Along with a friend of mine, I invested in two new rams. I bought them from North Carolina State University's online sale. They had a copious amount of data. My emphasis was strong maternal EBVs.: number born and number weaned. The rams had been hauled from North Carolina to Virginia for the ram test sale. A PA consigner had offered to haul rams to PA for $100 a piece. We took him up on the offer. I picked up the rams in Shippensburg.
Two new rams from North Carolina State University
We named the rams Thunder and Lightening. I was disappointed in the size of the one ram. He was a "dwarf" compared to some of my big ewes. I reluctantly left him in with the twenty ewes at my mom's place. I took him out a few days early (after 18 days) and put a bigger ram lamb in with the ewes. I renamed the little ram Munchkin. He'll get a chance to grow out, but he better get bigger. I fear I was blinded by too much by data. The other ram we bought was decent enough size, though the rams I raised were bigger (and younger). My friend used him first. He's currently in with my group of ten younger ewes.
A homegrown ram out of a Weeks ewe and the USDA ram is the other ram I am using. I call him Falkirk, after my trip to Scotland this year. He was in with a group of nine at my house, before being transferred to my mom's house. Another ram lamb is cleaning up for him. Munchkin is in a pen by himself, no more breeding duties. He may be little, but he can get out of any pen. I had to cover his pen with wire panels. I'd like to pare the flock back some. I going to try to sell some bred ewes, maybe 5 or 6.
Yearlings and ewe lambs
I leased a buck to breed my two Nigerian Dwarf does. He's not the biggest either. After two heat cycles, I'll take him to the sale barn, along with the two wethers. I'm hoping they'll be big enough to bring a good price at Christmas time. I sold the doe kid. The other wether is Ramen. I'm letting him stay for now.
Ramen's in the middle of the two does
I might have to get rid of the rabbits. I currently have six litters of different ages (two of each breed), and I can't find a market for them. The guy I met at Hoffman's butcher shop is hard to get up with. I'm not sure he is going to be a reliable buyer. He wants bigger (mature) rabbits that I can provide. Soon, I'm going to have a real cage crunch. I might have to put the first 10 in the freezer, before the others approach market size, too. Too bad. I like raising rabbits. I've put a lot of money into my set-up.
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