More on Sorting Sheep

Yesterday we gave all the ewe lambs their second shots and all got evaluated. I managed to get coats on most of them but still need to make 11 more coats as I ran out of some sizes. The uncoated sheep got to go back into the orchard on pasture while the rest are here in the barns on hay now.

Most of the lambs ended up very close when evaluated. To rank them I first did my normal evaluations on all their characteristics, then broke ties by going with fleece quality and then fleece length, thus focusing on wool for the ewe lamb selection this year. We didn't get everyone weighed for their 30-day weights so I don't have average daily gains on all lambs so I can't really use meat production for selection this year. I still have to evaluate all the ram lambs.

We also sorted out some of the for sale yearling ewes. These 4 lovely ladies are sold but we have more like them ready to go. Ewe yearlings are $175 each if purchased and picked up by the end of October. Ewe lambs are $100 each. Ram lambs are $100 each and adult breeding rams are $200 each. All sheep are registered in both the US and UK and are sold with the transfers completed. Any required disease testing, veterinary inspections and paperwork are extra but this is a great chance to get some lovely black sheep for your flock.

I'm heading off to Taos Wool Festival this weekend. I'm looking frward to a major fiber fix. I've never managed to get to any fiber festivals because most of them happen when we are too busy with farm work but things are slowing down so I can sneak away. Black Welsh Mountain yarn will be at the Fire Ant Ranch booth on Saturday so stop by and take a look.