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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.

Offered for sale as a registered ewe $300- SOLD

This pretty girl is out of our red sire, Yeti. She is a red roan, with a long, well-proportioned frame and substantial hindquarters. She has good, balanced numbers across the board; she will likely be a solid twinner that raises good-growing lambs. She was the product of an accidental breeding last fall; one of a triplet set where all three lambs had a different sire (as determined by DNA test)!  She’s been in the barn, so is fairly acclimated to people and somewhat friendly. She is weaned now and ready to go to a new home today.

EBVs from 60 day data. Photo taken at 90 days of age.

Offered for sale as a registered ewe $300- SOLD

This beefy girl is out of our very high growth EBV ram, Rugby. She is a red roan, and very substantial in size and growth. Very strong growth and milk EBVs, with moderate prolificacy, so shouldn’t be a high # of triplets here. She was the product of an accidental breeding last fall; one of a triplet set where all three lambs had a different sire (as determined by DNA test)!  I raised her as an orphan-rear to give her mother a break, since she wasn’t on the right feeding schedule, lambing so early. This lamb is pretty friendly, and if you wanted her to be even more social, you could bottle feed her for a little longer, as a treat. She is weaned and ready to go to a new home today.

EBVs from 60 day data. Photo taken at 90 days of age.