JAGER FARM VAI & FARM BREEDING ~ 2008

                                                                 Sires for 2008 AI Spring Lambs

                                                                         2009 Lamb Report

                    
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  January 13, 2009,

Some random thoughts to add as the winter goes on, in no specific order.   The first was a disappointment as our older ewe Claire, 202J, just decided that she couldn't hold on to her pregnancy with Ljomi.  She recycled yesterday which was a terrible disappointment; I was really excited about some Ljomi lambs, and lambs from Claire of course as our oldest ewe and first AI birth. 

Note to self: always have an adult ram on hand for both the polled and horned strain.  We have our big badger of course, FFC-363P, but only Pan, BLW-114T for a horned adult, and he is all leader.  So when some of our horned ewes recycled from the AI, the choice was Pan or a ram lamb.  And for the first time this year, I have had the ram lamb be just a bit too short for some of the taller ewes.  So Shannon was bred to the big Badger, and a few girls were bred to Pan.  Thankfully, our horned ram lamb Granison, BLW-234U was tall enough to reach most of the ewes.   

We also had 118T recycle, confirming my suspicion that she is hermaphrodite.  She was a very large and well-built ewe lamb and yet never cycled her first breeding season.  I was happy to see her cycle this year, but then she would never catch.  The books will tell you that these really muscular and well-built, and yet infertile, ewes are sometimes that muscular due to testosterone in their system from being both male and female.   So our big and beautiful Aja will not be staying with us.  ;-(

But we are still excited about lambing season this spring, with lots of beautiful pregnant ewes!   One delightful surprise was the Bifur breeding to Bear, BLW-911S.  She had recycled after being bred to a too-short ram lamb, and I did not have a good idea of where she was in her heat when I found her.  But we took a chance and AI'ed her twice about 10 hours apart, and she caught!  It was a complete stab in the dark, but we got lucky.  Yay!             

 December 5, 2008,                                                                                 

I bred the last girl for VAI this morning, at 6:00 a.m.  Or at least the last girl to come in to heat for the first cycle.  I'm always interested that some girls start early, and have a chance to recycle, before some of the other girls have even hit their first cycle.  Monica for instance, 166T, came in right at the beginning while I was still sorting straws and shipping tanks for the straw import.  The tank came in late this year due to some changes in policy at the USDA/APHIS that issues the import permit, so I was trying to heat check the girls at the same time that I was sorting and shipping.  Not conducive to staying on schedule in the barn!  So I let the heat checking go, in order to get the straws to the other coop members as quickly as I could get the tanks to UPS.  In the meantime, I saw Monica come in to heat but wasn't able to AI her.  So then when she comes in again for her second cycle, there were still girls who were waiting for their first.  Interesting as Monica was the second ewe to breed last year, even as a yearling.                   ~          ~         ~

It's time now to watch for the ewes who are recycling.  Argh.  This is the absolute worst part of doing the VAI.  Getting up at 5:45 when it is 20 deg. out and really dark, or struggling to stay up until 10 to do the last heat check when you know you are up in the morning at 5:45 again; that's a real challenge sometimes.  The upside of course is the hope and expectation of wonderful AI lambs in the spring.

But going out to the barn to check for recycles; hoping against hope that you won't see any wagging tails at your morning heat check, that's the worst.  Every girl that recycles, you think, "Oh, no!  Not that one!"  As if you would choose any of your AI pregnancies to recycle! 

It is still early enough in the season, that if the timing is right, I may breed a recycle with AI, instead of a farm ram.  The downside of course, is if she still doesn't catch with that breeding, then you are now 17 more days down the road for her to breed with a farm ram.  It really stretches out your lambing season!  So I will take each recycle as it comes and decide on that day.  In the meantime, this is where we stand.

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Remember that as of 11/15/07, F1 lambs no longer have to stay in the Voluntary Scrapie Program.  Any flock owner can now purchase lambs out of the AI program without any governmental involvement.  As part of the overhaul of the Federal Voluntary Scrapie Eradication program, published on November 15th, F1's are no longer monitored, and can sell into any flock.  We are still in the program with flock number MA-10 and have been certified for over a year now.  Purchasers who are in the program will not lose status by purchasing out of our flock, and those who choose not to be in the program can now buy lambs that are farm or AI bred, no restrictions!

We are accepting $100 deposits in order to get on the lamb reservation list; one, $100 deposit reserving the choice of one lamb.  The reservations are taken in order and allow the buyers to choose from the lamblist in turn.  First deposit in, gets first choice of the lamblist come spring, second deposit, second choice, etc.  ~ Our current deposit status: We have three horned deposits, and five polled deposits in so far, plus three deposits of horned or polled.  ~ Please remember that if you make a deposit, and it turns out that you do not find a lamb on the spring list that meets your requirements, we will promptly return your deposit at that time.