Messages

16

All Sheep and Lamb Discussion / Re: I am kicking around the ideal of A.I.

« on: July 18, 2017, 08:27:34 pm »

Interesting to read about your journey.
I hope with some luck, we can do the same.
I totally agree with your philosophy re getting back on track.
It's Actually my father's flock.
It's pretty much a hobby farm.
We've had sheep for probably 45 years. We had a very solid flock for the past 30 years, but the past few years, we've gradually slipped and no longer see our lambs in the winners circle like we consistently did in the fairly recent past.
Our plan is to cull hard next spring after assessing the results of the breeding season.
Last season we bred to 6 different rams if you include the 4 we AI'd. So, we'll be breeding to a lot of different rams again this season.
Once we find some genetcs that work, I'd like to pretty much use that ram. But until then,  we're still seeking a ram that works well with our ewes.

If we get the same conception rate next year as we did this year, we'll have a completely different flock a year from now with some hard culling.
I'm pretty excited about that.

17

All Sheep and Lamb Discussion / Re: I am kicking around the ideal of A.I.

« on: July 17, 2017, 07:27:19 pm »

Hello all,
This is my first post here.
We experimented with AI for the first time last season.
We're a small breeder with 32 ewes. While other breeders were breeding with the latest rams, we were buying our rams. We lost a really nice ram a few years ago that we paid 4k for and that compounded our issues.
Last fall, we AI'd 12 ewes and had 8 pregnancies, so based on what we've been told and read, we weren't disappointed with those percentages.
We used Viking Genetics and Wheaton Hampshire's and this year, we'll be using both breeders again.
We're scheduled to breed 26 ewes between the two breeders this fall.
We understand that AI'ing isn't going to give us instant gratification. We're really using AI to HOPEFULLY get keeper ewes. Last season, we had 4 keeper ewes and one keeper ram that we've decided to breed with this fall.
I'm hoping that with some serious culling/flock reduction and the purchase of a few ewes over that span, we'll realistically start being comparative again in about 3 years.