NEWS
BREEDING/SPRING LAMBING 2025 UPDATE:
We took (2) ewes, Freya and Laverne, to RSG For ET work. This is the second year that we have done the pre-programming work here at Timberhaus Farms. As many of you may know, it is quite a process of getting the ewes into shape, flushing feed for improved ovulation results, administering pharmaceutical protocols at specific timing, then loading up and traveling 4 hours one way to RSG for LAI work in week one, then synchronization of recip ewes in week two and traveling back to RSG with donor and recip ewes to do embryo collection/transfer.
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While last years ET results were poor to say the least (1 out of 8 took), this year made up for it. We were able to collect 12 embryos from the two donor ewes. We transferred embryos into (3) recip ewes and all have been confirmed pregnant with either a single or twins.
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In addition to the ET work, we also used live cover from Celtic Cross Farms on (5) purebred ewes and (2) F1 ewes. All total, we are expecting 14-18 purebred lambs and 3-4 F2 lambs. All ewes are due in April, so be sure to follow us and get your requests and deposits in soon
SWEDEN TRIP - OCTOBER 2024
It was an honor to be invited as part of an initial contingent of fellow US Valais breeders to a learning and exploratory judging class to help develop the breed and showing/grading here in the US. The class was put on by Marita Tauni (Sweden) and Emma Collison (UK) at Marita's farm in Karlstad, Sweden. Thank-You Emma and Marita for being such wonderful teachers and hosts! It was a great learning experience and we were able to discuss, in detail, topics from nutrition, structure, fleece, markings, judging and grading. And I would be remiss if I forgot to mention partaking in the local custom of FIKA!
First USA National Valais Blacknose Sheep Show
The first ever USA National Valais Blacknose Sheep show was held in Des Moines, Iowa on September 29-30, 2023. It was a great place to meet new breeders and see what all is going on in this small community. This was also a great time to be able to see where our breeding program is at relative to other breeders and more importantly to the Valais Standards. As it turns out we were pleasantly surprised. I'd like to thank all of our berner friends who made the trip to Iowa with us and a special Thank-You to Renee Tiano for showing our ewe (Laverne) in the ring!
The international judges for the show were Raymond Irvine & Jenni McAllister (Highland), Jamie Wood (Prendwick),
Dr. Marita Tauni, and Chris Slee (Halsbury Barton). A better group of judges could not have been picked for this first show. All were extremely knowledgeable, very approachable, and happily shared their knowledge and experiences with these beautiful sheep.
We were honored to have two of our ewes (Ayla and Freya) graded as maximum points -1. There was quite an extended discussion on both of them in regards to awarding them maximum points, but in the end they decided to take one point off for minor markings issues.
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We had entered Panda into the spitti portion of the show. She took first place in her class and then went back into the ring after the remaining classes were judged. What an honor it was to have Timberhaus Panda awarded the Grand Champion spitti for the show. Panda is our first farm bred Valais Blacknose sheep and we couldn't be more proud of her! We'll post more pictures in the photos section of the website as time permits.
