Securing rams

The story of Midwest Mini Sheep has been a whirlwind of sudden leaps forward, but nothing matches the sheer excitement of the day our upbreeding program truly took flight. We had already committed to going completely all-in on Ouessant sheep, driven by a desire to increase their population in the United States so other enthusiasts wouldn't have to face the grueling search we experienced. We wanted to make these charming, friendly little sheep accessible to other farms, and we were moving fast to make that happen.

The defining moment of our strategy happened while Kraig was in the middle of a cross-country drive to pick up our foundational seven-eighths rams.

While he was covering miles on the highway, my phone rang with news that changed our entire trajectory. It was a call informing us that Ouessant semen was available in the country for the first time in an entire decade!

Suddenly, we had the tools to execute a sophisticated genetic plan. We realized we could use the newly available semen on our seven-eighths ewes to upbreed them even further, while simultaneously utilizing the incoming seven-eighths rams on our Soay and Shetland ewes.

With the rams on their way home and this sudden breakthrough in genetics, we didn't waste a single moment. That very same season, we launched an intensive breeding program. We introduced the rams to our Soay ewes, and to scale up the impact of the program immediately, we also brought in twenty-eight Shetland ewes.

Securing those rams on the road while simultaneously unlocking a decade-old genetic puzzle changed everything for our farm. It transformed our timeline from a long-term goal into an immediate, high-stakes effort to help build the future of the breed in America.