March 28, 2010 by fred.

We brought the ram we call Levi (Knop 4981) back into our flock to use on the DeSpain 86 Hampshire daughters as well as the daughters of the Team Johnson/LSU/Marcantel ram named Marx 7007.

Levi is an NNRR son of Marx 3-36. His mother is an own daughter of Marx 08. His maternal grandmother is an Omega daughter. Phenotypically Levi is mid-sized in skeleton dimension with lots of bone and muscle. His hip structure is awesome in all dimensions. His loin is not only flat but is also three-dimensional with a plank type edge.

We lost the service of Marx 08 way before his time. I would refer you to the wether we called Ryan (AKSARBEN 2002, Res. Div. Champion) shown by Louise sired by 08. Many well respected breeders to this day remember the uniqueness of Ryan and the flawless way he was put together. This wether is featured under our champions page.

Marx 08 also sired a great ram we called Wedge whose photo is under our sires tab. We also lost the services of Wedge due to a back injury. I think you will agree that Wedge with his awesome chest floor design and muscle shape would work today on the genetics of the time.

I outline all of the above to state that the main reason we brought Levi back into our flock was to reintroduce the genetic influence of Marx 08. What we have seen so far of Levi’s offspring has not disappointed us. Two of the NNRR Levi ram lambs are featured on our 2010 lamb photos tab. Check them out. I think they will meet your approval.

Fred Knop

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March 28, 2010 by fred.

By now I’m sure that many of you reading this blog know that we bred and raised a ram we called Omega back in 1991. Since that point in time we have kept the influence of Omega genetics alive in our flock through the power of linebreeding. Omega was a very unique ram in that he sired awesome show lambs as attested by the track record of his progeny in the show ring. Omega’s influence has also worked extremely well for our customers through the many rams and females seeing service in their flocks.

Omega genetic derivatives were responsible for 3 Grand Champion carcasses at the prestigious AKSARBEN Livestock Exposition and 2 Grand Champion carcasses at the National Western Stock Show.

Omega’s influence continues today through the availability of his semen. Some Omega semen was used by Jim Jensen and Rex Galloway of Utah recently. Offspring of this semen were exhibited a county fair in Utah under a very educational format with a certain % of the placing based on live evaluation in the show ring with the largest % of the placing determined by harvesting the same lambs. The carcasses of these lambs are then seperated into wholesale cuts such as rib, loin, leg etc. and each of these wholesale cuts are weighed. The weight of these cuts are then multiplied by the dollars of value that legs, etc. are selling for on the wholesale market that day. The overall champion of the show is determined by combining the live placing score with the harvested value score for an overall champion. I am pleased to share that the lambs out of the Omega genetics won the contest hands down over many of the genetics from well-known flocks from Utah, Oklahoma, Texas, etc. Omega’s influence truly does live on in this very educational contest for the youth of the area interested in real-world sheep production.

Fred Knop

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March 28, 2010 by fred.

We have now posted our first batch of 2010 lamb photos. The lambs are presented in their photos with all four feet on the ground in a natural pose. We hope our customers will appreciate the lambs being represented in a straight-forward manner.

We have experienced plenty of Iowa mud this spring due to the record snow and ice of this past winter. Our lambs are raised as basically outside lambs without pampering. Our lambs are very lean without extra fat. What you see in the photos is what you can expect to see when you view the lambs in person.

Several key male lambs have tested NNRR this year with more tests yet pending. Conversely, many key male lambs will become wethers by virtue of their test results. We beleive this is the deepest set of wether prospects we have ever offered.

Please feel free to give us a call if you need that one special lamb to add to your show string. We also offer group rates to ag instructors who may need multiple lambs.

Fred Knop

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