Well I have spent a fair bit of time over the last few days handling and evaluation rams. I had 24 of them, and that was just too many for a flock of 45 ewes!While fondling fleeces I came across this boy ... WillowGarden Bitters. He is out of WillowGarden Chick Pea, a bluish grey ewe out of WillowGarden Sophia Loren (Bitterroot Joshua and Windswept Alicia Spinet) and Lugthart Starry Champion, a grey F1 Greying ram. I thought that he was your typical grey ram lamb when he was born, but ... now I am not sure. I don't thing he is emsket since there are obvious black fibres. But the light fibres appear grey and not white. Interesting. The lightest sample is from his front 'arm pit' ... and the darker is mid side, last rib. It is very soft as well. I guess he'll stay for a while ... ;-)
This morning, 4 of the ram lambs went to visit 'Uncle Ted' and they'll come back shortly wrapped and frozen ... ;-).
I have a buyer who wants one of four that I have for sale. The ones that she doesn't take will also go to visit 'Uncle Ted' in two weeks.
That will have me down to 16 rams ... which is still WAY too many! I sent off fleece samples from the 10 ram lambs so that I can compare micron results before I chose the next lot for a visit with 'Uncle Ted'. I'd like to be down to 8 by Spring ... 'cause I'll have LOTS more lambs that I'll want to keep. A few of them will 'leave' after breeding season as I know that I'll have lambs from them that will likely be better than they are.
I wish that I had unlimited hay, pasture, barn space, and ENERGY ... so that I could keep all 24 until they mature at 3 years old ... but ... *sigh* ... reality ... IS.
:-)
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