Sometimes other factors play in as well. For me, availability was another issue as well as pricing. In an area with several purchase options you can easily find an animal that fits your price range with some looking. By that standard, you can get as good a quality as you can afford. In this area commercial market sheep are king. There are 2 larger registered Shetland flocks in my area & the gentleman I purchased my ewes from bought his flock from them. So lots of related stock around. You need to watch carefully for inbreeding.
I was blessed to find with my families help a ram from south Missouri that was unrelated. So I have a good thing in this area. My plan is to use Niles for the next couple breeding seasons to build up our flock. Then he will most likely be sold for somebody else's breeding program. We will be looking for a nice unrelated, well built ram that carries a fine fleece and is horned. We may have to do some driving. LOL.
At that point, we'll be striving to continue improving our ewe stock. I think Niles is a good flock building ram choice for me. He has good conformation, a good & respectful attitude, & a nice fleece. Time will tell with his first lambs on the ground this spring.
One of the other ways to help us make decisions involves showing in 4H. Sheep shows help us promote & evaluate our stock. We've decided to promote our yearling ram Kenny before he'll need for sale this fall. It's often helpful to have an outside source evaluate for you. While we're unlikely to compete with other Shetlands until the State Fair, they will be judged against breed standard and how well they conform versus how well the other wool breeds conform to their standard.
Sometimes the only way to make decisions is to see what happens. Breeding theory can only take you so far & then the Good Lord takes over; often giving you surprises.
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