The one group that was the easiest was the spotted group. As we purchased a new ram lamb this fall from Corinne, Pegasus was easily destined to get the spotted girls. The rest were . . . well, let's put it this way . . . not easy. We are going to have to get at least another new ram next fall, if we can't produce what we need from these groupings (meaning outcrossed bloodlines from the rest of the flock). There are some possibilities for that but possibilities never seem to line up the way you want. We really need a moorit ram with a certain type of fleece, one that I've found to not be easy to get or find.
We penned all the groups in the barn/barnlot and looked them over, placing their boys in with them or by them and studied to make sure we were doing the right matching. Jeff bought some neat holding pens at Sydell's booth at WSWF that were just right for the job.
They are lined up alphabetically.
This is Broderick's group. Prairie (musket, in frt), Nikko (dark brown), Rahab (F1 Jericho), SP Corina (Tori's lt. badgerface), and S'More Petal (Tori's grey spotted).
Broderick (B. McDreamie/Bombycina). Awt/Ab, b/b. Very fine, very crimpy. Long bodied, great conformation and horns (forgive the cut one, a certain breeder panicked and trimmed it when he was young). Mellow personality. Throws excellent lambs. Just wanting good lambs out of this group. Tori would like a replacement ewe out of Petal before moving her on. She has thrown a ewe for her the first time she lambed, but she sold her. Her crossing lambs have been terrific. Nikko is the only truly double coated ewe that we have on the farm. If only all double coats were like this ewe. She is very dense, has a soft handle, is very fine, and is a deep dark brown color (she was born black). 'Nuff said.
Coburg's group, side 1. Coburg (Dreamie/Cinnibarina) is a modified with a large smirslet and great horns and comformation. Lovely soft, very fine, crimpy fleece that is a bit longer stapled. Aa/Aa, B/b. He is standing tied to the fence.
His girls are Underhill Crystal (mioget), Galeria (mioget), Mullein (mioget), WS0932 (black), and Tori's S'More ewes Spunky (wh), Coppelia (moorit), and Smiley (mioget smirslet). Oops! Forgot Lady Grey (grey kat, krunet). She was tied on the outside of the pen and was lying down (she was so calm when we were running them through the chute that I left her where she was just chewing her cud as her "group" wasn't needed at the time. She was having too much fun watching the show. Anyway, I changed her at the last minute.). There is spotting in the background to a lot of these ewes so should be interesting to see if we get any spotted lambs.
Out of this group we are hoping mainly for modifieds out of the modifieds. Hopefully we'll get some more miogets. Crystal is reserved to be bought next year so I won't have many miogets, my favorite color. Mullein has been to the cross ram for several years so this is her last chance as well. A new mioget ram will be needed next year, if we don't get mioget ewes. Several of these ewes have very fine fleeces as well. Very fine modified lambs would be ok in my book.
Coburg's group again.
Dungaree's group. (Emperor's white "B2"/Dakota). Awt/Aa, probably modified as Dakota is shaela and B2's mother's side goes back to modified. Dungaree is probably B/b. Dungaree took 3rd place at WSWF in the big ram lamb class. Very fine and very crimpy.
His lineup includes Tralee (fawn kat), Ruby (moorit), Ellie (moorit), Morel AI (black), Viva (grey moget), Dale (moorit), and S'More Samba (white). There should be some smashingly fine crimpy fleeces and great bodies out of this pen. All of these girls have top notch fleeces. Tralee has won Best Fleece on Hoof before, and Samba's lamb fleece took Reserve Champion Shetland fleece at WSWF (and won our county) this year alone. Looking forward to these lambs!! Oh, another addition. S'More Arabesque is standing tied outside and she is added to this group as well. Tori couldn't make her mind up on her till the last minute.
Dungaree's pen.
Ah, the spots. Crosswind Pegasus, picture in front with the halter, is out of FirthofFifth Avyt (Champion Ram at WSWF last month) and Sommerang Dolly. He is a shaela, smirslet, sokket and is B/b.
His girls, all spotted in one form or another, include, Catriona (grey), SP Orchid (grey), Cinnerelle (emsket), Clarion (grey), Magnolia (grey), Monaco AI (grey), Ceylon (modified black), Paxina (white), and S'More Toccata (grey kat). Obviously, we'll get spots. Unfortunately, a lot of greys too. Oh well. New bloodline incorportating several different lines so will be interesting to see what we get. Pegasus was ram inspected by Kate Sharp and passed.
Pegasus's group again.
Part of Perse's girls. Perse is by Dreamie and out of Britta. He has a very dense, uniform, very fine and very crimpy fleece. B/? and black (modified).
His girls include Madeline (mioget), Slevina (musket), Bombycina (white), Dakota (shaela), and Fraiche (musket). All fine fleeced. Should be an interesting bunch of lambs.
The rest of Perse's group.
This is Velour's group. Velour (Apache/Viva) is a fawn kat and won Reserve Champion ram at WSWF this year. Very fine and very crimpy fleece (took 3rd for BFOH). Ab/Aa
His group consists of Gem (fawn gul), Onyx (black), Sencha (black), Ice (white), Keemun (fawn kat), Morroco (black), WS0929 (white), and S'More Allemande (black). A mixed bag. Looking for great fleeces and conformations here.
Walden. (Jings/TK Prairie). Ag/Aa, B/b. This will be Walden's first breeding, though he is 2 already. He has a fine crimpy fleece that spins like a dream. I've spun his lamb fleece, flicking the locks then drum carding it. Lovely. Then I forgot about it. I wanted to see how this year's fleece was as I was iffy on using a grey ram, but was nowhere near so nice to it. I just hand teased it and threw it on the carder. Two passes and pulled the roving off. I spun a few yards and thought, "Yup, I'm using him!" Lovely fleece again that spins like butter and has the silky luster to it. No, I don't want to use a grey ram as I already have enough grey in the flock but need his genetics. Walden is your all around great ram - square, tiny flat fluke tail, good fleece. I like his build a lot. He also is one of the more meaty boys (Jings line is) so that will improve carcass qualities (but actually most of his girls don't need improvement there at all).
Walden's group. Many of the girls in this group are Dreamie daughters. His line up includes, Pima (moorit), Marina (grey kat), Radisson AI (grey kat), Shalimar (modified black), Cassandra (moorit), Blackberry Sage (grey kat), Formosa Jade (emsket - probably should have moved her to Coburg's group, oh well), Spice (fawn kat), Lilac (white), Rose (fawn kat), White Monkey "Mirky" (white), S'More Fantasy (moorit), and S'More Cotillion "Coti" (white). Lot of really nice fleeces in this mixed bag group. And lots of color combo possibilities here.
Walden's group again.
WS 0923 "Black" (WS 0705 AI/WS 0721 AI) B/b. Very fine and very crimpy fleece.
Black's group. He has a smaller group but most of these are the "beefs", the big girls who need a lighter frame to match up. Included are Mercure (grey), Chanteloup (grey kat), Shaughnessy (grey kat), Ramada AI (white), Assam (white), and S'More Sonata (white). Three of these girls are repeat breedings so hoping for some more great lambs out of them. I should have put some moorits to him but this will have to do.
Black's group again.
Wow! Yes, this is a lot of groups!! Makes my head spin thinking about it. More than we've ever done. I can't imagine what we'll get next year and frankly, I don't want to right now! There are only a couple of ewes in this whole post that I'm not as happy about their fleece but they were put to great fleeced rams to help compensate and they have another much need quality. The rest of the ewes are what either Tori or I want to focus on for each of our respective flocks (we have slightly different goals). Oh, while I'm on the topic, Blue got 20 girls to keep him happy for crossbred lambs. Next year, I'll probably end up getting a Cheviot (border), to do two sets of crossing. The bigger ewes to Blue and the smaller ones to the Cheviot as I'll be focusing more on the fleece marketing aspect. The purebreeding groups will HAVE to be much smaller and fewer as I won't be wanting to replace a lot of ewes we have right now, other than most of the ones in Blue's group. Some, unfortunately, are in Blue's group as I needed to make his group big enough, otherwise they would be going to one of the pure rams.
No, you saw correctly. Dreamie and Torvus are not among the line up. They probably aren't going to be very happy in a couple of weeks, but I have plenty of Dreamie daughters at the moment. Torvus actually is being doctored as he and Dreamie locked horns several days ago and he got the short end of the stick by having below one of his eyes (his cheek) smashed pretty bad. His eye is fine, but the lump on his cheek got infected. At least he is very docile about treatments. No halter needed. So, just as well neither are being used. They can keep each other "company" as much as the no. 1 and no. 2 ram can, as that is much better than only one being used. Dreamie is top dog, err . . . ram. Cleg also has the year off. I hope to use him again next year.
That's it for this post!
I noticed you're using a ram with cut horns this year. Does that mean you won't be so hard on the polled genetics? :-)
ReplyDeleteWow, that made me tired. That's a lot of groups.
ReplyDeleteStephen, the cut horned one is the Whistlestop ram (Broderick should not have been cut at all as he is inches away from his face and will never be too close). I've never been hard on polled genetics, I just am not focusing on them. I've got too many other variables that I'm focusing on and preserving. Most of the fine breeders are now polled and what is becoming extremely scarce are the horned fine fleece Shetlands. I can count the number of horned fine breeders that I know of in this country on my hands and still have fingers left. Not good for the gene pool.
ReplyDeleteTarlatan, a scurred ram lamb of ours, took 2nd place at WSWF last month behind Velour (class of 30!). Knockout boy but nobody wants scurred rams and I can't keep rams that I won't use eventually. As it is I'm going to be sending Gunpowder to market, if no one buys him. And he passed the ram inspection!!