As far as Baglien family historians can tell us, our family has been raising sheep since the 8^th century. We have, with rare interruptions, been doing so ever since. In the late 1980s, a Baglien boy married a girl who had grown up raising commercial Hamps. That they would someday raise sheep together came, as one might expect, as no great surprise.

In 2000, we acquired our first registered Suffolks from Brenda Miller. They were thick, sound sheep of their type and kind. However, our flock emphasis moved to moderately-framed Suffolks, as better suited to producing the heavily-muscled carcasses and convenience traits that are our primary objectives.

After experimenting with various bloodlines, including considerable use of LAI, we decided to base our flock chiefly on Kimm genetics. We have not regretted this decision. We first used Bob’s genetics in 2002 via LAI, and purchased some ewe lambs in 2003. In 2004, we acquired two Kimm rams, 4136 and 4208. Kimm 4136 would go on to win two slick-sheared classes at UJSSA national shows in Laramie and Sedalia, and sire the high-indexing Suffolk in the 2005 NW Performance Sire Test, but this fine performance was overshadowed by that of his cousin, 4208, who is now our lead stud. In the same year (2004), we purchased nine ewe lambs from Dr. Paul Eness, all of whom were sired by Kimm 2048 “Cael”, a heavily-muscled McLaughlin 1-144 son that is one of the top Suffolks in the NSIP program for growth. Further acquisitions would follow, but these sheep gave our program its foundation in producing the heavily-muscled, fast-growing Suffolks we favor.

In our program, four rams figure prominently:

Mac 1-144

McLaughlin-Griffin 1-144 (reference sire only)
In 2001, Bob Kimm leased this ram lamb from Willard McLaughlin. He only sired one lamb crop for Bob, but what a get! To name some of the top studs produced that year: 2022 (Bob’s keeper, used by him for five seasons), 2027 (McLaughlin’s keeper, used successfully by him for several seasons), 2029 “The Matrix” (as good or better than 2022), and 2048 “Cael” (sire of Champion and Reserve Champion lambs at the National Lamb Show, and a top ram in NSIP). If you look at the extended pedigrees of our flock, Mac 1-144 appears one or more times in that of almost every sheep.

Kimm 2048 “Cael” (reference sire only)
This ram was one of the heaviest-muscled Mac 1-144 sons in the 2002 Kimm sale, and was purchased by Dr. Paul Eness. Dr. Eness has long emphasized muscling and growth EPDs in his program. Christened “Cael” after a top amateur wrestler, this ram quickly rose in the rankings to become an NSIP Trait-Leading Sire for both pre-weaning and post-weaning growth. In addition, he twice sired the Champion or Reserve Champion carcass lamb at the National Lamb Show. In 2004, we purchased nine Cael daughters, and they have produced many good sheep in our program. A Cael daughter produced our top stud buck prospect, Baglien 7418.

Kimm 4208 - age 2