Extremely successful in France
- Developed in France starting in 1824
- The Ile de France Flock Book was established in 1982
- Most common meat sheep in France - 300,000 ewes or 22% of meat sheep
- Origin is the Dishley Leicester and Merino
- Performance recording started by the Ile de France Flock Book in 1933. By 1959, all sheep breeds in France had followed suit.
- In 1968 the Flock Book began batch testing progeny. In 1972, a test station was opened at Verdilly, where Ile de France are tested and selected for meat qualities and fertility.
Beautiful appearance
- Well proportioned
- Excellent conformation
- Thickly muscled hind quarters
- White, wooled sheep: Average fleece weight is 4 - 6 kg with a 7 - 8 cm staple length and a count of 56 - 60.
- Both sexes are typically polled, scurs or horns are seen occasionally
- Average ewe weight 70 - 90 kg
- Average ram weight 110 - 150 kg
- Withers height; males - 77 cm; females - 67 cm
Top quality lamb carcasses without excessive fat
- Lean, well-muscled lamb with large rib eye area and good killing out percentage
- 18 - 20 kg carcass at 3 - 4 months
- Average daily gain of twin male lambs at 10 - 30 days: 251 grams
- Average daily gain of single male lamb at 30 - 70 days: 361 grams
- 19 - 20 kg at 42 days of age
- 34 - 41 kg at 100 days of age
- Gain well on grass alone
- Excellent feed conversion
Hardy, easy care sheep
- Thrifty sheep that perform well on grass alone
- Very hardy, vigorous newborn lambs that are active and up and nursing in short order
- Lambs 4 kg at birth so lambing problems are rare
- Lambs grow rapidly and have among the best daily live weight gains and feed conversion in Europe
Very fertile
- Breed year round
- 171% lambing average recorded in the fall and 198% in the spring
Highly maternal
- Ewes are devoted mothers
- Excellent milk supply
- Lambs are smaller/moderate sized at birth so lambing problems are rare
- Calm disposition
- see www.wwsga.com for information on registering Ile de France sheep and on the Ile de France upgrading program
- All Crane Creek Ile de France fullbloods and percentage animals are or will be registered with the World Wide Sheep and Goat registry. Please see www.wwsga.com for more information on registering Ile de France genetics and on the upgrading program. Stud rams and ewes are DNA tested or are being tested. In a nutshell, the World wide Sheep and Goat registry considers 15/16 (93%) females and 31/32 (96%) males to be domestic purebreds, providing the sheep meet all of the criteria set out. Mating good quality high percentage or fullblood rams to good quality purebred ewes (of nonIle de France breeds) or commercial ewes is a way to eventually end up with registered Ile de France sheep.
- Percentage (50% Ile de France X 50% Romanov, 50% Ile de France X East Friesian, Dorset and White Dorper) Ile de France ewe lambs and ram lambs will be available in the fall of 2008. Limited numbers will be available.
- FOR SALE NOW: July 2008: 2 (two) 2007 fallborn 2007 50% Ile de France X 50% Romanov now available. Price is $500 for 1 lamb or $450 each for the pair.
- percentage lambs start at $400, fullblood rams start at $1500
- various sire lines available
- 50 and 100 day adjusted weights available
- Excellent flock health status, participants in voluntary scrapie flock certification program since 1995, CERTIFIED 2007
Group of 7 April 1998 born ram lambs, raised by recipient dams fed grass mix hay free choice and 1/2 pound corn per head per day:
- Average adjusted 50 day weight = 50.7 pounds; range 37.2 - 69.4 pounds
- Average adjusted 100 day weight = 106.2 pounds; range 88.9 - 131.3 pounds
- Average ADG = 1.1 pounds
Ile de France Photographs
- Transportation can be arranged to any destination in the continental US. Individual animals or several small groups can be combined in one shipment to make trucking more reasonable for all concerned. Please call for exact quote as it depends on the distance travelled and the destination. Individual animals can be sent by air in airline approved dog kennels. Animals can be trucked to Chicago or Minneapolis and delivered to the appropriate airline terminal.
- Interstate health papers are available for all sheep at no charge. Blood testing is additional but the charge is only for mailing samples to the lab and the actual lab charges.
- Export paperwork is done at cost (actual cost) so no extra charges are built in. Paperwork is done professionally and speedily. Sheep from Crane Creek are routinely sent to Canada and the Caribbean.
- Transportation to California and locations along the way is available summer/fall 2008. Sheep can be intercepted along the travel routes. Please call, e-mail or write for more details. Often trucking becomes available before I can put it on the web page so contact me if you need transportation. For most locations in the USA, contact Ron Keener at rkeener@realtime.net or Russ Edgar at edgar@fidnet.com (web page www.edgarsheepandgoats.com) to check their travel schedules. Both travel around the US delivering sheep and goats. Ron Keener is based in Texas and Russ Edgar in Missouri. Pricing is related to distance and number of animals transported. Prices are reasonable and both parties are experienced in trucking livestock.
Stephanie Mitcham
3061 160th Street
Sumner
IOWA
USA 50676
TEL (563) 578-5665
FAX (563) 578-8193
E-MAIL sam@netins.net
sam@netins.net
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