In order to find a variation of genetics for this year, we packed up the ute and headed to the Heartland to check out the selection of rams from Mt Cass. Going to a new breeder always comes with its fair share of unknowns so it is always nice to check the rams out in person. I was pleasantly surprised. It was a fine line up of fully shedding rams with good bone structure and sound feet. They were a bit smaller in stature than what we usually get but I am actually a fan as I find this usually leads to easier lambing, especially in the younger ewes. Since it was an 8 hour drive to get there I wasn’t going to come home empty handed and after a touch of cool, calm and collected bidding we had ourselves 2 new sires named Borris and Flopsy.
Our stud flock has grown by 25% from last year due to our commercial flock increasing and thus requiring more ram lambs for their mating. I had planned to have 5 sires this year to meet this increased ewe number however a month out from mating Flopsy decided to start limping (talk about aptly named). After a thorough check I deducted that it was just a foot injury and not foot rot but decided to err on the side of caution anyway and we removed him from the mating lineup. This meant that Spotty and Buck from Mangapiri Downs, Soda from Willowglen Farms and Borris from Mt Cass all had a bigger workload with about 12 more ewes than they usually would have.
The rest of mating went without a hitch, starting on the 13th March and going for 2 cycles. At the end of these cycles Spotty, Buck and Borris headed out to service some of the commercial ewes while Soda stayed in with the studs to tidy up any that got missed for a 3rd cycle.