ANother year of AI

So, yes, we are still at it.
Slow going, this breeding up business.
We AI'd again this January, so looking for lambs in early June.
Hopefull we will have a few 87.5% (7/8) ewes this go.
(crossed fingers).

Lambing is done

So this year we had three sets of twins and one singleton, all natural (no AI).
(Seven lambs from four ewes, four male and three female; two 75% and five 5/8- and yes all spoken for, sorry.)

Not too bad a ratio, right 175%?

This fall will be another round of AI, talking about flushing and embryo transfer from my 75% ewe (she had twin ewe lambs her first breeding), which would bump me up to a crop of 87.5% lambs instead of one set, with the other 50% ewes giving me more 75% lambs.  I'll keep you posted.

1/2 done and all boys

Two of our four ewes had three lambs (one pair twins and one sigleton) and so far they were all boys. Hard to breed up on boys...well two more to go, so fingers are crossed.

Feb-March

Lambing Season is just around the corner, and all four of the girls look like they were covered by our Ram, 'Prince'. He's 75% (ARR) and one ewe is 75%, while the other three are 50% Kerry hill. (So 5/8 KH babies)

The ewe on the left (with the white nose) is one of our first 50% lambs, while right beside her is our 75% Ram. He has good markings, and is a pretty calm ram, (by Cheviot and Kerry Hill standards). I haven't weighed him recently, but he looks to be in the 150-180 lb range (hard to tell before we shear). Our twin 50% rams were behemoths, well over 200 each, heterosis, I am sure.

The ewes are smaller than the Cheviot foundation ewes, probably down in the 125 pound range. I don't plan to keep any of the lambs (well the boys will go to the freezer, but we could part with ewe lambs and few have been spoken for).

Other's thought to import them

A fellow I met through the blog emailed that he had read an account of people evaluating Kerry Hills for import to the US. "Modern Sheep Breeds and Management; 1907 (Welcome to read if you are so inclined).

Thanks Norm

Yes, still around

So to answer questions, yes we are still breeding Kerry Hills.

Not intentionally this past year.

I turned the spring ram lamb (Prince) in with the ewes in late Jan (he was about 10 months old, it was late in the season, I thought I was practicing 'safe shepherding') but he still seemed to have bred half the ewes. Precocious lad, but then he was 75% welsh...so there you go.

We'll be turning him in with the ewes this Oct (2011) and expect Feb-March 5/8 lambs. (Keep an eye out). I expect better than 50% coverage as a yearling...and then we'll AI the 75% and 50% ewes in Sep/Oct 2012 for 2013 lambs.

Neglecting my Blog, but not my sheep

It has been quite a while since I posted and some people have asked if the Blog is still active. It is. Due to a busy work schedule I opted not to AI, or even breed at all this year. It does take some time and energy that I just couldn't dedicate. I also downsized the flock to 5 (a 75% ram lamb, a 75% ewe lamb and three 50% ewes). More manageable.