Monday
Posted 10/21/2008 10:32pm by Eugene Wyatt.
Breeding began today. We classed the rams and selected four to put in with 160 breeding ewes. This year we are using a syndicate to mate the ewes: by choosing the breeding rams from the same bloodline (the syndicate), a lamb sired by any one of them will have similar genetics on the sire side.
This year I liked the look of the yearling rams who've descended from Bullamalita BL 76, one of the original Saxon rams imported from Australia in 1991, and I chose his progeny for the syndicate.
BL 76
I considered physical characteristics: particularly the ram's size, but I wanted smooth bodies (easier to shear); I looked for wide horns rather than horns close to the head, I preferred open faces to wooly ones, and finally I made a subjective consideration (meaning that I let myself be chosen by the ram): I looked at how the ram looked to me, how he carried himself—a ram knows when he's good—he's calm, he's proud and he makes you feel that he's regal, that he'll breed well and carry his genetic heritage forward.
Catskill Merino is a wool flock with one of the finest clips in the United States and we got that way by selecting breeding rams for their wool.
Now with Dominique holding on to their horns to hold the rams still, I looked at their fleece, parting it with my fingers, looking for a bright white color, looking for fine wool with an AFD of 17-18 μ (1μ [micron] = 1/1,000,000th of a meter) as judged by touch, looking for uniformity in fineness from the shoulder to the rump and from the withers to the belly.
Only rams with impeccable wool will breed Catskill Merino ewes.
I selected wool traits I didn't see in the merinos that I saw yesterday at Rhinebeck, which were large Delaine merinos, common sheep, not having the wool genetics that have been proudly bred into the Australian Saxon merino for centuries, bred into the rams that I imported and that I've bred into the ewes of my flock over the last 18 years.
Dominique recorded the rams' ear tag numbers then we put the boys with the girls. Lambs will begin to arrive 5 months from this day, over 200 lambs will be born in a 36 day period (the time of 2 estrus cycles), the length of time the rams will be with the ewes.
The ewes look good, they are healthy coming off summer pasture, they will be good mothers.
Are your sheep ADMRA registered and do you ever have rams for sale?
Thanks,
Jenny
Are your sheep ADMRA registered and do you ever have rams for sale?
Thanks,
Jenny
I no longer register my merinos with the ADMRA and I always have rams for sale.
For more info on Catskill Merino rams see http://catskill-merino.com/content/279
Hope this helps...
Eugene