Whydid Lincoln Rams:
 

I am an honest straight up ram breeder: no gimmicks, no self serving slant, no bullshit. Regarding my Lincoln rams, what I say, what you see, is what you get. Breeding a bloody good sheep is becoming secondary to the marketing spin that is used to sell it.  We’re not a hobby ram breeder with a large commercial flock making our money; we specialise in breeding rams, so they have to perform as it’s our livelihood!   

Extensive performance recording: 44 years of it. Everything is weighed at weaning and again 6 to 7 weeks later, eye muscle scanning for close on 10 years now, 30 week wool weights and of course fertility recording.  All this allows us to breed and bring to you a sound high fertility, high growth and high meat yielding ram with good wool.  

All flocks SIL performance recorded: We upload and download all our data ourselves and, as such, I can produce a report on my rams tailor made to the client’s needs if required. If anyone has any special needs, let me know I will ensure the appropriate report is readily available to you.  You also have the actual data relevant to all the BVs provided.  

Sires DNA profiled for footrot and cold tolerance: We have been testing all sires for the last 8 years with all sires at the top end of the scale.  

Pocket Pc: This rides in the bike, everything is tagged at birth (not left till tailing or on an unreliable Dna test).  Any poor mothers, poor milkers, poor constitution, assisted lambing etc is recorded on the Pocket PC and later uploaded to the computer. This translates into reliable SIL figures (as accurate pedigrees) and this accurate recording allows me to be confident that I only retain genuine easy care sheep as any problem sheep are accurately recorded and can’t slip through the system.  

Scientific Research: Most of our involvement is through Lincoln University , where in the past we have assisted in footrot and cold tolerance trials and a longevity trial.  All this ensures that we are aware of the latest research and are ready to uptake any meaningful scientific developments that will improve our flocks. 

Stockmanship: Fast becoming a lost art, a lot of breeders are relying solely on performance data. You need a combination of both to breed good Lincoln rams. I still cull everything on visual appraisal first, I cull for eyes, colour, pasterns, legs, poor hindquarter, heavy shoulders, teeth, poor wool, poor loin etc; (I am always doing this); all such bad traits if not culled for, will, I guarantee you, lead to a decline in the productivity of your flock in the long term.  Good stockmanship is vital if you are to breed stock with good ongoing productivity; without it, after the hybrid vigour is gone, your productivity will decline I Guarantee it!!!!! I consider this the most significant advantage we have over many breeders.  

Worm Resistance: Our ewe flock never gets drenched and we practice an extended drenching programme with all young stock we retain.

Lincolns:

  • grow exceptionally heavy, strong lustrous wool. Lincoln Ram hoggets average 6.5kg.
  • grow long stapled wool.
  • all lincolns are renowned for their longevity which means you don't have to keep as many replacements.
  • clip heavy wool weights even when they get older.
  • have excellent feet and high resistance to footrot.  Again we DNA profile all sires, Lincolns are exceptional in this regard, I would doubt if there is a sheep that has more resistance to footrot
  • have a heavy, well-muscled carcase. 

 One cross of Why-Did Lincoln ram will give you:

  • An immediate lift of up to 25% in wool weight when crossed with any breed.  With the fine micron phenomenon over, lincolns will return more kgs and accordingly more money than any other breed (except perhaps the very fine merinos).
  • Increase in the length of staple, which is a big advantage if you are twice yearly shearing.  One cross of lincoln will do wonders for any short staple problems you may be experiencing.
  • Increased bodyweight in the off spring.
  • High genetic heritability for soundness of teeth and feet.
  • Increased longevity in the off spring.

I would have thought some composite breeder would have jumped on the bandwagon and exploited these advantages.


 

Why-Did Lincolns have been the best in New Zealand for as long as I can remember, the odd person may disagree with this, but the majority wouldn't.

 

 

Very early on we recognised that the future of the Lincoln breed lay in being crossed over various breeds of differing strengths, from merinos to romneys.  Accordingly we have placed considerable emphasis on the handle of our lincoln's wool, a good handling wool results in less variation in the off spring. In addition to wool we have been focusing on breeding a sheep with a good hindquarter, loin and spring of rib, the expensive cuts of meat.