Category: Farm Life
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How Do You Ship Sheep?
So, you’ve found yourself buying sheep from across the country. What’s involved in that process? From the time you agree to purchase sheep to the time your new sheep arrive at your farm, there’s a lot to know. The rules vary by state, but you can read about the basics below. Paperwork Every livestock shipment Continue reading
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Non-Surgical Sheep Artificial Insemination Seminar
The American Black Welsh Mountain Sheep Association and Desert Weyr, LLC are pleased to announce an intensive two-day seminar on non-surgical sheep artificial insemination taking place on December 5th and 6th of 2018. Dr. Philip Purdy from the USDA National Animal Germplasm Program will be teaching our class. The class will cover important AI topics, Continue reading
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What Are Clusters, Anyway?
Black Welsh Mountain sheep in North America are highly inbred. Our founding population was very small, so we do not have much variation from which to select. The USDA’s National Animal Germplasm Program performed a cluster analysis study on the population. This study looked at individual pedigree information and the population as a whole, then Continue reading
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Ram Evaluations are Done!
One of the tasks we conduct every year is evaluating all of the sheep and deciding their fate. We try to provide top-quality sheep as breeding stock, and that only happens because we cull heavily. Today, we evaluated all of the adult rams. We currently have 28 rams on the property, and we want to Continue reading
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98 Degrees, <10% Humidity... What to Cook?
It’s hot, hot, hot! We’ve had no rain, and our temperatures are soaring with low humidity. I don’t want to cook anything inside and heat up the house, but we have severe fire restrictions. No open flames are allowed, so outdoor BBQ isn’t an option, either. Luckily, I’ve just discovered the Instant Pot. I know Continue reading
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Hay Is Arriving
Our first batch of hay for the season has arrived. We were expecting to get about seven tons, but the cutting was smaller than expected, so we only got 3.5 tons. At least it’s in the barn now, and the sheep will be fed over winter. Continue reading
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More Wide Loads
Warning: wide loads ahead! One of the Wide Load sheep still hasn’t lambed yet. We’re both anxiously waiting! I’m sure she’ll be more comfortable once those lambs are on the outside. Continue reading
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Wide Loads
Our expected start of lambing is April 22nd. Normally, we’re out on pasture by now, but the grass hasn’t grown enough yet, so I’m holding the sheep on hay for longer. These two sisters are some of our top-producing sheep, with great EBVs. They and their other relatives always carry their lambs like this. I Continue reading
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Ram Semen Collection
I’m behind in posting here, as per usual. We spent a week in October working with the USDA NAGP to collect and freeze semen from our rams. Some will be used later this year in our flock as part of their AI experiment. We’ll be using it to fine-tune the insemination timing of synchronized ewes Continue reading
