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.
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