Go on Minnie...just do it!

We are getting into a nice little routine going here at Beck Brow...every morning Paul goes off to work...and every morning I wave him goodbye adding; "I think Minnie will have her baby today!". This has been going on all week. Yesterday the retort was; "I suppose if you say it often enough you are bound to be right eventually!". This morning I said nothing, so we will see...366-days gestation today. She could hardly stay awake yesterday and she is huge. Not great for a little maiden...just have it Minnie...you know you want one!



Minnie...366-days gestation.

With the excitement of getting two females in one day on Tuesday; I rather jumped to some conclusions. Yes, they are both female, all orifices are checked at birth! But Crystal is not white. The 'white' from two white parents is actually light fawn. This was highlighted by the brilliant white Magellan, who is out of two fawns!! Good job there are no plans to breed a particular colour.

Chaska is keeping us very entertained. She is so chilled and sweet natured, but she does rather forget that she has a cria to look after. She just wanders off and leaves him asleep, then he has to find her when he wants fed. A couple of evenings ago we looked out of the window during a torrential down pour. Everyone was in the barn bar poor Magellan. We ran out to get him...this did prompt Chaska to remember about him and she called for him...yes, she called for him from the barn door...don't you get yourself wet Chaska! Magellan is now putting on weight at a steady pace. Amanda has found a replacement for JumpStart (we find the new formula too thick) called Boost and Go, which he much prefers to Kick Start, which smells of Marmite.

Our fleece stats came back from the European Wool Testing Authority yesterday. I am now about to send the same samples to SGS in New Zealand. We have decided to change to SGS for testing but as we have used EWTA in the past I needed some control results to compare.

Robyn has been waiting to see Anzac Almost Illegal's (Almo) results before deciding who to use over Nina. He is one of our young fawn males who is now ready to work. His third fleece stats: MFD: 18.7, SD 3.90, CV 21.10, >30 1.13%. She has decided that he will now get his first mating this evening with Nina. They have also put in a request for Paella for tea. Free stud services and fed as well!

I won't go into lots of numbers and fleece stats because they can be a bit tedious for the non-obsessed, but I think it is worth sharing the result of our experiment from 2009. At the time we didn't have a suitable stud male for Nancy, a female who had came at foot with one of our original females, and although sound, she does not have a fine fleece. The gamble was; she would not produce a stud male, so did we spend more than the £500 (the pet male sale price) on a stud service. We decided that we would and the gamble has most definitely paid off. Not only did we get a daughter (Lucie) but Lucie's fleece stats are amongst the best of our 2010 cria, along with density and great crimp style (and a good length of fleece from her dam) ...she is lovely. Well done EPC Top Account of Fowberry...we are even more excited to see what you produce for us next.

Lucie behind Explorer...inseparable!