A NEW DIRECTION FOR THE OLD RAM

[The Old Ram-Australia]

G'day gang,here are a few stills of the Aus White X Suffolk lambs.....T.O.R.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Really nice!

 

[Baymule]

Does the wool on the Awassi have value or is their value in being a dairy sheep? I seem to remember someone going into hair sheep so he wouldn't have to shear sheep anymore...…. They ought to put a milk bag on your bred-for-your-farm sheep.

Those are some nice lambs! I know you are excited for their arrival.

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

Hi B.M.they are covered with really "course hair".I have to find out if they develop a soft undercoat like Cashmere goats do and wether they just shed or "rub it off on the fences " like all the others do.

I rang the guy that we got the first lot from(didn't tell him about the new ones) to "pick his brains " on some of his early X-breading programs and received some helpful tips as well.

In the next couple of weeks i will be re-assigning the rams to new females as once we get some rain i think they will start cycling.I will let you know who is going where and the thinking behind the choice.We are only a week or so from the start of the main "drop" of lambs and I can't wait to see the results of the decisions i made at joining.....T.O.R.

 

[Baymule]

@mystang89 you have Awassi, do you shear them or do they shed out in the spring?

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

G'day ,If @mystang89 is willing i would like to chat to both him and his wife, be it on / off of the site as i think their experiences could be of great value going forward for me.Thats assuming they have the time to do it ?......T.O.R.

 

[mystang89]

flock was a group of 10 "pure bred Aswassi's some with lambs at foot ,worked out a price

First off, congratulations! I normally don't get jealous but I am a bit now. We have to really fight to find them here in the states and pure bred is unheard of.

All round a "great day

Understatement of the century.

As to your question concerning their wool, they don't shed. You have to shear them each spring. That being said we do have one 75% Awassi ewe that does "shed" some parts of her wool around her neck area. Now, I don't know if this is because of of a different breed of sheep from her lineage but she does lose a couple clumps.

If there is any question you have in them, we'll answer to the best of our ability.

I can tell you right now that you have a gold mine on your hands. Extremely resistant to parasites, foot rot and most anything else our other non Awassi sheep have suffered from. Great foragers, comes from their history. Doesn't take much to keep them happy and healthy.

Very happy for you!

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

Thank you mystang89,all in all i think they will be a valuable asset to our program.I think we have 10 or so Assaf ewes some with Awassi X lambs at foot and about 30 pure Aswassi' ewes and 3 pure bred rams,with the Assaf's it looks as though they do not have as heavy a coat as the Aswassi's. That being said if they do not grow an undercoat over winter in our part of the world,i would not worry about the heavy hair coat.The main issue that i can see is the hygiene element in even a semi commercial dairy situation.

I see an opportunity to x breed over a couple of generations to produce an ewe that is "clean skinned,or clean shedding with extra muscling while retaining all the best attributes of the original two breeds.(this process will take some thinking about before any action takes place)

In the immediate future i will keep the Aswassi line pure for rams to use over the other breeds in our lineup.I priced a pure bred stud ram and they start at a $1000.00 which is beyond us at this point.The next inquiry is to establish if we have cheese-makers in our area who will purchase milk if we produce it any what they are willing to pay for same?.....T,O,R.

 

[mystang89]

I priced a pure bred stud ram and they start at a $1000.00 which is beyond us at this point.

That's actually pretty cheap. For a 75% buck Awassi it's $1000. Like I said, pure bred doesn't exist here in the states as we purchase embryos for the Awassi from Australia which of course is time more expensive.

I don't want to tell you what's important in the sheep as you know that FAR better than myself but if I could just make a suggestion in my opinion the Awassi's 3 best traits are
1.) Resistance and hardiness
2.) Their lactation period is much longer than anything we have here in the states, going well over half a year.
3.) The amount of milk they give. While, in my opinion it's not as much per milking on average as, say, an East Friesian, it is quite close plus as previously said, they milk it longer.

In my opinion, these are the 3 that make this breed great. If you're able to retain those while at the same time making them shed, you're a genius.

I'm still very inexperienced with sheep, so I'm afraid I don't know what an undercoat is our feels like, however if you can describe it for me I can go as one of my girls if they have one. I do know that they are nice and soft after sheering but I don't really have any other type of sheep to compare them to.

I'm very excited for you and greatly interested in how this venture will unfold. If you ever feel like flying to the US with a few of your stock you're welcome to let some (all) stay with us.

 

[mystang89]

This is a pick of one of our 50% Awassi. She is the one who sheds a bit on her neck and part of her front shoulder/breast area. You can see about where it is in the pic