November 18, 2011

Laproscopic AI Completed for 2011 ... the waiting begins!

Vet Brian McOnie from Creekside Animal Clinic and Vernon arrived in a snowstorm on the afternoon of November 7th to do our first Laproscopic AI of 12 Bluefaced Leicester ewes.  We used the semen from two rams imported from the UK and are looking forward to seeing the results of the process in April!


The ram above is Myfyrian B10 also known as Blue Dragon.  He has already been identified as an Elite Plus sire in the UK.









And this very handsome lad is Grugoer B1 - from the Grugoer flock in Wales.




KEEP your fingers (toes and other body parts) crossed for April 2012 lambs from both of these sires!

The Gotlands have arrived!

We have just gotten back from our trip to Oregon where we were finally able to pick up the animals that we had selected in June from breeders Martin and Joy Dally of Lebanon and Susie and Dan Wilson of Canby.  I think that Mike and I have the first flock of Gotlands in Canada - isn't that cool!

November is not the best time to pick up animals and the trip down was horrific.  Before we even got close to the summit of the Coquillhalla Highway the snow was falling and conditions quickly deteriorated.  Traffic slowed to a crawl as vehicles repeatedly merged into a single lane to sneak past the big trucks and cars with summer tires!!!  It was white knuckle driving at its most difficult and we were thankful for Mike's driving skill and good winter tires on the truck.  Snow turned to rain just outside of Hope and we heaved a sigh of relief only to find ourselves lined up at the border for two hours waiting to get through to Sumas.

Our trip home was less eventful and the sheep arrived seeming no worse for wear after their two day journey in the stock trailer.  They have settled in and are doing very nicely.  I have not had a chance to take photos but will do so shortly and post them here!