Kaeleigh had her first cria in June 23, needing no assistance. It amazes me how the good Lord gave maternal instincts. She is a REALLY good momma and stands so still to allow her little GIRL to nurse. Kaeleigh was bred last spring to true black Antonio. What COLOR did we get?? We got a gorgeous medium brown girl with black extremities, exactly what we ordered! (Ha!) If she were a horse I'd call her a bay color and so my husband suggested naming the cria Baeleigh. You can see some of her first baby steps in the video in the right column. Don't miss Baeleigh's EPD results, especially with her dark color.
Look at Kaeleigh's EPD in the side bar! Fantastic fleece qualities! Not only is she in the top 20% of fineness (AFD), but in the top 2.8% of staple length and the top 1.18% of fleece weight in the nation! Fineness + heavy fleece weight = density in my book!
Mama Kaeleigh got sheared in June of this year. Her whole fleece weight was 9.65 lbs.! I don't know that I've ever had an animal that sheared SO MUCH and with a fine micron fleece on top of it! We are always aiming for a 10 lb. fleece and we are almost there.
What do Kaeleigh's 2023 EPD stats mean? They indicate what she will likely contribute to fleece characteristics in her cria:TOP 20% in the nation! Avg Fiber Diameter (AFD) will likely decrease by -1.071, very good!
Standard Deviation of AFD will decrease by -0.217, good! (29%)
Top 20% in the nation! Spin Fineness (SF) will decrease by -1.08, nice!
% of Fibers > 30 micron will decrease by -3.275, amazing! (33%)
Mean Curve (MC) of fiber will increase by 1.524, super! (29%)
% Medullation (M) will decrease by -0.069, (60%)(the full impact of medullation in fleece remains a question at this point in time according to Yocom-McColl.)
Top 2.8% in the nation! Mean Staple Length (MSL) will increase by 3.721, stunning!
Top 1.17% in the nation! Fleece Weight (FW) will increase by 0.963, nice!
Kaeleigh is from our foundation dam, Vanora, one of the best animals on our farm with year after year of phenomenal EPDs. Her sire is Grazing Hills Bradford, who also has great EPDs, especially for fineness. We expected that Kaeleigh would have nice fiber and she is showing us we were spot on!
She is pure bright white, she has a beautiful head and has shaped up well in the conformation department with straight topline and straight legs. Her fleece is exceptionally soft, L-O-N-G, and crimpy with HEAVY coverage. We are expecting her to develop into quite the queen and, in fact, she has attained diva status! We plan (or you can plan!) to use her as a foundation dam.
