Just a brief history: Our flock was built from crossbred Icelandics bred to purebreds. We also purchased purebreds, some with AI blood, and built our flock of farmbred ewes from them, breeding to rams we THOUGHT were decent. Our production goals have been to select for good mothering, growthy lambs, heavy lambs at weaning, etc. Our ewes excel at lambing time, but the lamb crop is just too inconsistant on the other end. We have all kinds of records on what our sheep do, but why have things seemed so unpredictable? Iceland sells us semen of rams that we can predict what to expect because their flock is progeny tested. We have data on these tested rams and can make an informed decision as to production capabilities. These improved genetic traits have been introduced to our American Icelandics, yet the tool of progeny testing for selection remains in the Iceland homeland.
In producing quality Icelandic market lambs for consumers we have decided to take steps to enhance production by enrolling our flock in NSIP, the National Sheep Improvement Program http://nsip.org/. Our weight data from birthweight to postweaning weight, plus loineye measurements among other things, will be analyzed across our flock and tell us which sires are pulling their weight (no pun intended). It will also validate a ewe’s performance from which replacements, both ewe and ram lamb can be selected with better accuracy. Interviews with producers of other sheep breeds enrolled in NSIP had only positive reviews about the program. Not only do they see that more lambs are weaned and the poundages are greater, but parasite issues begin to solve themselves, and their overall prediction on what the sires will do is more accurate.
Pleaser, WLF 8063, sire of most 2010 daughters
We will be offering a select number of ram lambs for sale in 2012. Since we have an established lamb meat business, we band nearly every male. Only males out of proven ewes and those who have superior EBV’s will grow out ram lambs.
WLF 1006Y "Monterey Jack"
2012 SIRES
| Animal ID | WWT | PWWT | PEMD | Carcase Index | Chest(mm)/Back(cm) Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WLF 01P 1006Y "Monterey Jack" sire:Colby Jack dam: BLW 122T | 0.6 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 113.8 acc:64 | 80/17.4 clear polled, linebred on Flekkur & Dalur stocky build |
| WLF 01H 1028Y "Romano" sire: LF 420X Sargento dam: WLF 9080W | 0.9 | 2.2 | -0.8 | 103.7 acc:61 | 75.5/17.2 good leg! smooth, yet well-filled shoulders stocky build |
| WLF 01H 1079Y "Milkshake" sire: LF 420X Sargento dam: WLF 503R | 1.6 | 3.8 | -1.7 | 101.2 acc:62 | 78.2/16.2 tall, big-looking ram milky maternal line |
| WLF 01H 1086Y "Flekkur" sire: LF 402X Sargento dam: WLF 9043W | 0.8 | 1.5 | -0.3 | 105.7 acc:62 | 76.5/17.2 Mother is linebred to Flekkur |
| WLF B24H 1152Y "Damascus" sire: LF 420X Sargento dam: TCE 444U | 1.4 | 3.4 | 0.1 | 119.9 acc:62 | 77/19.2 Well-filled loin muscling, good leg, double pattern WOW! |
| WLF B5Ssc 1186Y "Cheddar Jack" sire: WLF 9106 Colby Jack dam: SRX 233N | 1.1 | 1.8 | 0.3 | 116.8 acc:64 | 78.2/17.9 stocky build, scurs are like small horns |
| WLF B34 1199Y sire: LF 420X Sargento dam: WLF 8076U | 1.0 | 2.3 | -0.9 | 102.6 acc:61 | 74.2/15.5 smaller, yet stocky, very wide horns, fine fleece |
| WLF 01H 1300Y sire: LF 420X dam: WLF 9018W | 1.2 | 1.9 | -1.3 | 98.3 acc:62 | not measured Well-filled HQ! lightly horned, bred to ewe lambs |
| LF 01H 505Y "Jiffy Jeff" sire: dam: | 77.5/17.5 neck injury just before breeding season due to fighting |
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| LF 01H 512Y "Little Raftur" sire: dam: | -0.3 | -0.8 | -0.2 | 93.6 acc:47 | 70.2/16.2 He is a Raftur grandson |
| LF 01H 515Y "Tuscany" sire: dam: | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 107.5 acc:47 | 77.4/16.8 An Abel grandson |
| LF 01H 529Y "Romulus" sire: dam: | 0.5 | 1.3 | -0.4 | 102.7 acc:47 | 78/19 Fall wt at Loineye testing = 98 lbs!! |
| WLF M5SP 1251Y sire: Colby Jack dam: SRX 33N clean-up on ewe lambs | 0.3 | -0.1 | 0.5 | 108.2 acc:64 | |
| LF 01H 420X "Sargento" sire:AI NMI 01H 652S dam:LF 01H 190S clean-up on adults | 1.3 | 2.7 | -1.1 | 103.5 | Progenies: 36 acc:76 We are very encourage about his weaning weight EBV"S. He carries mouflon, black |
| WLF 01H 116X sire: TCE M4H 561W dam: TCE 01H 507W 1st year of service | Unrelated to our flock, but born here |