# Painted Desert Ram



## neener92

I am thinking of buying this Painted Desert Ram, what do you all think of him. He is a yearling, and I am getting him to breed to my single Dorper/Kat ewe. He is only $150.











Here is my ewe lamb. She is not nearly large enough to breed to my Suffolk ram, so, I'm planning on using him one or two years then sell him.


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## Bossroo

You own a genetically very good meat type producing ewe... why go backward with this ram ???


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## neener92

I can't breed her to my Suffolk this year since she isn't big enough, so I am breeding her to this guy the first year or two. I'm not worried about meat....my hair ewe is mostly a pet, I have my Suffolks I make money off of.


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## Bossroo

My customers for my Suffolk rams  have crossed some pretty small 100-125  lb. Marino ewes to huge 300 lb Suffolk rams for market lambs. The ewes had no problem lambing.  Certainly a meat type ewe should't ! One of my neighbors had a 600 lb pony mare that got pasture bred to huge QH stallion   , she had no dificulty in foaling.    If you are still concerned, breed her to  a Southdown ram.


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## neener92

I'd like to breed her to a southdown, or even a dorper or kat, but there aren't hardly any around here. If I do see them, they are asking $300+. At least I could make a little off of this Desert ram, since he's only $150, I can sell him later at $200+. I also want colored lambs out of her, and I really like his coloring. Originally I looked for a desert ewe, and could only find this dorper/kat ewe.


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## aggieterpkatie

When will your ewe be a yearling?  Do you plan on breeding her before she's a yearling, or breeding her so she will lamb as a 2 year old?  If you're going to be breeding her to lamb at 2 yrs, she'll definitely be fine w/ a Suffolk.  Buying a Painted Dessert ram might be risky, and you may find it hard to sell him when you're done with him.  

Either way, good luck!


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## neener92

Sometime in Feb. or March. I plan on putting him in with her as soon as I get him, which may be next Friday. I'm not even sure if she weighs 100lbs, she is probably less than half the size of the ram. I was thinking if I can't find a buyer on craigslist or anything he will go to market.


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## boykin2010

I dont see why you cant use the suffolk? Or just rent the ram from someone instead of paying that much for him.   I had a ewe that looks a lot like yours and she was bred to a barbados ( i think it is about the same as painted dessert) and had a solid brown baby and a paint baby. They look really nice.  
If you are specifically breeding sheep for meat, the painted dessert is not the way to go in my opinion.  The reason i used barbados in my crossings last year was because i wanted to increase my herds parasite resistance. ( painted desserts and barbados have excellent parasite resistance) 
But what the herd gained in parasite resistance they lost in the meat department. The lambs look like little deer when born and take a while to reach a good butchering weight. There is so much of a difference this year since i used a kat as my ram. The babies are huge and the colorings are completely different.

If it were me, and i was looking for the best option, I would breed her to the suffolk since you already have him.   I had twin ewes at 7 months that weighed 90 pounds and were bred to my 150-175 pound kat ram.  They havent delivered yet, but are definately pregnant. 

If you just want some pretty babies and arent worried about meat, then go for the painted dessert. They would have some nice lambs. 

If I understand this correctly, painted desserts are barbados sheep that popped out with white in their hair. I would like to know if this is true because i have admired how pretty they are.   I have seen painted dessert dad + barbados mom = standard barbados colored lambs. But i am not sure if this happens all the time.


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## SheepGirl

Personally I wouldn't breed a ewe lamb of a smaller breed such as a Katahdin or Dorper to a full grown Suffolk ram. They usually weigh 300-400 lbs. My friend who raises Suffolks and Shrops was telling me a story of how someone in their 4-H club borrowed their ram and bred him to a Dorset ewe lamb and he killed her simply because of the size difference. That's what my concern is. If she had been a mature Dorset ewe, I'm sure it wouldn't have been an issue.

So, IMO, I would buy the Painted Desert ram and then sell him as soon as you know your ewe is bred. That way you won't have to invest a bunch of money worth of feed into him. Then the next time your ewe can be bred, I'd breed her to the Suffolk you've already got.


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## neener92

I'm really not all to worried about meat, like I said she's more of a pet than livestock. I am afraid my Suffolk is far to large to breed to her, plus his lambs come out pretty big. I feel if I bought him and used him, I could get my money back out of him at market if he didn't sell otherwise.


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## neener92

I've added a picture (taken fall '11) of her next to a Suffolk lamb, lamb was born in Aug. '11 and she was born between Feb. and March '11. The ewe in the picture is one of my smaller framed Suffolk/Dorset ewes.


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## aggieterpkatie

Well, I've seen a 300+ lb Montadale ram breed a small yearling Montadale ewe, and she handled his weight ok.  It's really up to the individual sheep owner to decide what they want to do though.


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## boothcreek

boykin2010 said:
			
		

> If I understand this correctly, painted desserts are barbados sheep that popped out with white in their hair. I would like to know if this is true because i have admired how pretty they are.   I have seen painted dessert dad + barbados mom = standard barbados colored lambs. But i am not sure if this happens all the time.


Painted deserts were created by crossing Mouflon with American Black bellies and crossing some horned white wooled breeds in for colour then breed back to the Black Belly(barbados) type. Thats why painted deserts can really vary in size and conformation. When you look at painted deserts you can also tell what they are closer related to ABB or Mouflon by what colour their belly and legs are, if black = ABB if white = Mouf.

I have Painteds but mine are from strictly pure american black belly heritage(small colourfault in one ewe I bred up to being painted), so lambs are the typical tan and black but with white manteling). Since they are not available in Canada. I hope I can bring in a ram eventually.

As for breeding to a painted desert, if you don't care about size and how long it takes the lambs to reach butcher weight , go for it. Those should be some fun coloured lambs!!!
I personally only use my ABBs and Painteds for meat, just not huge animals but yuuuummy!


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## neener92

boothcreek said:
			
		

> boykin2010 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If I understand this correctly, painted desserts are barbados sheep that popped out with white in their hair. I would like to know if this is true because i have admired how pretty they are.   I have seen painted dessert dad + barbados mom = standard barbados colored lambs. But i am not sure if this happens all the time.
> 
> 
> 
> Painted deserts were created by crossing Mouflon with American Black bellies and crossing some horned white wooled breeds in for colour then breed back to the Black Belly(barbados) type. Thats why painted deserts can really vary in size and conformation. When you look at painted deserts you can also tell what they are closer related to ABB or Mouflon by what colour their belly and legs are, if black = ABB if white = Mouf.
> 
> I have Painteds but mine are from strictly pure american black belly heritage(small colourfault in one ewe I bred up to being painted), so lambs are the typical tan and black but with white manteling). Since they are not available in Canada. I hope I can bring in a ram eventually.
> 
> As for breeding to a painted desert, if you don't care about size and how long it takes the lambs to reach butcher weight , go for it. Those should be some fun coloured lambs!!!
> I personally only use my ABBs and Painteds for meat, just not huge animals but yuuuummy!
Click to expand...

Thank you for the information, booth! I love the black bellies too, but those are even more difficult to find around here. If they still have him, I think I'll get him as soon as I can...see what we get out of this breeding.


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