Blackberry, who feels noticeably softer and finer than the two girls, isn't really finer, but has markedly lower SD and CV numbers. His minimum and maximum microns show a difference of less than 2 microns, and his SD along the staple is only .62. Not only do those values contribute to his fleece's nice "hand," they also bode well for his future fleece not changing a great deal. Garrett, who has a whole lot more experience at this testing business than I do, said Blackberry may even test finer come spring. I am very pleased with this mellow ram lamb out of Inky, and think he will help me move closer to my breeding goals. He's being used on Dinah this year, and could also be used on Brava in the future - and any new poll-carrier girls I may acquire.
His twin Bramble is slightly lower in AFD, but as you can see, her other values are much higher. That must be why she doesn't feel as soft. Bronwen has a bit higher AFD yet, and shows the widest difference between minimum and maximum microns; interestingly enough, she feels softer to me than Bramble. This is why I am testing; I can't trust my hand. I would love to find a fine-fleeced polled ram to use on both these girls next fall; I'm on the look-out for such a creature!
That's it for now from . . .
2 comments:
I micron tested this fall and was really surprised at my results with the lambs. Not what I expected. Had a double coat ram test with a low AFD around 26 and a lamb at 26. Other lambs were between 27-29. Thought they'd have been softer than that. I did spoil them with alot of grain to friendly them up-maybe that made a difference.
Thanks for sharing your test results Michelle. I thought Blackberry's looked good, low micron isn't the biggest factor as you know by just feeling his fleece. I've never micron tested lamb fleeces under 10-12 months old, but I've got two nice ram lambs here out of Kimberwood Harrison that maybe I should test. Especially since I plan to use the Ag grey button scurred one for breeding this fall. His color is a solid blue grey all the way down to the skin, but I know he's Ag. I just hope he stays solid grey, that's been a goal of mine ever since I sold Sheepy Hollow Rachel. Okay, I'm rambling now...off to get fleece samples. :-)
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