Prairie Winds Hampshires

Thursday, 21 March 2013

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Thursday, 7 March 2013

Black is always in style and last fall we decided to try something a little different by keeping and breeding a black Suffolk cross ram lamb to some of our ewes. For the commercial herd it is nice to have a Suffolk ram to breed to some of the mostly Hamp ewes because they make a good cross. We didn't just select this ram because of his color, but for traits like his length and rate of gain. His dam is also a black Suffolk cross and is a very prolific ewe that has no trouble weaning triplets and has also produced great market lamb projects for 4-H.

The ram 32Z as a lamb (can't find a good picture of him to show what he looks like now).

We were pretty interested in how using this ram would affect the color of the lambs and how many would take after their daddy. So far there have been 3 black ewe lambs born that 32Z has sired (a set of twin lambs, and a triplet from another ewe). While his lambs have had smaller birth weights on average as compared to lambs out of the Hamp rams, they have all been smart, lively lambs. His dam also had a black ewe lamb in her set of triplets born this year out of a Hamp ram.

I think having a black lamb in the show ring really stands out, especially if your competing against a class where you literally are the black sheep. These ewe lambs might make their way into the show ring as they are very clean, correct, feminine and have lots of length, overall they're very stylish. I look forward to seeing what the rest of the lambs sired by this ram will look and turn out like.

Wednesday, 16 January 2013

First Lambs of the Year

This morning we finally got our first set of lambs! Our estimated start date was on Jan. 12, so even though they have waited until today to start we weren't too far off with our guess using a gestation table. We are very lucky to have mild winter weather to make it easier on the new babies.

The ewe, 'Bear', and her lambs.

The ewe that lambed is my brother's 4-H mature ewe (2 years old) that will be shown this year with the lambs she had today at 4-H shows. She gave birth to twins: one boy who weighed 10.5 lbs. and one girl who weighed 11 lbs., for twin lambs these are good birth weights.
For now they are the only ones with a pen but the rest of the barn is open for the flock to use. All ewes get their own separate pen once they lamb to bond with their lambs and for easier monitoring. They are given clean straw bedding, water, feed, a salt block and if the weather is cold a heat lamp for the lambs to sleep under.

My ram Prairie Winds 6Y, the daddy of the lambs.

All of the lambs born from now until the middle/end of February are sired by a Hampshire ram from my own program. He is a yearling and this was the first year we used him for breeding. This first set of lambs means he was able to get the job done and we are even more happier that they are twins. Here is a link to his pedigree.

It is always good to start the year off with a pair of healthy lambs. As the barn continues to fill up I will try to keep posting pictures and updates. Happy lambing to everyone!

Wednesday, 28 November 2012

PWH at the Canadian Western Agribition

The decision to enter Agribition was made back in September. It was a show I wanted to go to for a couple of years but either scheduling conflicts or bad weather had prevented us from making the trip from Alberta.

The sheep left the farm on Wednesday morning and we were planning on having them arrive in Regina sometime that evening. However my parents who were driving the truck and trailer ran into a storm and had to stay overnight in Gull Lake and try to make it the rest of the way in the morning.
Around 2:00 in the afternoon on Thursday they made it to Barn 5 and got unloaded. Later that afternoon the sheep were vet checked and the Commercial Sheep Show took place. I was planning on driving down that night from Saskatoon, but the road report still had a significant area highlighted with 'travel not recommended' so I stayed put and made the drive in the morning.

Two of my ewes all settled in.

Friday morning I made it to the grounds around noon and started trimming sheep right away. I got three of my ewes done before the Purebred Show started at 2:30. There were lots of sheep in the barn and they were able to have five breed shows: Dorper, Dorset, Hampshire, North Country Cheviot and Suffolk. There were two other Hampshire breeders showing and I had four entries in the Hampshire section of the show: two yearling ewes and two ewes 2yrs. or older. In both classes my ewes came in 1st and 2nd place and got to advance to the Champion Hampshire Ewe class. My yearling ewe Prairie Winds 8Y won the Reserve Champion Ewe for the Hampshire breed. After the Grand Champions were crowned the Interprovincial Competition took place. I brought my four ewes back in along with a Yearling Hampshire ram from another Alberta breeder to make up the unit to compete against a Saskatchewan group of Hampshires, an Alberta group of Dorsets and a Saskatchewan group of Hampshires. After the show was over we went to the banquet and enjoyed a delicious dinner.

The Hampshire class of ewes 2 years and older. The middle ewe is Prairie Winds 1X and the ewe on the right is Prairie Winds 2X.

Saturday morning I was back at the barns early to feed and finish trimming my ewes for the Jr. Show. I wanted to make sure my animals looked their best as this would be the last year I would be young enough to enter in it. My yearling ewe Prairie Winds 8Y won the yearling class and my mature ewe Prairie Winds 1X placed 2nd in her class, both moved on to the Champion Class where Prairie Winds 1X won Reserve Champion.

After the Jr. Show was over we sat and watched the SSBA sale, we didn't do any buying but there were definitely some ewes I would have liked to take home. That afternoon we finally had a chance to wander around and have a look at the massive trade fair and other exhibits. It was an eye opener to find out how much there was to see beyond the sheep barn. Just after 4:00 we walked over to the beef show ring to watch the RBC Beef Supreme Challenge. Of all the things going on at Agribition I would say that is a must see event because of all of the different breeds of Champion cattle showing in one ring. Sadly we weren't able to watch the Champions be selected because the sheep move out time was 6:00 and we had to get our stalls packed up.

Watching the female portion of the Beef Supreme, there was so many animals we couldn't get them all in one shot.

The truck and trailer making their way back to Alberta on Saturday morning.

Overall it was a very successful and fun Agribition for PWH. We will be back next year for the show, hopefully driving through nice sunny weather and with more animals.