Update as of April 2023:

Expecting new lambs in September 2023: We are shifting to a 100% fall-lambing flock and therefore all of our replacement stock will be born in September. Of course, we won’t know what’s available until the lambs are born, but we do expect to have high-EBV ram lambs available, along with some high-EBV ewe lambs, and possibly some excess ewes exposed to our best dairy rams.

* Ram lambs $900 ea
* Ewe lambs $400 ea. (minimum group of 5, or 4 with a ram lamb)
* Possibility for bred (exposed) excess ewes in Fall 2023. Excess ewes will average $300 ea, and are sold in a minimum group of 5 excess ewes.
A 25% deposit is required to hold your interest in any breeding stock.

Information on how we offer our breeding stock for sale

First we (Bee and Quincy) complete analyses of the flock’s milk production records, EBVs, and udder conformation pictures, for selection of the ewes from which we will keep our own replacement females and males, and from which we will offer this year’s replacement females and males for sale.

We are able to supply individual dam EBVs for milk yield and component yield (protein & fat%)! All thanks to the DSANA Production Improvement Program!!)

All details on each animal for sale — lineage, EBVs and milk production data for dams and grand-dams, dams’ udder pictures, pictures of the ram lambs’ mouths, testicles, and bodies — will be supplied to those who have sent us deposits to hold their position to choose breeding stock. Past files of information can be found in the Dairy Sheep menu (for instance, “2021 Ram Lambs for sale”). If you are interested in any of these ram lambs, contact Quincy by email at info@meadowoodfarms.com, or send a deposit to Meadowood Farms, 5157 Ridge Road, Cazenovia NY 13035, to reserve your place to choose a ram lamb, ewe lambs, or excess ewes.

Our program for selling ram lambs:

  • We select ewes that we would potentially keep sale ram lambs from; this selection is based on EBVs, milk yield, and udder conformation.

  • We grow out these select ram lambs, and at about three-to-four months of age, we assess them for conformation and structural correctness (mouth, feet, testicles, pizzle).  If they do not pass this assessment, they will not be sold as breeding rams.

  • We put together a paper listing the ram lambs available, their details and pictures, and giving the dams' EBVs, and production information and lineage, as well as udder pictures. We generally expect that the rams will go to buyers starting at around four-to-five months of age.

  • We require a non-refundable 25% deposit on all breeding stock.  The order in which we receive deposits is the order of choice of ram lambs. If we cannot supply a ram lamb to you (i.e., if because of death or poor assessment, we do not have enough rams to meet the received orders), we will refund your deposit.

On buying animals from a flock that records individual ewes’ milk production, and generates information on their genetic potential (EBVs):

Under the “Dairy Sheep” menu we have attached the breeding stock information which we have supplied to buyers over the last eight years. We include them as a record of the type of information that we think anyone wanting to buy dairy animals should have and should want to have. If you are hoping to make a living from milking sheep, or hope to achieve a profit from milking dairy sheep, we strongly advise you to purchase breeding stock (rams, ram lambs, ewes, ewe lambs) from producers who record their individual ewes’ milk production at the very least, and preferably from those who now are enrolled in DSANA’s Production Improvement Program and can supply EBVs on the seedstock they offer. Many DSANA member producers do milk record their ewes and also test for components, and a growing number are also part of the PIP. For a list of DSANA members offering breeding stock for sale, go to DSANA’s Member Directory and search by the category of breeding stock you are looking for. If you would like to see how we have used EBVs to make our breeding selections, go to the file under our Dairy Sheep menu titled “How we used EBVs in August 2019”.

For questions on our breeding stock availability, please contact Quincy by emailing info@meadowoodfarms.com.