|
|
Stengthening Milk Production, Better Medials and Outstanding Teat Size
Unique Genetics of the Promisedland Z Sisters
This may be the place to give you a brief herd history. We have a linebreeding plan very clearly focused on the above traits, plus we also have some clear type goals that we want to verify with regular ADGA linear appraisal. We don’t bring in totally random outside animals to offer you “alphabet soup” genetics. That’s just a shot in the dark and you never know what you’re going to get. As you read this and other commentary throughout the website, you can better decide whether the genetics we have collected and molded has any potential to contribute to your herd.
In October 2019 we drove 3407 miles roundtrip (northern Minnesota to southern Maine) to bring back three of the last daughters of two of the three Z Sisters. Our thanks to Curtis Gerry of Amethyst Acres for helping us make that possible. The “Z Sisters” is our name for three full sisters produced by the late Keith Harrell of Promisedland in North Carolina.
The first of them, NC Promisedland SIA Zena, became a record 16x Elite Doe in the Sugar Moon herd of Sharon Peck of Vermont and then the Amethyst Acres herd of Curtis Gerry of Maine. She is also the dam of Sugar Moon V Zuzanna, who just blew away the 305-day milk record for Nigerians with a 2190 pound lactation in 2018 (that followed her 2017 record of 1720 pounds when she was #2 on the ADGA Top Ten list). Zuzanna, in turn, is the dam of Sugar Moon Z Zip Me Up. Zip Me Up, who is a double granddaughter of Zena, is a young super producer on test (1280 pounds in 305 days starting at age 1:02!!!) that will undoubtedly make future milk production records that will be eye-opening.
We brought back Amethyst Acres R Zenovia, a Zena daughter. We also secured Zenovia’s linebred son Amethyst Acres Zeke’s Zen, a double grandson of Zena. Zen’s sire is Ezekial, the sire of Zip Me Up.
In late 2007 we had bought the full sister of Zena as a foundation doeling at a few months old. She was NC Promisedland SIA Zesta, who freshened in our herd three times before she died tragically. Although she was never on test, she is on the Predicted Transmitting Ability Milk (PTAM) of Promisedland animals in about 7th position (as of early 2019), actually ahead of some of the more famous milkers in that herd. That’s thanks to three of her sons, Zebra, Zen and Ziggzag, who had offspring in herds on test.
Because of various moves and other issues, we had cut the herd back to a very few does in 2017. These were our best milkers with the best type and all had a very strong Zesta heritage. To verify what we were seeing, we linear appraised in 2018. Our last Zesta daughter, Dynamo Falcon Zinnzia, went VG 89 (VEEE). Up next was Dynamo Zebra Candee, a Zesta granddaughter that went EX90 (VEEE). We had mated Candee to Ziggzag (EX90), the full brother of Zinnzia. That gave us Dynamo Ziggzag Earthshine EX91 (VEEE); so here was a Zesta granddaughter that was mated to another Zesta son to produce Earthshine.
The third Z Sister was NC Promisedland SIA Zephyr, from the next litter of Sam I Am mated to Zippy. When we realized Zephyr and Zena were still alive in the Amethyst Acres herd,
we purchased the moon-spotted Amethyst Acres R Zorro in 2018. He would be the last Zephyr son because she passed away later in 2018. Zorro was mated to all of our Zesta family does to give us a group of very correct 2019 kids even more linebred to the Z Sisters.
Two of the most notable for purposes of this short history are the 2019 bucklings Old Beach Z Earthshine Eider and Old Beach Z Candee Condor (half-brother of Earthshine), both super correct in feet and legs and wide in the escutcheon. Eider is the product of Zorro x Earthshine. If you look at his extended pedigree, you see that he is a Zephyr grandson mated to a double linebred Zesta granddaughter. As of Thanksgiving 2019, Eider has bred all four of our daughters of the Z Sisters. (Even though both these bucklings are very linebred, they have super strong libidos, a trait we absolutely select for in linebred animals.)
We expect there may be some quality linebred doelings available from some of these matings in 2020. To summarize, all these kids would have one granddam that was a Z Sister and the other would be Earthshine EX91.
Finally, here are the other two does we brought back from Maine. Both are daughters of Zephyr, the third Z Sister.
Amethyst Acres R Zephyrine is the full sister of our herdsire Amethyst Acres R Zorro. She is a very powerful doe that kidded with a single in 2019. We invite you to surf the internet and write down the names of does that have that teat size, that significant medial suspensory ligament and teats that are ideally centered in each half. What you’re typically going to find are small teats, flat udder floors and teats that come down off the side of the udder. If you hand milk such does, get ready for the super frustration of trying to keep from bumping your hands into the hocks and even gripping that tiny teat as you try to hit the pail opening with the milk stream (more likely, expect slippery milk all over your finger tips). As we freshen Zephyrine daughters and daughters of her full brother Zorro, this kind of teat/medial/position is our ideal.
Sugar Moon BL Zafira is another Zephyr daughter. She is an Elite Doe, thanks to her milk record of 1380 pounds in 305 days at Amethyst Acres after producing triplets. To add to the milk genetics of this long, very dairy doe, Zafira was sired by a son of the super-milking Breed Leader Zuzanna.
Unique Genetics of the Promisedland Z Sisters
This may be the place to give you a brief herd history. We have a linebreeding plan very clearly focused on the above traits, plus we also have some clear type goals that we want to verify with regular ADGA linear appraisal. We don’t bring in totally random outside animals to offer you “alphabet soup” genetics. That’s just a shot in the dark and you never know what you’re going to get. As you read this and other commentary throughout the website, you can better decide whether the genetics we have collected and molded has any potential to contribute to your herd.
In October 2019 we drove 3407 miles roundtrip (northern Minnesota to southern Maine) to bring back three of the last daughters of two of the three Z Sisters. Our thanks to Curtis Gerry of Amethyst Acres for helping us make that possible. The “Z Sisters” is our name for three full sisters produced by the late Keith Harrell of Promisedland in North Carolina.
The first of them, NC Promisedland SIA Zena, became a record 16x Elite Doe in the Sugar Moon herd of Sharon Peck of Vermont and then the Amethyst Acres herd of Curtis Gerry of Maine. She is also the dam of Sugar Moon V Zuzanna, who just blew away the 305-day milk record for Nigerians with a 2190 pound lactation in 2018 (that followed her 2017 record of 1720 pounds when she was #2 on the ADGA Top Ten list). Zuzanna, in turn, is the dam of Sugar Moon Z Zip Me Up. Zip Me Up, who is a double granddaughter of Zena, is a young super producer on test (1280 pounds in 305 days starting at age 1:02!!!) that will undoubtedly make future milk production records that will be eye-opening.
We brought back Amethyst Acres R Zenovia, a Zena daughter. We also secured Zenovia’s linebred son Amethyst Acres Zeke’s Zen, a double grandson of Zena. Zen’s sire is Ezekial, the sire of Zip Me Up.
In late 2007 we had bought the full sister of Zena as a foundation doeling at a few months old. She was NC Promisedland SIA Zesta, who freshened in our herd three times before she died tragically. Although she was never on test, she is on the Predicted Transmitting Ability Milk (PTAM) of Promisedland animals in about 7th position (as of early 2019), actually ahead of some of the more famous milkers in that herd. That’s thanks to three of her sons, Zebra, Zen and Ziggzag, who had offspring in herds on test.
Because of various moves and other issues, we had cut the herd back to a very few does in 2017. These were our best milkers with the best type and all had a very strong Zesta heritage. To verify what we were seeing, we linear appraised in 2018. Our last Zesta daughter, Dynamo Falcon Zinnzia, went VG 89 (VEEE). Up next was Dynamo Zebra Candee, a Zesta granddaughter that went EX90 (VEEE). We had mated Candee to Ziggzag (EX90), the full brother of Zinnzia. That gave us Dynamo Ziggzag Earthshine EX91 (VEEE); so here was a Zesta granddaughter that was mated to another Zesta son to produce Earthshine.
The third Z Sister was NC Promisedland SIA Zephyr, from the next litter of Sam I Am mated to Zippy. When we realized Zephyr and Zena were still alive in the Amethyst Acres herd,
we purchased the moon-spotted Amethyst Acres R Zorro in 2018. He would be the last Zephyr son because she passed away later in 2018. Zorro was mated to all of our Zesta family does to give us a group of very correct 2019 kids even more linebred to the Z Sisters.
Two of the most notable for purposes of this short history are the 2019 bucklings Old Beach Z Earthshine Eider and Old Beach Z Candee Condor (half-brother of Earthshine), both super correct in feet and legs and wide in the escutcheon. Eider is the product of Zorro x Earthshine. If you look at his extended pedigree, you see that he is a Zephyr grandson mated to a double linebred Zesta granddaughter. As of Thanksgiving 2019, Eider has bred all four of our daughters of the Z Sisters. (Even though both these bucklings are very linebred, they have super strong libidos, a trait we absolutely select for in linebred animals.)
We expect there may be some quality linebred doelings available from some of these matings in 2020. To summarize, all these kids would have one granddam that was a Z Sister and the other would be Earthshine EX91.
Finally, here are the other two does we brought back from Maine. Both are daughters of Zephyr, the third Z Sister.
Amethyst Acres R Zephyrine is the full sister of our herdsire Amethyst Acres R Zorro. She is a very powerful doe that kidded with a single in 2019. We invite you to surf the internet and write down the names of does that have that teat size, that significant medial suspensory ligament and teats that are ideally centered in each half. What you’re typically going to find are small teats, flat udder floors and teats that come down off the side of the udder. If you hand milk such does, get ready for the super frustration of trying to keep from bumping your hands into the hocks and even gripping that tiny teat as you try to hit the pail opening with the milk stream (more likely, expect slippery milk all over your finger tips). As we freshen Zephyrine daughters and daughters of her full brother Zorro, this kind of teat/medial/position is our ideal.
Sugar Moon BL Zafira is another Zephyr daughter. She is an Elite Doe, thanks to her milk record of 1380 pounds in 305 days at Amethyst Acres after producing triplets. To add to the milk genetics of this long, very dairy doe, Zafira was sired by a son of the super-milking Breed Leader Zuzanna.
