It's almost that time. Dora's most recent litter is nearly ready to leave the farm for their respective homes. This means we are also looking at which animals we will hold back for the breeding program. We always breed for our program first, so we are always looking for animal which will improve our lines with each litter. Unfortunately, some litters are just duds. Pointed whites and steels have plagued our Dora and Waffles crosses for three litters straight. We knew they both carried genes that would give us babies that weren't that, so we kept trying. We ended up with a lot of farm quality babies. All of our buyers were informed that the babies are not purebreds and not showable due to color. Thankfully, this most recent litter has FINALLY given us babies we can use to produce show quality stock. Dora gave us two chestnuts, a buck and a doe, which carry ruby eyed white. We can use these to produce more REW kits, and we can breed the doe with Milton's Rohan to produce more reds. Both kits are three generations away from the Flemish Giant in their maternal ancestry, meaning their babies will be recognized as purebred New Zealands by the ARBA if paired with pedigreed New Zealands. Since pairing them with one another would still produce 12.5% Flemish Giant content, their offspring with one another will be sold as being of mixed breed heritage. With all that said, we are very excited about this boy and his sister, and we are hoping that they continue to develop good type to improve our herd. Please excuse the camera angle. I am not the best at posing and photographing at the same time.
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