothers, when bred to Jazz. Although not as soft as Jazz, they are definitely softer than their mothers (who are both 5 years old).
Lyons, my sheala ram lamb was AFD 23.6, SD 6.7 and CV of 28.4, with fibers over 30 microns only 14.2. His mother was much higher so am happy with the improvement overall.
Centennial and Castle Rock were twin sisters of out Jazz and Justalit'l Chloe. great improvements on their mother, Centennial came in at AFD 25.1 5.7 and 22.7 with 16.4 % over 30 micron. Her twin Castle Rock was 25.7, 7.1 and 27.6 with 21.5 % over 30 micron.
I also microned the 4 ram lambs that I got this summer. Burma, the natural colored ram lamb came in at 26.9 AFD, 7.4 SD and 27.9 with 17.9% over 30 micron.
The polled moorit gulmoget ram Barkley microned at 25.6 AFD, 4.8 SD, 18.8 CV and 13.3 %> 30 micron!! Quite nice Juliann, but unfortunately I lost him.
The two UnderTheSon boys although very correct structure (including nice big horns) microned higher than I hoped, but lower than expected.
Arapaho microned at 26.7 AFD with 6.3 SD and 23.6 CV with 25.9 %>30 microns.
Mohican the fawn katmoget was 26.6 AFD, 8 SD, 30.2 CV with 27 fibers %>30 microns.
None of the above ram lambs are softer than my two yearling rams, Barish and Jazz. I was hoping to use all the Shetland boys on my girls this fall, but will now probably only use Jazz and Barish again as they are finer fleeced.
The boys above, while their conformation is stunning, will not help create finer fleeces with the ewes I was planning on putting them to, however would be vast improvements over most of the other flocks that I've seen around the country.
I will maybe hold the ram lambs over until spring and retest as yearlings. There may be a select few ewes that I feel are soft enough to put under the rams, hoping that the ewes fleece traits come out the stronger type, but that's yet to be determined.
Back to the drawing board........
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One of these days I need to e-mail you about fiber! It may need to be after the holidays though... I should remember gifts for OTHER people, and not JUST for myself! LOL
Congrats on bettering the wool! Isn't is nice to get what you want from a breeding!
Garrett, while I'm not convinced enough to test lambs (mine will get tested the first time at a year old). you've got to feel good about what you are producing. I'm also very impressed with Juliann's ram lamb; I think it's quite a feat to get such nice fleece in addition to her dedication to producing fully polled Shetlands! I hope I'm am following closely in her footsteps. :-)
P.S. I just searched your blog for "Barkley," thinking my memory was just bad, but I don't find anything about "losing" him. What happened???
Yes, what happened to Barkley? To lose a polled moorit gulmoget, that's a great loss.
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