THE EARLY YEARS OF TEXELS IN CANADA
Authors Gordon and Reta Young- Thorndale, Ontario, Canada.
- Aug. 27 - 1987 1 arrived in Denmark to begin programming the ewes I noted immediately the sheep
were fat - the vet assured me all the animals were O. K. - Sponges were removed at 14 days - heat
was observed right on schedule -- all ewes were hand mated and all rams performed perfectly.
- Then disaster struck only one ram was fertile. We had a wonderful response from the ewes --- a total of
280 ovulations but only 14 embryos from 2 yearlings that were mated to a ram lamb.
What to do
- We were in financial trouble as well as being very embarrassed
- Nissouri's board met and wanted to approach Ottawa to try for a permit to import live sheep
- We had a large investment in the Texels that were in quarantine. After about 3 weeks of frantic
negotiations we had a clearance to import only sheep that were in quarantine
- Not everyone would sell
- Price negotiations had to be with Association not the owners. By early October we had purchased
18 head. Only 2 rams, Ottawa agreed to allow us to use the Sept. blood test provided the sheep
would arrive at Mirabel by Nov. 15. This didn't happen because Ottawa couldn't complete their
paper work.
