What do you think of this 4 horn ram lamb?

[promiseacres]

#18 is the one I"m considering, he's a Painted Desert/Desert Dragon Hair sheep.... I love my 4 horns and wasn't planning on gettin another this year (maybe next year) but my Sis is traveling to Texas and offered to bring this boy home for me. 1. Price is reasonable especially since he's coming so far (Indiana). 2. His sire is out of the lines I want. 3. Both sire and dam are nicely marked therefore he should throw some decent color out of my blackbelly marked ewes (been getting a lot of plain brown/black lambs which are good to eat but not selling well) 4. at this point his horns look good (4horns can do funky things) but of course that can change. Just wasn't planning on getting another this year BUT

 

[purplequeenvt]

I like his horn set better than #17's. They are spaced well apart.

He looks like a solid little guy.

 

[Roving Jacobs]

I'd be a little worried about his laterals pointing up instead of down but like you said they can change so much at this age. #17's look like they're going to fuse or twist together as he ages, 18's are spaced much better but might have the same tendency to grow close together instead of one set growing up and the other growing down.

 

[promiseacres]

Roving, thanks for your input. I think you hit nail on the head of why I'm hesitating.

 

[Roving Jacobs]

No problem, I look at a lot of horns

He's otherwise very handsome but if it were me I would at least wait to see how they grow out a bit more before jumping on him unless he's cheap enough that if he doesn't improve with age you can send him to freezer camp or just use him for color for a year, keep back some ewes and replace him with a ram with a better horn set.

Also, if he has really nice horns behind him it might work out fine. I've had ewes with sort of weird horns have really lovely lambs, but personally I'm not sure I would risk it with a ram.

 

[BrownSheep]

Roving is there a chance those are growing out behind the ears to spiral?
It kind of looks how our rambouillet horns come in, but my knowledge of horns goes to the extent that I know I like them.

 

[Roving Jacobs]

It's possible but that's not commonly how laterals grow on 4 horned sheep. Horns grow and change so much when they're young though they could certainly end up perfectly lovely. By 6 months you can have a pretty good idea but they can change over the next year or so before the growth slows down.

 

[promiseacres]

I have never seen (which it's not impossible) one of these guys get sprirals with 4 horns that'd be cool though. after much thought I doubt were are going to get him. He's a good price for breeding stock BUT not for processing IMO when I have 5 on the ground that will be for that purpose.
I have a feeling my sis is going to buy him so it will be interesting to watch him, I'm sure if he looks nice by next year she thinks she can get 2x's the money. I love my sis but can't 100% trust her. Instead of telling me that she has a open spot for x amt of money and am traveling to these farms, she sent me this guys photo and told me that if I was interested she'd sell him to me for 200. (curious to know what kind of a deal she is getting.) When I asked when she needed to know for sure, she told me if she pays for him, she is keeping him. Plus I am really floored by the fact that she's planning on 3 ram lambs, 1 ewe lambs when she traveled last summer and got a decent ram who only has 1 lamb on the ground so far. She only has 4-5 ewes so this many boys at only having these for 1 year seems excessive. Ya, she can potentially grow them out for 2-3 years and then possibly resell as breeders or as trophy rams. AND she does potentially have the pasture BUT she's got a lot of fence to put up or fix. And last winter she kept her stock in a shed 99% of the fall/winter....don't ask me why she was feeding them so much grain and hay when she had grass available. I have seen several 1 year old rams for less, though they usually only have 2 horns but decent coloring. I haven't found a niche yet for my 4 horns b/c they are just different and people don't know what to think of them. My sis has always been anti 4 horn before. So it's interesting. Gotta love family. She's buddy buddy with the only local longtime breeder and so far I'm just another "customer" to both of them. Even though I cut her a really good deal on 2 lambs last year for FFA project for my nephew. If she's found an outlet to sell them to it'd be nice if she'd share.

 

[BrownSheep]

5 rams for 5 ewes .

I have close to 40 grown ewes right now and have 4 rams. Which is still WAY too many. We have two "breeders" right now. One who we are sentimental about and would be irresponsible to sell since he is aggressive. And a yearling rambouillet who I am going to try to get sold.

She sounds like a character. What sort of character, though, I don't know.

 

[promiseacres]

BrownSheep... I don't know. I do love her but what do you do? I will "help" her out when I can but if I make a Texas trip next summer, not sure I'll be too generous on travel prices if she wants me to haul any. My goal with my sheep is healthy grassfed meat for my family. I KNOW making money on them would only be a bonus. but it's fun to dream.