I too am still a Newbie, although I've had my small flock of AB x's for over three years now. I've been taking notes on this thread, especially on weights. I just purchased a digital "fish" scale that weighs up to 120 lbs (from ebay) and so I'll be able to "weigh in" on my weights (birth,growth,butcher,hanging and freezer weights) within the year. I also have a hanging scale that goes up to 400 lbs but weighs in 2 lb increments so that one doesn't work for the younger ones....or for more precise data.
Up until now, I've only been able to weigh the newborn lambs up to 10 pounds on a shipping scale...and you can imagine how tough that is (and comical) to try to convince a lamb to hold still in a bowl on the scale! LOL Here are some of my birth weights: Largest Ewe(Single Ram 5 lb 9 oz at birth)(Twin Ewes #1-4 lb 12 oz at birth and 9 lb 5 oz at 21 days...#2-4 lb 11 oz at birth and 8 lb 9 oz at 21 days); Ewe with nicest coat (Single Ram 4 lb 15 oz at birth)(Single Ewe 6 lb 2 oz at birth and 9 lb 9 oz at 9 days); Smallest Ewe but the tamest so I've kept her to help tame the rest of the flock(Single Ram 4 lb 2 oz at birth)(Single Ram 6 lb and 8 lb at 7 days);Our Newest Ewe..great coloring and nice size..gave us twins Christmas Eve(Twins-#1 Ram 5 lb 4 oz at birth and 9 lb 1 oz at 14 days #2 Ewe 5 lb 4 oz at birth and 8 lb 3 oz at 14 days). Except for the newest Ewe, all the other ewes were first time mom's for the first set of weights. I also purchased a Katahdin Ewe this summer and bred her to our AB cross Ram. I really didn't want to do that, because I love everything about these AB's but the size has frustrated us, so while I work on nutrition and bringing in new AB blood, I'm also going to experiment with a AB/Katahdin cross and see how the meat tastes. I'll keep you posted. As far as growth rates for Ram's vs Wethers....I thought wethers were suppose to grow faster...very interesting data! I look forward to sharing more and thank you to all that have already! Renee Bailey (Harrison, Idaho) _________________________________________________________________ The MSN Entertainment Guide to Golden Globes is here. Get all the scoop. http://tv.msn.com/tv/globes2007/?icid=nctagline2 _______________________________________________ This message is from the blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
