Jehovah-jireh Sheep and Cattle, llc.

Bluefaced Leicesters, a stately and elegant breed, are the premier maternal crossing sire, giving value-added production quality to their hybrid daughters. Bluefaced Leicester rams are crossed onto smaller, more rugged hill breeds, like Scotch Blackface, Welsh Mountain, Swaledale and Shetland to produce the most efficient grass-based dams. These hybrid daughters, "Mules" are the basis of the prime lamb industry in the United Kingdom.

Our flock is the first production recorded Bluefaced Leicester flock in North America. Our 2009 lambcrop was the first group of BFL lambs born on this continent with EPDs. I look to work closely with the Sire Reference Scheme in the UK to further expand our data collection and analysis so that our sheep are competitive with their relatives across the pond.

With Bluefaced Leicester sires we produce Shetland Mules that go into our grassfinished, natural lamb program.

The extreme traits that a Bluefaced Leicester sire possesses are passed on to his hybrid progeny. Length and quality of loin, prolificacy, udder suspension and capacity are a few traits that are valuable in a Mule sire breeding program.

While their prowess in crossbred lamb production is their calling, their incredible fleece is a bonus and a blessing! 

Our foundation females were bred by Judy Colvin at Bitterroot Ranch in Montana, and Nancy Starkey at Trial and Error Acres in Maryland.

Our Bitterroot ewes are from "Monique" bloodlines, a great domestic line that is highly prolific, carry great udders and bear brightly lustrous, well-purled fleeces.

 

(Bitterroot Mia, a Firth B20 "Monique" and Rossiebank Laird grand-daughter. ) 

Martin Dalley, at Super Sires, Ltd. does our AI work.

Our sire lineup for fall 2009 is: 

~Jehovah's Canaan (Beeston 3138/T70 x Starkey Leanan),

~Jehovah's Madras (Beeston 3138/T70 x Bitterroot Mattie)

~Koenig Sir Carter (Koenig Varrius x Bitterroot Silvie) 

Proven, veteran sires, Ward 06-763 and Bitterroot Burl, are out siring mules.

And that's all very well and good... but...

Ultimately a sheep is a sheep, whether they are a $1200 Wensleydale or a $75 finewool range ewe. If they can't efficiently produce fleece and lambs, they are simply not producing to their potential, regardless of the capital invested in them. Farming and ranching lifestyles rely on a symbiosis of forage crops, livestock and the families who steward the land. Every member has to pull their own weight to make a living.

In our pursuit for the best genetics, you can rely on us to propagate sires that will do the best job in your pasture and on your plate.

We believe that this breed has so much to offer to the industry, and we won't jeopardize their rightful place in American sheep history by proliferating culls.

My goal is to be running between six hundred to a thousand head of range ewes within the next five years, and I'll be using Bluefaced Leicester crossing sires produced by our Jehovah-jireh ewes.

So maternal excellence is our goal, for our flock and yours.