Rams - the old and the new

Back to farm stuff with the blog, although I have a couple of other topics to throw in as well.

Breeding season usually starts October 1. There will be a 2-day delay this year because I’ll be at Lambtown October 1 and 2. I have already scheduled a Farm Day for Farm Club to come out on the 3rd to sort breeding groups and watch the action. My goal is to have all the extra sheep (2022 lambs I’m not keeping and a few cull ewes) gone by then. I don’t have enough room as it is to spread out the groups the way I’d like to.

I want to introduce the rams for this year.

Patchwork Townes is a 2-1/2 year old ram from Patchwork Farm in Georgia. He was purchased by a friend but had some kind of injury shortly after she got him last summer. We wonder if he gave himself a spinal injury by bashing trees. He was down and immobile for a period of time. My friend nursed Townes back to health but was then concerned about his temperament after he’d had all that attention. We don’t like rams to be pets and would rather that they be a bit standoffish. When I go into the ram pen I’d prefer to have the rams walk away rather than approach. My friend offered Townes to me in return for a lamb from him. I jumped at the chance to have the new genetics and a lilac (brown-gray color pattern) ram with great horns at that.

The other three rams with Townes are yearlings, born March, 2021. This is Meridian Silverado (Ruby Peak Tamarisk x Meridian Spice). He is the only 4-horn ram I kept from last year’s lambs. I’m not crazy about his lower horns now. I haven’t trimmed them but may have to at some point.

This shot of Silverado and Townes is a great comparison of the two Jacob color patterns—black and white, and lilac.

Meridian Axis is a 2-horn lilac yearling. (Meridian Axle x Meridian Vixen). Axis is related to most of the lilac ewes I have here and he is for sale. See info on this page.

Hillside Gabby’s Barrett came from Michigan last summer. He sired some of last years lambs, and some carried that distinctive facial pattern.

I have decided to keep more ram lambs than in the past. Its always discouraging when people ask about buying breeding rams and I have sold most of the rams for butcher. With a small property I can’t keep as many as I like, but I chose these to keep an eye on and watch how they grow. I have also submitted registration applications for them so I can sell them as registered rams. These rams were born this year, so they are just a year younger than the three rams above. Introducing the 2022 rams:

Meridian Rascal (Meridian Rambler x Meridian Hilda).

KJ Royalty Thorn. (Meridian Silverado x Meridian Belle). Thorn and his sister belong to my granddaughter who owns their dam, Belle. They live here, but Kirby can show when she is here in the summer.

Meridian Brady (above) and Meridian Bravo (below) are twins. (Hillside Gabby’s Barret x Meridian Roca.) Brady is black and white and Bravo is lilac. It may be hard to tell in the photo but Bravo’s face is a dark gray, not black. His wool looks different, but sometimes it’s hard to tell about the wool without looking at the whole staple length. Look at the fleece photo below.

That’s Bravo’s fleece on the left (lilac) and Brady’s on the right (black).

This is Meridian Turbo, who has the best horns of the two horn rams this year. (Ruby Peak Tamarisk x bide a wee Trista.) Of the ram lambs, Turbo is the least related to most of the sheep in the flock.

I wanted to keep another 4-horn ram and this is him. I haven’t chosen a name yet. (Meridian Silverado x Meridian Sylvia).

I almost forgot the last ram. Peyton is a BFL and I crossbreed a handful of the ewes each year. He sires larger lambs that are ready to sell earlier than the 100% Jacob lambs.