Category: ReferenceRams

Reference Ram 

I purchased “Cheech” and “Chong” from David Coplen (Birch Cove Farm in Missouri) in spring of 2019. I had the rams shipped via air cargo, which was an expensive, but fast and low-stress process. I really like using David’s genetics because he has been in NSIP a long time; and runs a grass-fed operation with very low inputs, so his animals pass on a lot of vigor, hardiness and good maternal instincts. Plus, he is well-connected to the Midwest Katahdin genetics, which helps us with “connectedness” in NSIP (we have been a bit of an island out in the PNW and are trying to improve that).

David has been bringing in some Texel genetics, then upgrading back to purebred Katahdin. These rams are a product of that venture. The positives are that we can benefit from some heterosis (hybrid vigor) and also the myostatin or “double muscling” gene that’s common in Texels (that’s what gives Texels that “pig ham” back end). The drawbacks are some setbacks in hair coats; but this is minor considering the bigger strides we’ll make in meat production. Cheech is a 87.5%. He did not shed adequately as a yearling, but did as a two-year-old, so that’s when I finally upgraded him. Subsequently, his lambs can be fully registered. He does throw a few shaggy lambs, but most of his progeny shed sufficiently.

Cheech has really strong EBVs across the board, he is a really special ram. He is a substantial animal, both muscled and tall. Mostly white, but has some brown freckling and one large mahogany spot on his hip, ala Wiltshire Horn genetics. His temperament is calm and reserved. You can review his current EBVs on NSIP’s searchable database here. Photo taken September 2021. EBVs below from 2021 lamb crop PWWT data. He is genotyped.

Offered for sale as a purebred, registered  Katahdin ram $425

Really striking dark mahogany (nearly black) ram with black legs and face. Very substantial body, muscling and scrotal circumference, and tall stature. He has positive and balanced EBVs across the board, but nothing too extreme, just a solid 50-60 percenter dude. Sired by a framey, dark chocolate ram from Birch Cove Farm (David Coplen, Missouri) and a badger-colored dam also from Birch Cove. Tracing back to some other O.G. NSIP flocks: Fahrmeier and Ginapp, total outcross genetics for the PNW. He has a Texel way back in his pedigree somewhere, as his paternal grandsire was a 87.5% upgrade, so we get a little hybrid vigor in there as well. He should throw lots of interesting colors. I used this ram for 2021 fall breeding, so he’ll have connectedness if moved to another NSIP flock. I’ve purchased some new ram genetics and have a lot of his relatives here, so it’s time for this guy to move along.

Photo from November 2021.  EBVs from 2021 lamb crop EPWWT data and includes the new Genomics run calculations , and this ram is genotyped himself. NSIP is currently not reporting the USA HAIR index, until it can be updated with the new Genomics calculations.  This ram is ready to go to a new home today.

Reference Ram 

“Boone” was borrowed from the USDA Dale Bumpers Small Farms Research Center in Booneville, Arkansas. Dr. Joan Burke heads up a research flock of Katahdins there, and was kind to loan him to us on the West coast; so we could benefit from what were at the time stellar EBVs; as well as gain more “connectedness” to the Midwest NSIP flock cluster. Boone bred ewes at Caleb Pirc’s farm in Idaho, then Karen Kenagy’s farm in Oregon, before making a stop here in WA. He headed East to an Iowa farm summer 2021.

Boone is a white ram with some light tan freckling. He has a very good hair coat and nice conformation. His temperament is calm and he is somewhat curious and friendly, yet gentle and easy to handle. He is typical of many high-scoring  maternal EBV rams in that he doesn’t have a tremendously masculine appearance. Below are his EBVs when he came here in Nov 2020, so you can see why we were excited to use him. Since then, and since Genomics, his EBVs have fallen significantly. See his current EBVs on NSIP’s searchable database here. I got some good ewelambs out of him, as well as a pretty spectacular replacement ram; so his genetics will still be sticking around here for some time to come. Photo taken November 2020.

Reference Ram 

Solid dark chocolate ram, very tall and framey. I purchased “Cheech” and “Chong” from David Coplen (Birch Cove Farm in Missouri) in spring of 2019. I had the rams shipped via air cargo. I really like using David’s genetics because he has been in NSIP a long time; and runs a grass-fed operation with very low inputs, so his animals pass on a lot of vigor, hardiness and good maternal instincts. Plus, he is well-connected to the Midwest Katahdin genetics, which helps us with “connectedness” in NSIP (we have been a bit of an island out in the PNW and are trying to improve that).

David has been bringing in some Texel genetics, then upgrading back to purebred Katahdin. These rams are a product of that venture. The positives are that we can benefit from some heterosis (hybrid vigor) and also the myostatin or “double muscling” gene that’s common in Texels (that’s what gives Texels that “pig ham” back end). The drawbacks are some setbacks in hair coats; but this is minor considering the bigger strides we’ll make in meat production. Chong was a B coat, as he retained some backline wool each year; but the rest of his body shed cleanly. His sire was an upgrade, so he was fully registered, as can be all of his offspring.

He was a substantial ram, both well-muscled and tall. His temperament was calm and reserved. Photo taken November 2020. He came in with pretty strong EBVs, but they really sank after the Genomics run, and he is genotyped himself.  You can view his current EBVs here. His lamb crops have performed very well for me and I’ve retained quite a few daughters,  and kept and used a son. I retired him from service in 2021 after using him for two seasons.

Reference Sire

Yeti was a very balanced, moderate ram across the board, no extremes here. He was a very pretty Hereford-red ram with a long body and muscular hindquarters. A moderate-sized adult and very calm and easy to handle. His maternal side captures genetics from David Coplen’s Birch Cove Farm in Missouri, where heavy selection pressure is placed on easy-care pasture-raised sheep with measured parasite resistance, coming from a long line of NSIP-focused breeding programs. His sire traced back to local genetics, including a lot of old-stock WA genetics like Bert Martineau’s line. I used this ram for two years (2015-2016 winters) and got some good lambs out of him.

EBVs from 2017 lamb crop sixty day weight data. Pictured here breeding in his yearling year. Click here to see current EBVs in the database for this ram.

Reference Ram

Rugby was a very well built and flashy colored ram, and was calm and handle-able. I used him for a few years before selling him to another local farm. Pictured here breeding as an eighteen month old. You can see his current EBVs here.

Reference: Herd Sire (2008-2010 breeding seasons)

Hershey was the first ram I used, a non-NSIP ram whose only data was generated from his performance here. I bought him from Shirley Hasbrouck in Shelton, who had used him for several years prior. She bought him from Bert Martineau, who used to have a very large commercial flock of Katahdins in SW Washington state. Bert has since retired, so this is some of the last of his unique line of production sheep. One thing really valuable about this ram is his pedigree lacks any of the popular sires that were over-used in our region and appear in most lines (often multiple times); creating genetic bottlenecks and risk to the gene pool. This is a very diverse, “old stock” ram who made a good outcross to line-bred ewes. Several people have intentionally chosen breeding stock out of Hershey just for that reason, to try to escape some of those frequently-used-sires, and re-establish some genetic diversity in their flocks.

Hershey was a pretty red color, and was very gentle and easy to work with. He had a true “AA” coat, where no wooly fibers extended beyond the hair coat in winter. He did a great job as a sire through almost age ten, easily servicing a few dozen ewes in his “assigned group”; but was starting to show some signs of age, so I retired him at the end of 2010.  He threw healthy, pretty lambs and was a good sire. I’ve kept a few different rams out of his line that improved upon his genetics via some excellent ewes. Over time, we can see that his EBVs declined, reflecting that he was really only an average/mediocre ram for production traits. But, that’s the power of EBVs, is showing us where the true performers are; I never would have been able to guess he was less strong than his peers just based on visual appraisal of his lambs and daughters. Only the numbers tell the truth! Hershey is several generations back in the pedigrees of a lot of my ewes; but every generation gets stronger with selection on ever-increasing EBVs for growth and maternal traits. I don’t regret using Hershey for the vigorous old-stock genetics he brought; and now I bring those forward into improved generations for growth and maternal traits.

Click here to see his current EBVs on the NSIP website. Pictured here as a ten year old.