Saturday, August 23, 2014

2014 Ram Lamb Sales List

After much soul searching and analysis, we have finalized our sales list for our 2014 lambs. We have eight top notch rams for sale from some of the top bloodlines in the country. I will provide very detailed answers to any of your questions, so don’t hesitate to ask. I would use all eight of these rams in our own breeding program, so let me just say that to start. I do not have micron test results, but I do believe that each of these will be grade 1 premium FFSSA rams as yearlings. That’s a projection based on my own evaluations.
 
These rams are also either polled or half-polled. Most have very small scurs. Two have longer scurs. It’s debatable whether the ram with the longer scurs is fully horned or half-polled, but I do believe he carries one gene for each.
 
Our mission continues to be to produce fine fleeced Shetlands that resemble what you would see in the UK where the breed originated. All eight of these rams are an example of our work toward that mission and I believe virtually every flock in the country would benefit from the quality of these rams and what I think they can produce.
 
I will not be keeping any of these guys, so if they don’t sell, they will go to market. That would be a shame, but it’s the same problem everyone has, I guess. If you can find better rams than these guys, my advice would be to buy them. Great Shetland fleeces are relatively rare in this country, and if you are interested in that, the ram is arguably the most important ingredient to obtaining them. It took us years of work to consistently produce animals of this quality, which we could not have done so without having access to the best flocks in the country. I am grateful to those flocks for their help and we want to work with new customers to extend the same courtesy.
 


What I like most about the moorit ram above is the wool on the poll. It's a trait that is authentic Shetland, and in all the years we have been doing this, we haven't produced it very often.






This grey katmoget ram is out of Constantinople, who also exhibits wool on the poll. Very nice ram!