Category: Uncategorized

Offered for sale as a registered ewelamb $300 after 8/15, or at the side of her dam between 7/1 and 8/15 for $575.

A classic white ewelamb out of a very reliable mother. who always throws very pretty lambs.  Her sire is from Iowa, John Bare DVM’s ranch, Thistle Grove Farm.  He is a very strong maternal sire, so offers a lot to this ewelamb’s pedigree in strengthening prolificacy and milk. Her maternal granddam is from Aileen Scott’s Aspen Mountain Farm in Montana.

EBVs from this year’s lamb crop data. Photo taken mid-May.

Offered for sale as a registered yearling ewe $350

This is a a beautiful buckskin pinto ewe with an early-shedding, very slick coat. She has very balanced  positive EBVs across the board, nothing too extreme. Her sire is my “maternal sire” ram from Iowa, John Bare, DVM’s flock at Thistle Grove Farm. Her dam is a really sweet and gentle, very motherly ewe with a lot of color in her background.

EBVs from this year’s lamb crop birth data. Photo taken in May 2017 as a yearling. This ewe is ready to travel to a new home today!

Offered for sale as a registered ewelamb $300

This is a stocky, chocolate ewe with a small white star on her forehead. She is a single, so will grow fast and be highly likely to breed in the fall. Her mama is a very good, maternal ewe.  I spent a lot of money and effort to bring her sire over from Iowa, John Bare DVM’s ranch, Thistle Grove Farm. He is a very strong maternal sire, so offers a lot to this ewelamb’s pedigree. This lamb has modest, but very balanced EBVs; she will likely be a reliable twinner with few complications.

EBVs from this year’s lamb crop 120 day weight data. Photo taken in May. This lamb is weaned and ready to go to a new home today.

Offered for sale as a registered ewe $275 

This is a well-built chocolate ewe with a really sweet and calm temperament and very faithful mothering skills.  She is a good, clean, early shedder. I am selling her because though her EBVs are balanced across the board, they are on the lower end of what I prefer. As you can see from her lambing record, she’s raised twins three times, and singles three times; but in all instances, she was a dedicated mother. She herself is a triplet-born and her mother has raised several sets of triplets. So, triplets aren’t out of the question for her, especially if she is generously fed, but likely most years she’ll have twins or a single.

Her sire is from old-time Washington state stock, out of Bert Martineau’s line, and he’s now retired. Her dam is out of a very strong line of production-focused sheep from Jody Ouradnik (Just Plain Sheep) who’s also retiring, so it’s hard to get her stock. Her maternal grandfather is from North Dakota State University’s research flock of NSIP animals. This is a nice pedigree which avoids a lot of the “frequently used sires” which were over-used in our region, baselining on fresh blood and outcrossing that results in good genetic vigor.

Her lambing record starting as a yearling: 1/1, 2/2, 2/2, 2/2, 1/1, 1/1

EBVs from this year’s lamb crop post weaning weight data. Photo taken in May with her ewelamb at side. Her ewelamb is KMC7116 and is now weaned.

Offered for sale as a registered yearling ewe, bred $450

This is a a beautiful buckskin pinto ewe with an early-shedding, very slick coat. She has very balanced  positive EBVs across the board, nothing too extreme. Her sire is my “maternal sire” ram from Iowa, John Bare, DVM’s flock at Thistle Grove Farm. Her dam is a really sweet and gentle, very motherly ewe with a lot of color in her background.

This ewe has been exposed to a ram, due to lamb in April. Her lambs will be registerable. Keep in mind that mature ewes usually twin, so the floor of profit is $400 in butcher lambs, more if you sell some registered lambs or have triplets, so bred ewes have a great ROI. There are no guarantees on pregnancy status, since viability is mostly due to handling and feeding; but I rarely have one end up open. EBVs from this year’s lamb crop birth data. Photo taken in May 2017 as a yearling.

Offered for sale as a registered ram $400.

This is a well-balanced, classic white ram. He has good growth and milk scores, moderate prolificacy; so he’ll make a good sire for both producing butcher lambs as well as replacement ewes. His sire was one of the best-scoring ram lambs here in 2015, and his paternal grandsire comes from a very strong NSIP farm in Iowa, Thistle Grove Farm (John Bare, DVM).  JPS60224 appears twice in the pedigree, she is one of my top ewes and has been very productive over her lifetime here, alternating between twin and triplet sets each year. WRN006 was a very good growth sire, and there is lots of color in this pedigree; even though this guy is white, he’ll likely throw a variety of colored lambs.

EBVs from 60 day data. Photo taken at 60 days of age. This ram is currently with his dam, but he can be weaned and go to a new home any time.

Offered for sale as a registered ewe $300. With registered ewelamb and castrated ram lamb at side before July 4th: $650.

This is a white ewe with a moderate frame size and good maternal instincts. Her growth scores are modest, as is her NLB/NLW score; but part of this is because her dam was so old by the time she entered the NSIP system, she did not get credit for her performance. Her dam had 30 lambs in her 13-year lifetime, so was a very productive ewe. Her sire is from Mary Bakko’s Misty River Farm, and Mary is now retired from sheep, so this is some of the legacy of her line. KRK33 hearkens back to Black Sheep Acres (BSA), a very old foundation stock Katahdin line that’s now also gone. These are good foundation genetics that steer clear of some of the popular sires that have bottlenecked a lot of pedigrees in the area.

This ewe has twins at side, both white: a ewelamb, and a ram lamb that will be castrated and will make a good grower lab. They are sired by Rugby. He has very high growth and milk scores, but is more modest on prolificacy, so this is a nice pairing where the hope is that the lambs will combine the best of both parents and offer generational improvement.

EBVs from 2017 lamb crop birth data. Photo taken in April with her twin lambs. Lambing record starting as a yearling: 1/1, 2/2, 2/2

Offered for sale as a registered ewe $275. With registered ewelamb and castrated ram lamb at side before July 4th: $675.

This is a chocolate ewe with a white snip/krunet marking and three white socks. She is a good mother and lambs freely. She  has good growth metrics. Her NLB score is moderate, which would make you think she’d always single or twin, but she’s had triplets twice, so it shows there is variability in that metric that’s influenced by husbandry. But, this metric does imply that her family’s tendency is towards lower birth #s. Her NLW score is very high, so survival is a hallmark of this pedigree. There is some “old stock” Katahdin genetics in this line which bring in fresh blood to compensate for some of the over-used sires in the region. There is a great-grandsire from North Dakota State University, a progressive breeding program that focused on EBVs early-on, and that sire still has a high index today, showing that he was a good investment in the future. Her maternal great-granddam had 30 lambs in her lifetime of 13 years, so was a very productive ewe! I’m selling this ewe because I’m always working on increasing my maternal milk scores, and she is low here. But she is a good mother who has shown twice she can raise triplets, they’ll just grow slower on grass. If she is fed a richer diet (alfalfa and/or grain), and/or the lambs are creep-fed, they will perform as well as others, and you’re likely to get higher yields out of her.

This year she is raising a set of twins. They are sired by Rugby. He has very high growth and milk scores, but is more modest on prolificacy, so this is a nice pairing where the hope is that the lambs will combine the best of both parents and offer generational improvement. The ewelamb has some pretty fantastic pinto markings, and the ram lamb will be castrated and will make a nice grower lamb. He is dark chocolate with a white krunet. She can go to a new home today with her lambs at side. I’ll wean one of them in July, and the other in August, so she could go with one lamb at side before late August, and solo after that.

EBVs from 2017 lamb crop birth data. Photo taken in April with her twin lambs. Lambing record starting as a yearling: 1/1, 1/1, 3/3, 3/3, 2/2

Offered for sale as a registered ewe $275. With two registered ewelambs at side before July 4th: $775.

This is a chocolate ewe with white spotted legs, a white “krunet” head marking and various other white spots. She is a very faithful mother and delivers lambs freely. She has modest growth scores and a low milk score, but very high prolificacy. This boosts her index score: she comes from a family that has a lot of multiple births that survive and thrive, which is considered the key factor in profitability. The one year she had triplets, she was raising all three fine, but one died of e. coli infection, which is just environmental and bad luck, not the fault of the ewe. Her sire comes from White Post Farm stock on the East Coast, a producer who retired, so this is the legacy of his breeding program. Her maternal grandfather is from old Bert Martineau stock in SW WA, also no longer available. Her maternal granddam was 1/4 Dorper, so she’s got some hybrid vigor in the pedigree. This is an “old stock” pedigree which avoids some of the problematic “frequently used sires” in the region that have created genetic bottlenecks for everyone. I’m selling her because I’m always working on increasing my maternal milk scores, and she is low here. But she is a good mother who can raise triplets, they’ll just grow slower on grass. If she is fed a richer diet (alfalfa and/or grain), and/or the lambs are creep-fed, they will perform as well as others, and you’re likely to get higher yields out of her because of those strong prolificacy scores.

Her twin ewelambs (7025 and 7026), pictured with her below, are both dark chocolate. They are sired by Rugby. He has very high growth and milk scores, but is more modest on prolificacy, so this is a nice pairing where the hope is that the lambs will combine the best of both parents and offer generational improvement.

Lambing history starting as a yearling: 1/1, 2/2, 3/2, 2/2, 2/2. EBVs from 2017 lamb crop birth data. Photos taken in April with this year’s twin ewelambs.

Offered for sale as a proven herd sire $650

“Iowa” comes from John Bare’s Thistle Grove Farm breeding program in Iowa. He is a “maternal sire” meaning that his EBVs are focused most on prolificacy and milk, with some of the top scores in the nation. He merits the Certified NSIP Maternal Sire label. His growth scores are positive, but not super impressive. This guy’s genetic lineup is meant for producing replacement ewes that promise a high twinning/triplet rate, good milk, and really strong lamb survival, while still producing adequate butcher lambs for the short-term.

He is solid white, long-bodied, well proportioned with a meaty hind end and a moderate adult frame size (which is desirable from a maintenance standpoint for breeding stock). He is a curious, friendly, intelligent and interactive ram, but has also needed some reminding to keep him on good behavior. He has a small scur on one side that breaks off now and then, and thus a small percentage of his lambs will be scurred or horned. I have used this ram for three years and kept a lot of daughters out of him, as well as two sons, so it’s time for him to bring some Iowa NSIP genetics to a new place!

EBVs from up-to-date 2017 lamb crop sixty day weight data. Pictured here as a two year old.