Fine

I was comparing micron counts from two different times and found something interesting to ponder on. Fine- does fine (meaning super fine) as a lamb really matter? If a lamb is med. fine and stays med. fine vs. a super fine lamb who ends up med. fine is there any difference? One only gets one lamb fleece. Fife was the finest ram as a lamb, but as an adult he is not my finest ram. A couple boys changed very little from their lamb fleeces to their third fleece. Yes, it is easy to tell that their fleeces are adult fleeces as the wool is greasier, less tippy and smellier than lamb's wool. All of the rams's birth coats were the fine crimpy kind.


Fairlight(white) an F1 Jings was 26.6 Ave, 6.3 SD, 23.8 CV, 10.6 CEM, 26.6 SF and 72.1 CF (note: soft, silky hand and a meduim crimp) as a lamb. Two years later, as a three year old he only coarsened 1 micron. What's more his SD and CV are both lower!


Fairlight-     27.6 Ave, 5.7 SD, 20.6 CV, 10.2 CEM, 0.3<15, 69.7 CF, 26.8 SF, 24.1 Min, 31.2 Max, 62.4 CRV- 3 years


PS23 Fandango (grey katmoget) an F2 Greyling/F3 Orion is 25.8 Ave, 5.8 SD, 22.5 CV, 9.9 CEM, 23.4 SF and 89.4 CF (note: silky hand and meduim crimp) as a lamb. Two years later, as a three year old he only coarsened 0.2 micron!

Fandango-  26.0 Ave, 6.1 SD, 23.6 CV, 10.4 CEM, 2.7<15, 75.5 CF, 25.9 SF, 22.6 Min, 29.9 Max, 69.2 CRV


PS23 Fife (moorit)an F1 Orion is 23.7 Ave, 5.4 SD, 22.6 CV, 9.5 CEM, SF23.4 and CF 88.7 (Note: very soft, but a bit cottony, very crimpy, tight crimp.) as a lamb. Two years later, as a three year old he coarsened 3.6 microns. His SD is the same and CV is 0.1 lower.

Fife- 27.3 Ave, 6.1 SD, 22.5 CV, 11.3 CEM, 1.1<15, 72.1 CF, 26.9 S,F 24.7 Min, 30.1 Max ,56.9 CRV


PS23 Craigrothie (white) an F1 Skeld was 26.6 Ave, 6.5 SD, 24.5 CV, 11.7 CEM, 26.8 SF, 72.3 CF  Four years later, as a six year old he coarsened 0.5 microns (I don't know what his lamb fleece was.) His SD and CV are both lower. 

Craigrothie-27.1Ave 6.1SD 22.6CV 11.4CEM 0.5<15 72.5CF 26.8SF 24.5Min 29.0Max 50.2CRV


Some observations from what I've seen at the mill I work at and from my own flock/herd:


Some breeds seem to change more from lambswool to adult wool than others. The longwools all seem to change a lot from lamb to adult. Some of the Coopworth lambswool (and Romney)  when carded almost seem like Corriedale. As adults they are not nearly as bouncy, are much shiner and silkier. Lincolns' lambswool is like kid mohair, but the adult can be like shiny wire. There is not such a drastic difference between lamb and adult in the Corriedales or CVM or East Frisian/ Lacaune dairy sheep (at least in a friend who has 500 of them's flock, but he is not concerned about wool so much as milk.) Those are all more med. wool. Even though Fife changed a lot on paper, I couldn't tell by the hand that he changed that much. 


The more double coated wools (American think NAIL and the BSG) show type Shetlands, Icelandic have a huge difference between lamb and adult. Icelandic lamb is fairly soft and not nearly as many guard hairs (or they are just finer.) In comparison the adult is often quite coarse. Yeah, the Icelandic breeders say that the inner coat is so fine, but from what I've seen (over 50 fleeces) the inner coat is not fine. It can be med. fine, but often is not very soft. Really double coated wools (except Karakul and SBF ) don't card very well many of the times. What happens is the inner coat which most of the time is 1/3 of the length of the rest of the fiber pills or come off the machine in clumps. However the customers who have Icelandic wool seem to love it. There are some great uses for Icelandic wool. 


Camelid both llama and alpaca-yes, even Huacaya alpaca seem to change a lot over the years. Some Huacaya that I've seen is slightly double coated with a few guard hair. Many alpaca fleeces from older animals is only med. fine to quite coarse. Some of those coarse (not next to the skin soft, more rug, blanket or strong socks grade) alpacas I know for a fact are from a "top" alpaca herd, one of which get $1000s of $ for the animals. The people who own the alpacas (many who don't spin and think if it is carded they will suddenly know how to use alpaca fiber and be able to sell it for big $$) have said where they got their animals from, some even have a copy of the animal's reg. paper in with the fleece. Yes, I have seen a handful of very nice fine and soft alpaca fleeces.I have also seen llama that has been really nice, fine and silky without any guard hairs. Most are 1-3 clip of either breed of alpaca. I'm not sure if their are any old alpacas who stay fine. If there are they are the ones who should be the sires. I know alpaca people don't really "cull"anything. They sell their lower quality animals as pets or breedingstock to be improved with the sire who is $500-1000 just for a breeding fee.


Most mohair changes a lot from kid to adult. (In a good goat the true adult grade is not until the goat is at least 4.)  Goats (as well as the camelid) seem to have a continue of gradually coarsening fleece. Hence so many grades: kid/ second clip kid/ yearling/ fine adult/ adult/ rug. In TX they have some highly selected goats who have kid grade their whole lives. Those goats are worth $1000 of dollars. The buck I got from TX is five now and his fleece was kid grade for about 3 or 4 years. When it was washed (in the grease it is easy to tell apart due to the smell) I could not tell it apart from washed kid mohair. His fleece is more of a second clip kid or very fine yearling now. The down he has a very light weight fleece. His mohair is probably only 3# per shearing. His kids all have had denser and heavier fleeces. His kids (all of which have been out of CAGBA goats) are also not as fine. I guess I need to see what his kids would be like out of pure AAGBA goats. I do have some this year, but won't know what their adult mohair will be like for a couple of years.  I have two friends who both have one of my TX guy's half brothers and both have much bigger fleeces and are not as fine. They are more yearling or fine adult grade.  


I guess the point is, except in longwools (The longwool wouldn't really be longwool grade if the adult fleece was the same as the lamb fleece) and the double coated breeds, perhaps the ones who change the least, if they can pass on not changing much as far as fleece are more valuable as breeding sires than ones who do change a lot or at least not any less valuable than a ram who starts out at 19.00-22.00 microns and then coarsens to 25/26 microns than one who started at 25/26 microns and STAYED there? 

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.