Fall chores and In Training

Fall is always a favorite time of year and time for lots of activities--some I look forward to and others not so much. Following fair weekend, it was shearing time for the ewes (not a favorite activity but needs to be done), then off to Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Fesitval with a small group of ewes-Cluns and Clun Mules. Thanks to Mark & Brenda Lelli enjoyed once again being able to hopefully learn something from the across the big pond Judge in the Mule Show. Enjoyed talking sheep and seeing old friends. Brought home (unplanned but a good plan) the new flock project, an 8 week old LGD (Livestock Guardian pup)from Connie and Kerri who came up for the weekend and camped. Hmmm, that makes 2 puppies from Davenitch in 2011! Gulliver is 1/2 Italian Maremma, 1/4 Great Pyrenees, and a 1/4 Anatolian Shepherd dog. He is now 4 months old and DOES live with the sheep not in Rachel's bed. He initially was an escape artist and also got a little too closely attached to his original runt lamb buddies and ended up playing a little rough with them but besides that he is a workable fellow and is doing better than expected!

Next favorite activity was the NACFA Annual Meeting in Iowa this year. Got to visit with the regular attendees plus some newer members. October was on the road a couple of weekends to dog shows. Hope had some success and will share once I get her blog up and running. Also, played match-maker with the sheep and we'll see how that turns out next mid-March to April. Most the market lambs are gone and good to touch base with the regular lamb customers, and do appreciate the repeat business. Garden is clean and have a few things we will enjoy from it yet. Buttoning up in preparation for the winter, and just finished a new dog yard to simplify dog pottying (plus a play-yard).

To Win and to Lose?

Well following Rachel's showing of rabbits in the breed groups on Saturday, I couldn't help but not think about the Mini Rex Black Otter Jr. Doe that was awarded Best of Breed over our Black Jr. Buck, and who went onto win Best In Show!! I thought gee it is the same age category, how many people around here breed Black Otters, and the owner is local (East Troy/Mukwonago area) so I just had to ask if they bought the doe and if so from TSC (Tractor Supply)? Well the answer was yes and we had sold 5 babies including 2 Otter does at 8 weeks of age for $10 each. We kept the Black Jr. Buck (as I figured at the time we already had 2 Otter does) and he is a fine rabbit in his own right but on that day not as good as his sister. I felt pretty stupid when I realized it but Rachel and I chuckle about it and she wrote in her fair project book on what she learned "not to let my mom sell my babies so soon!"
Some would think we lost but it was a great unforgettable day. We also discovered we have some nicer rabbits than we realized before the day began, and we also made the doe's owner happy as we offered her the pedigree. Rachel will always be remembered as the girl who sold the BIS doe for $10 to TSC. The girl paid $19.99. We joke the kids will be flocking to TSC next spring to find the next BIS rabbit. Rachel is shown with her Jr. Buck who was Best of Opposite Sex and shown is the BIS sister resting in her cage after her big day!

Summer?

I guess I must have been having too much fun this summer to keep up on this blog. It is now Labor Day weekend and summer is soon to be offically gone. Lambs have been leaving, Hope is now a 6 month old puppy, Rachel is almost as tall as me and getting ready to start middle school. We are completing fair week at the Walworth County Fair and Rachel had all blue ribons on her 4H projects including a Grand Champion pet rabbit in costume, a Best of Opposite Sex Mini Rex Jr. Buck we bred, Best of Variety. Highlights were a Metra trip to Chicago Shedd Aquarium & Navy Pier, Wisconsin River trip at my sister's including pontoon boating, Wisconsin Dells Noah's Ark & Mt. Olympus, and I attended the Cardigan Welsh Corgi Specialty in Ohio with Hope's litter families. Will get back to a normal routine again. Have another busy week preparing for display and Mule Show at Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival in Jefferson and the ewes will get shorn this week also. Come and see us at the Festival!

New Farm-Hand/Paw

After a cool/delayed spring it is nice to have the sheep out grazing. The first week of May was when we started tasting grass on the lawn and "Hope" our new Cardigan Corgi was interested in the sheep. Actually I wasn't prepared as she zipped right through the electronet and the sheep moved. Second time a ewe was giving her the eye and waiting so I saved her from an unpleasant lesson. The ewes and lambs moved out to their pasture. Rachel & Hope learned how protective ewes came be the day of our gator ride out to check on the sheep as a ewe came after them. Hope and Rachel each took a seat but look who's driving! No one looks worse for the wear. I need some farm hands/paws.

Happy Easter

We had a colorful Easter and Rachel liked having help on her annual Easter egg hunt! They hopped right to it!
Happy Easter from us and all our buns here at Sweet Buns Rabbitry www.sweetbunsrabbitry.com. I've included a special tribute to Samantha the Mini Lop who posed in the Easter Basket last year. She passed earlier this month and was a fine friend. She will be missed.

Meet "Davenitch R Mere Everlasting Hope"

I didn't want to announce we were on the list for a female Cardigan Welsh Corgi puppy until I knew it was a sure thing and this week we picked up Hope from her breeder, Connie Whan. We met Hope when she was 3 weeks old and hoped she would turn out as a potential show prospect so we called her Hope early on. She is the only brindle female out of 8 in the litter. Here is a few pics of her at various ages up to now. Timing of this litter was perfect as I finished my Town tax duties as Treasurer followed by lambing.

Clun Forest AI Results

Success! Indeed 11 of 12 ewes bred artificially with the Netherlands frozen semen lambed from March 21-25. We had a few struggles with 3 sets of TBV triplets born on one day and a couple losses in the following days (small lambs) plus one cervical spine deformity in one of them but she is thriving now.
We have more SAN lambs: 3 twin born rams plus 1 single born black fleeced wether and 4 ewes.
Our first TBV lambs: 5 twin or triplet born rams and 3 ewes.
Our first OWE lamb: a twin born ram but the other got hung up at the ribs in a backwards birth and he didn't make it.
Overall, 15 lambs at this point could be registerable. The pic is of one the SAN twin ram lambs and his dam.

Lambs are here! Read my lambing report.

We've been lambing the last 2 weeks and actually have a little break until this next week when the ewes bred by AI to imported semen are due. It does look like 11 of 12 ewes got bred by AI so hoping for a good crop of lambs.

Lambing started out probably the best ever with 16 ewes delivering all twins. We have had about 64 lambs born to date from purebred Cluns to Clun Mules to 1/2 Br. Suffolk sired market lambs. The 3 tier system is truly working!
Here are some totals to date on the 2nd and 3rd tiers:
12 Suffolk sired lambs from 7 Mule ewes-all surviving, one assist with a leg back.
19 Clun Mule lambs from 10 Clun ewes-all surviving and more ewes than rams this year!!
Still have a couple ewes due carrying Mule lambs and a couple other cross-bred lambs.

And, of course we have Clun Forest lambs. The crop to date is from 2 new flock sires.
Twin Creek U12 produced 15 lambs to date from 8 ewes and Prairie U51 has produced 15 lambs from 11 ewes (more singles from first time lambing ewes/older ewes). Out of these 2 rams only 8 ram lambs have been kept intact as potential breeding rams and I plan to keep a son sired by U12 and have 5 to choose from. I only have 1 ewe each bred to these guys left to lamb.

I am crossing my fingers for a good selection of AI sired lambs (the ewes look good!)and if it happens I'll have some difficult choices to make later this year. Will report sometime after this week and hope to have good news and pics. The ewes will not look too pretty in the next couple of months but I will have to remember what a good lambing year they have given me to date. I don't think too many will be candidates for the upcoming NACFA photo contest but after-all they are doing what they were bred to do and if I am lucky maybe some will have some decent topknots left to show-off in a photo or two with lambs by their sides on green grass.

Profiles on the 2010 Clun Forest Cleanup Rams

Last fall's cleanup rams did not have much work which is a good thing but didn't want to leave them out as they did contribute.
Prairie FAF R7 was used for cleanup breeding for all the ewes except the ewes bred by artificial insemination. He is pictured on the far left and his sire is center. He is my only remaining son produced by AI from semen from FAF 025(Guifron flock), another Netherlands import sire. His dam goes back to one of my original ewe lines, way back to KLT Natasha ROM.
Ram FAF 00025 Owner: Scholtes, Breeder: Tom Francis, UK
His pedigree has PenY Wern, Guifron, and Woodhouse bloodlines. This ram’s grandsire FAF N9 is also the sire of Williams Beater S334 who was a previous Elite Genetics import ram. FAF 00025 was imported into the Netherlands in 2000 and was considered a top ram both production and show-wise. He also had good character and temperment, and was a consistent producer.

Prairie T102 "Devon" was the selected one for cleanup breeding 2 weeks post-AI. I figured I'd still get some quality lambs if the AI didn't take. Based on him using a marking harness I have high hopes that 11 ewes were successfully bred by the AI. Only one ewe, R360 ROM, was bred by Devon! You'll see Devon in next year's lineup for sure. Devon deserves his own feature page at some point so that is all on him for now. His is pictured on the right.

Feature on the Netherlands Sires used for 2010 AI

These rams are all part the of 2004 Clun Forest semen import from the Netherlands. The Netherlands rams are from Maedi-Visna certified flocks, are scrapie genotype ARR/ARR, and all are twin born. Gerard Scholtes of the Damburgh flock in the Netherlands worked with us on the selection and coordinated the import on that end and I handled the import details on the U.S. side. I worked on the selection with 3 other breeders and we selected the four rams who could best contribute to the North American gene pool based on pedigree, birth type, prolificacy index, production data, and show results.

SAN 125 is a REPEAT ram for our flock and was used successfully here in 2004 and 2005. Five ewes were bred to him this time around including his ROM daughter (Prairie R1), 2 grand-daughters, and 2 unrelated ewes.
Ram SAN 125 Owner: Budding, Breeder: van der Schaaf
His pedigree is heavy with Laidlaw and Babraham blood on the sire side. This ram was bred by Mr. Van der Schaaf who retired for health reasons but had a highly regarded flock. Gerard Scholtes believed this ram would make a good contribution to our gene pool. SAN 125 was the champion yearling ram at the 2003 National Show.

Six ewes were planned and bred to ram TBV 071 including 3 ROM ewes.
Ram TBV 071 Owner: Hameeteman, Breeder: van der Toorn
His pedigree goes back to Laidlaw and Babraham breeding on both sides. His sire, SBN 131, won many prizes in their shows. The breeder considers this ram’s dam his best performing ewe. Gerard selected this ram because it was a good ram with excellent parents and when Gerard took part in the annual inspection he was quite impressed with TBV 071’s offspring.


One lone ewe was bred to OWE 227 by AI this past fall. He was not planned to be bred to this year but his number and straw came up and was thawed so it was used. One good ram lamb "Prairie Loner"--twin born by request!
Ram OWE 227 Owner: Steenbeck, Breeder: Ogink
His pedigree also goes back to Laidlaw and Babraham breeding on the sire side and Babraham breeding on the dam’s side. His sire, SN 052, was champion ram in several shows in 1998 and 1999. Gerard selected this ram because he produced some nice lambs and based on his sire’s performance.

Profile on Clun Forest Ram Twin Creek U012

This Clun Forest ram was obtained from Twin Creek Farm late last June and passed his health testing and was happy to meet his group of Clun ewes for breeding this past October. Twin Creek U012 is known as Hal and I was interested in obtaining him for a few reasons. On his sire's side he goes back to some Cluns from my flock as Pat obtained her first sheep and Cluns from me. Hal's grandsire (sire side) is Prairie K136"Clyde" who was a squarely built fellow and Hal follows that build. Hals' grand-dam (sire side) is Prairie Honeysuckle who I sold as a yearling ewe and she became (ROM) Registry of Merit for Pat and I have none of Honeysuckle's dam's lines left in my current flock! Hal's dam has breeding from the Red Rock flock going back to Highmeadow breeding and I wanted the opportunity to breed Hal to a group of older ewes I have that also have Highmeadow breeding. Goal is to get some younger animals back in the flock without the newer import lines! Hals's one drawback is he also has a square head (But with a Handsome, Dark & Clean Face) that seems to find it's way between the cattle panel round bale feeder and I have had to cut him free a few times!! He also has a nice square muzzle which is a good feature for grazing animals, and he gives me ram breeding options to work with if the import lines tend too become narrow muzzled. Thank you, Pat for giving me an opportunity to bring Hal back to some of his roots! Looking forward to seeing his lambs.

Clun Forest Ram Feature: Prairie U51 aka Trojan

I have decided to write features on the rams used for breeding last fall and Prairie U51 gets the first nod. He is a twin born in 2008 and was named by Rachel I assume after the East Troy Trojans! His sister is also in our flock but this is his first year used as a sire. He was retained as a breeding ram because he was a growthy twin born out of a particular aged ewe and with a goal in mind. In 2000 following breeding season and after I discovered some import semen I thought I had purchased did not survive the trip to the U.S. I made arrangements to go to Ohio and buy a first generation F1 ram from Dan Emmett from his AI 2 years previous. Dan had also purchased the same new semen which would have represented a 3rd UK Clun ram brought into this country by Elite Genetics. We discovered there was no viable semen and it took a trip to Iowa small claims court to get my money back and I set my sights on Ohio with a new goal. I packed up the family including 6 month old Rachel. The ram I specifically went to purchase was Emmett Farm J034 and he did not disappoint. I had decided before leaving I'd also like to bring home a ewe lamb so Dan had a list for me to choose from. I basically picked the longest and tallest ewe lamb, Emmett Farm
K35 (although I knew her by her scrapie tag #1134 so she was K1134) aka Emma for 5 years until I received the registration papers for both animals. I guess I lucked out as both animals were still alive and producing although I sweated whether they or any of their offspring would be registered. In 2005, I was headed to the Cardigan Western Reserve shows with my Cardigan Welsh Corgi puppy in Ohio and I made plans to go in person to get the papers or help with the papers I needed for the registrations after years of trying and then my 6 month old puppy won Winner's Dog out of 26 males for a 5 point major and I had to cancel that part of the trip. I was excited beyond belief for one thing but disappointed for another. Soon after the papers were finalized and in hand. SO AFTER ALL THAT EFFORT to have a son of that ewe and to have Rachel pick Trojan for his name just seems fitting. He also has some good physical attributes such as size and depth, a handsome head, and good numbers behind him.

Prairie U51's pedigree on the sire's side goes back to Prairie Danny Boy, a ram I bought in dam from Linden Hill in PA., and Emmett Farm K35 is a grand-daughter of Williams Beater S334 from the Pen-Y-Wern flock in the UK and also a grand-daughter of Gordito 75Z from the Duncan flock in Ontario, Canada. K35 was retired this past June at age 10 after giving me a set of very nice twin ewe lambs. It was a difficult decision but felt had to move her on and go with her up and coming offspring.

I am very excited by this year's breeding of Trojan to the daughters and grand-daughters of Emmett Farm J034 "Dirk" who was the son of UK import Danyreglyws Derek to after all these years start what will become my "Emmett line". He has also bred some F1 daughters from the Netherlands import rams. This is only 12 ewes total and "Yes" I think these will be some nice pairings. This year's lambs are represented with the year letter "Y". I am hoping to look across my pastures and say to myself it pays to never give up, work hard at what you choose, and/or Plan B can be a good option, and sometimes you are just lucky and things work out!

Two photos are included: one from this past summer and one current in the snow. Stay tuned for more upcoming features.

New Shelter

The rams (and pony) have a new home-built shelter! It has been in the plans for a couple of years and is finished and ready for use. The pony was the first to try it out and I doubted for awhile if any rams would actually get to use it. I have seen sheep droppings in it although no sheep yet. In the mid-late 90's when I only had a couple of rams and we had no pony, the rams had a calf hut for shelter and the ram flock has been without since the numbers outgrew the hut. In really bad weather I have brought the rams in a few times a year since they are upland a bit and in the wind. Jim built it and it is on skids so it can be moved.
Michele