Friday, July 30, 2010

Micron Test Results

While I was gone at the Midwest Felting Symposium the micron test results for my flock arrived.
They contained some surprises and I am actually a little skeptical about some of them.
My finest fleece is from Camille, (F2 Minder with Holly and Roban Dillon in her pedigree), she's my favorite yearling ewe whose staple is 6" long and wavy, it stretches to 7" if pulled taut.  Her results were 20.6 AFD, 6.3 SD, 30.4CV, 88.9 CF.  I am retaining her.

Next finest in my flock was Camille's twin brother, Greyson, last fall his fleece sample microned at 22.6 AFD, but this sample came back at 21.9 AFD, 5.6 SD, 25.6 CV, 91.6 CF.  Greyson sired our 2010 Shetland lamb crop and was put in the freezer this spring along with his shaela half brother, Sebastian, who was my third finest fleece at 23.1 AFD, 4.9 SD, 21.1 CV and 91.1 CF.  
In fourth place was Freya, our solid-sided gulmoget yearling, 23.2 AFD, 6.2 SD, 26.6 CV, 86.0 CF. Freya has good length to her fleece which is why I'm retaining her also.  She's not real tame, but one of these days I'm sure she'll come around.

Her twin Frieda has a shorter staple and came in at 24.2 AFD, 5.7 SD, 23.5  CV and 86.9 CF. I sold Frieda without papers the other night.  

Eleven year old Bramble Cordelia (F1 Minder and dam of Camille and Greyson) came in at 25.8 AFD, 6.0 SD, 23.4 CV and 78.1 CF.  She will be put down this summer and Camille will take her place in our flock.
Cleo was next at 26.6 AFD, and 7.0 SD, 26.1 CV and 71.2 CF. She carries moorit and has side dusting, but I like her longer staple.

Surprisingly our 4 year old twins, microned higher than usual with Hattie at 28.1 AFD and Hannah 29.4 AFD. Hannah had a single last year, so that might have something to do with her uncharacteristcally high numbers.

Leonie had the highest numbers of the Shetlands with an AFD of 29.6, she is double coated and was sold unregistered the other night along with Frieda.

The BFLs have a higher micron count, but their comfort factor is usually higher than the Shetlands. 
Our finest fleeced BFL was our yearling ram, Ward Harwell, 24.6 AFD, 4.2 SD, 17.2 CV and 92.1 CF.
Two year old Leora, out of Beechtree Lanora and Beechtree Granite, was next with 25.1 AFD, 3.7 SD, 14.7 CV and 93.9 CF, then came her mother, Lanora, with 28.5 AFD, 5.1 SD, 17.8 CV and 71.6 CF (this AFD is higher than previous years also).

The natural colored BFL ewes, Rhyn and Rhaya came in at 29.6 and 29.2 AFD, 5.4 and 5.0 SD, and 18.2 and 17.1 CV respectively.

So the flock average continues to improve a little each year, this year it was 26.3 AFD, 5.9 SD, 22.5 CV.  This is in contrast to 2006, the first year I did micron testing, when the average was 27.8 AFD, 7.1 SD, and 25.2 CV.

4 comments:

  1. I think those are terrific numbers, Becky!

    Your averages are improving over the years and you are keeping the fleece lengths you like... I hope I see similar results when my numbers come back. :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Sabrina, I'm sure you will see good results when your numbers come back. Mine edge up a little bit each ear. Oops, I forgot to include Lana's numbers in this post! She came in right after after Freya at 23.9 AFD, 5.7 SD, 23.8 CV, and 85.2 CF.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Becky i love the Ag gulmoget pattern. Especially in full fleece! There is just something about that gulmoget head and white body :) Lucky lady!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Martin told us at BSG during his micron talk that BFLs should have high SD and CVs due to their inconsistencies in their fleeces. I told him that my BFLs had the lowest SD and CVs I ever saw on sheep of my own. You should send your results to Martin too. He didn't believe me :)

    ReplyDelete

Getting ready for Christmas Markets!

  I'll be doing two Christmas markets this year. The first one is at Sapsucker Farms in Brook Park, MN Nov. 18-19th. And the second one ...