[sicknote]

We have got 3 Greyface Dartmoor Ram Lambs available. they were born February this year and now looking for work!. They are unregistered but from Pedigree Registered stock. Good temprements and easy to handle. Crossed with a commercial ewe (Texel etc.) can produce excellent meat. £50 each. We are near Taunton, Somerset

[Rosemary]

Can I ask, purely out of curiosity, why you don't register them?

[sicknote]

Hi, thanks for the reply. The Greyface Dartmoor Association have a strict breed standard and the Ram Lambs have to be inspected first before they can be registered, unfortunately our Rams didn't quite make the grade (although bias but in our opinion would make good Rams!!!).

[Rosemary]

Ah! Understand now. Is it only rams that are inspected or ewes too? And do you have a time limit for registration ie could you keep a ram until it was a shearling then register it?

[sicknote]

until now it is only the Rams but they are slowly introducing inspection for Ewes as well. Unfortunately the inspection can only be done when they are lambs, this is quite frustrating as the one Ram lamb we have has almost doubled in size since his inspection and would give our Stock Ram a run for his money but these things are beyond our control.

[Rosemary]

I can see the insections would have to be done before they reach breeding age and that there are pros and cons. If the assessments are consistent, it should ensure conformity with the breed standard. Whether it breeds better sheep of course depends on the standard, I suppose.