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Blacklocust Farm Dedicated to conservation and improvement of the American Blackbelly Sheep |
2007 has been a year of continued growth and learning. Our foundation flock is growing slowly and we have been fortunate to add a small number of good animals. Our next breeding season will begin in February, 2008 and we feel it will be a year of significant improvements. We will be looking forward excitedly to the next crop of lambs, beginning in July, 2008. Danny is putting his long, tall frame on his lambs, and Badger should add depth of muscling. In addition, we are clearly identifying our best mother ewes and hoping they will give us daughters! Our lambs' pedigrees are beginning to flesh out with a history of good performance and conformation. The photo at right is of Ali Baba, our original flock sire. |
Meet BLF Sable
Shown here with her mama, Fleming's Babe, and her brother's bum peeking out! In keeping with our policy of registering only the best of our lambs, Sable is the only lamb we registered from this year's small crop. Sable shows her sire, Danny's length of loin and smooth hip. Her mother was an exceptional milker, producing nearly a pound of gain per day between the two lambs, very good results for an American Blackbelly ewe in her second lactation. Danny's mother is a profoundly maternal ewe and a proven out-of-season producer, and his full sister, Prancer showed the same devoted mothering to her first lamb this year. Sable's heritage is good size, long loin, smooth hip, straight legs, good gains, a heritage of excellent milking, superb mothering instincts and the potential for out-of-season breeding. Plus, she is a twin! What more could we wish for?
Badger Makes his Debut
Badger is a three year old registered American Blackbelly ram, who came to us thanks to Beth and Garland Stamper of Sierra Luna American Blackbelly Sheep. Badger arrived shortly after breeding season, and so he has had a long wait to meet the girls. Our breeding season begins in February for early summer lambs. Badger is a powerfully built animal. We expect that he will add depth of muscling to the long, tall offspring of Danny. We are just weaning 2007's lambs (mid-October), and we are looking forward with great excitement to next year's lambs!
News Flash!
We are excited to announce the acquisition of five big, sturdy young ewes from the dispersal of an old, established breeding program in Central Oregon. Some of these ewes are much broader across the pelvis than we are used to seeing in the American Blackbelly, definitely an asset to our breeding program! These ewes greatly increase our genetic base, and will provide BLF Dancer (Danny) with a better opportunity to express his genetic potential.
Birth Announcement!
On 11/12/07, at 13 months of Age, BLF Peanut presented us with not one but twin lambs, a ram and a ewe! Mama was so enraptured with her little ones, she was completely oblivious to my presence shortly after birth. She even "assisted" me in milking out a bit of colostrum without being restrained. This is the first instance in our flock of a ewe lamb giving birth to twins on her first gestation, and not only that, but totally out of season. Peanut has truly helped us nail down our sought-after reputation for producing ewes with the legendary Blackbelly prolificacy, out-of-season breedng ability and extraordinary mothering abilities. Peanut's status in our flock has skyrocketed and her lambs will be watched closely as they grow for their potential as registered breeding stock.
