It took me forever to decide which of my Mottled roos to keep back this year, if any turned out nice enough. I really wanted one with a lot more white than what Rascal has but alas, that is not to be.
I tagged a roo when he was about 6 weeks old that I thought was the best of all in the 16 I had to choose from. I watched them grow, I weighed them, turned them all around, looked them over every once and a while and continued to watch them grow. As the summer rolled on and I sold off ones that were not what I needed to continue my program I kept being pulled towards the one that I liked the best. A few weeks ago I was down to only a few Mottleds cockerels and it had been about a month since I last looked them over so I stood back and watched them and picked up the one I liked the best of those last few. I rolled him around in my hands, checked him over and then turned him on his back to check toes. Lo and behold, it was my tagged roo.
I feel I still have a ways to go to achieve super Mottleds but this boy will be bred to some up and coming ladies for the next generation of my Mottled program.
Introducing Ranger.......
He has just turned 6 months old. There is still a lot that will need to mature out on him but he has a lot of the qualities I look for in my guys. His temperament is fabulous, he is kind to the girls living in his tractor with him and he had 2 other boys in there, too that he was gentle but firm with that have been sold in the last week. These are not necessarily girls he will be breeding, although that overly Mottled girl is not related (Thank you, Nella Bean!) and I would like to try them together at some point. I also have a few blue Mottled that have a lot of white that I may put him over. Oh, the possibilities!