Ram and Ram Lamb Micron Counts

Crossing Sires:

Coopworth- 32.2Ave 6.0SD 18.5CV 10.2CEM 0<15 38.8CF 30.7SF 29.9Min 36.1Max 28.4CRV
Corriedale-  25.1Ave 5.0SD 19.9CV 9.5CEM 0.7<15 86.3CF 24.2SF 21.5Min 27.4Max 61.6CRV

Adult Shetlands:
Fairlight-     27.6Ave 5.7SD 20.6CV 10.2CEM 0.3<15 69.7CF 26.8SF 24.1Min 31.2Max 62.4CRV
Fandango-  26.0Ave 6.1SD 23.6CV 10.4CEM 2.7<15 75.5CF 25.9SF 22.6Min 29.9Max 69.2CRV
Fife-           27.3Ave 6.1SD 22.5CV 11.3CEM 1.1<15 72.1CF 26.9SF 24.7Min 30.1Max 56.9CRV
Craigrothie-27.1Ave 6.1SD 22.6CV 11.4CEM 0.5<15 72.5CF 26.8SF 24.5Min 29.0Max 50.2CRV
Gilroy-       24.9Ave 6.5SD 26.1CV 12.7CEM 3.5<15 81.4CF 25.4SF 24.1Min 26.2Max 74.6CRV

Ram Lambs/Yearlings:

Hector-        23.4Ave 5.2SD 22.3CV 10.3CEM 2.3<15 89.8CF 23.0SF  21.6 Min 25.8Max 69.7CRV
Huckleberry-27.5Ave 5.8SD 21.0CV 10.1CEM 0.9<15 71.3CF 26.8SF  23.4 Min 30.4Max 54.1CRV
Humphry-     24.7Ave 5.3SD 21.6CV 9.0CEM 2.1<15 86.8CF 24.1SF  22.5 Min 26.1Max 71.9CRV
Skeld Ram-  22.4Ave 5.3SD 23.5CV 9.7CEM 3.7<15 92.6CF 24.1SF  19.9Min 25.2Max 47.89CRV

Fairlight and Hector are F1 Jings, Humphry is Fairlight's son so is an F2 Jings

Huckleberry is an F1 Black/Ram (I culled the other Black/Ram ram lamb as he was aggressive and jumped fences-he may have been finer, but was less crimpy.)

Fandango is and F2 Greyling and Gilroy is and F4 Greyling (Gilroy is a leased ram.)

Fife is an F1 Orion

Craigrothie and Skeld Ram are F1 Skeld (I actually wasn't going to keep the yearling, but his fleeces was very soft and he grew really well. He is polled so may be for sale as I like horned better.)

Kids!

I got a red kid out of two AAGBA whites!!!!! It is quite unusual to get colored of of AAGBA (pure) whites. He, if he turns out, will be my next colored buck. He is completely unrelated to my CAGBA goats, except for a couple out of the same AAGBA buck and colored does. This fall I will use the black buck and next fall I can use him as he will be too young to use this year.

One the left is an AAGBA X CAGBA (colored) kid and the AAGBA kid on the right. He is darker! He is actually the darkest kid this year. A lot of times the apricot kids fade to white when they grow up. I don't know if he will or not.

Here he is again in the front.
Here he is with his twin, a white doe kid.Triplets taking a siesta.

Scare!

I had a Johne's Disease scare. Because of the scare I have learned a bit more about how serious the disease is in sheep and goats. It isn't quite as serious in dairy herds due to how they are managed. The young from dairy animals are separated from the source (dam) at birth and fed on milk replacer.

For example if I did have Johne's I have sold animals to about five farms since buying the suspect. One of the farms I know has sold to at least two other farms since getting a goat from me and the suspect was in contact with two other farms animals when she was hauled home. So that would be at least eight farms possibly infected including mine!

The blood test is not very accurate and can have both false positive and negatives. It only costs $5. The blood test can be thrown off especially if there are poultry on the same place as the sheep/goats due to a bacteria they carry that looks similar to Johne's. The fecal test is much more accurate and is around $20. They culture the manure to see if there is any shedding going on. The most accurate test is to culture the ilium, but one can't do that on a live animal.

Also from what I have found out testing animals under 12-18 months is a waste of time and money as they won't come positive even if they are infected until they are older. (Sometimes an animal will be sick by 18 months, but only very heavily infected ones.)

I tested both the suspect and a pooled manure sample of manure from adult animals and both came back negative! Sigh of relief.

From now on I am going to do a pooled manure sample from adult animals every year.* I have been told by a vet who specializes in Johne's in sheep and goats and she said it is the responsible thing to do if one is selling breeding stock.

*If the pooled sample came back positive one could then go on to individual samples.

I am going to ask for a manure culture on any animal I buy. If the animal is under 12-18 months I will ask for a pooled sampling and/or a sample from the dam to be tested. I am not going to every rely on the blood test. From what I read one has to have the blood test come back negative five years in a row to count as negative and I don't know anyone who has done that. Doing individual manure testing on everyone is not really possible if one has any number of animals. For me it would cost $2,000 to do it once. I am going to do a manure sampling on any poor doers and will get the vet to look at the ilium on any older culls if I can get the butcher to save if for me.

If a flock does have Johne's animals under a year are most susceptible and the problem is it only takes 1/4 tsp. to infect a young animal. The dam can pass Johne's through the milk to the young and in very sever cases it can cross the placenta and be infected at birth. If a flock has Johne's they will end up having to cull animals prematurely, have animals not hold condition and the animals may not produce as much milk and then the lambs/kids would not grow as well. In sever cases they can die as young 18 months. Stress (kidding/lambing, weather, transportation, etc) bring on symptoms. Sheep and goats often do not get the sever scouring that cattle get. It is more just wasting away in sheep and goats. The fleece can be affected and be harsh, brittle and falling off due to the disease.

Thankfully I do not have Johne's! This scare has made me much more aware of a potentially devastating disease. There are many other serious diseases out there. OPP, CAE, CL, Hoofrot, and Scrapie. I am also planning on testing any culls/thin animals for CL, OPP and CAE.

Lambs!

Katmoget crossbreds.
Spoted crosss ewe and black ram.
Twins
Triplets? I had three ewes lamb at once and some babies got mixed up. I think one ewe had a single, one twins and one triplets but don't know for sure! The one I think had a single is taking care of two lambs and the one that I think had twins only kept one lamb.
Up to over 50 lambs born so far. There are 12 or 13 more girls to go. These lambs are all crosses.

Lamb Fun

The ewe lamb figured out how to play on mom....

Here the ram lamb is trying to get up on top of mom, but can't quite figure out how to.


This is my black CAGBA buck kid that I bought this fall from my friend Kris. He was sitting like a dog for about 3 min.!
"Ahh I'll sit down now."

Once Again

I have some surprise lambs! I went out side to hear the sound of newborn lambs about a week ago. This was going to be the year of not surprises as all of the rams and ram lambs were at home and all of the ewes and lambs were down the road grazing on a hay field or so I thought.. One of the "wethers" was not castrated right. The results are doing well.
The ewe is a Shetland X Merino and the sire is a Shetland. Both were white and the lambs are colored, but the ewe lamb will be grey and the ram might stay black.
Now for some more pictures...

ewe lambs (there are a couple ewe in here as well as they were very thin so are getting better feed with the lambs)
Fawn kat
This is the white AI (Skeld X Swan) lamb who had gotten sick. She is completely better.
This year it is especially good that I coat my sheep as the hay I'm feeding the lambs and goats unfortunately has a lot of burrs in it.
Buck and wether kids plus the ram lambs. This year I am planning on selling about 10 kids for butcher and hope to get a good price. I will shear them in mid March and then sell them.

Pure Breeding Group

Everest (the teaser boy) went in yesterday and in about 10 days the real rams go in.

Sommarang Gilroy-linebred on Greyling. Nice horns and conformation. He is black, fine fleeced (more on the matte side) and carries spots, he will get:

PS23 Dingdong-fawn, silky double coat ewe who may carry spots

PS23 Eastwind-emsket HST, silky double coat

UTS Aran-sheala, very soft fleece

UTS Jelly Drop-emsket, silky double coat ewe who may carry spots

PS23 Funzie-grey katmoget (F1 Jings), very fine and crimpy fleece; horned

PS23 Gloria-white, fine, silky and crimpy

PS23 Glitter-white, fine, silky and crimpy ewe who may carry spots

PS23 Edelwiess-musket katmoget, very silky and wavy, throws extremly fine fleeced lambs

PS23 Daysong-grey katmoget, med. fine and crimpy ewe who may carry spots and modified

PS23 Craigrothie-F1 Skeld. He is white with a pearly, silky, soft fleece. He has aberrant horns and has thrown polled rams. He may get (if I have space):

Sabbath Farm Fontyen -fawn katmoget, med. fine and crimpy; horned (if I don't use Craigrothie she will go to Hector)

Sheepy Hollow Sienna-moorit, very fine, silky and crimpy; horned (she will go to Gilroy if I don't use C.)

PS23 Hector-F1 Jings. White very fine, crimpy, silky, very soft fleece. This ram has a wild streak and is very aloof. He has great conformation and is fineboned with nice horns. He will be getting:

PS23 Flourance-white with a soft, silky, wavy fleece. She is a very petite ewe and may be for sale next year.

PS23 Goldenrod-musket (who I think is also mioget), very soft, silky and crimpy fleece. Nice size on this girl.

PS23 Humphry-F2 Jings. Fawn katmoget with color. Very soft, crimpy and cushy fleece. Nice horns. This little guy is calm. He will be getting:

Sabbath Farm Silvia-grey, silky fleece

PS23 Gardenia-grey gulmoget/katmoget, very silky and very soft fleece. Milky ewe line.

PS23 Easterlilly-white, fine and crimpy fleece

PS23 Huckelberry-F1 Ram (Black) med. dark grey katmoget. Crimpy, silky and fine fleece. Nice horns. This boy is very tame and friendly. He will be getting:

Sabbath Farm Swan- musket, silky fleece. Milky ewe line.

PS23 Ferndale-(F1 Gordon) black/sheala. Crimpy, dense, med. fine fleece

PS23 Forsythia- light grey, very fine and crimpy fleece.

These are the girls about a month ago. Everyone has coats on now.