Black Sheep Gathering

Trying to finalize my trip! It looks as though I will leave around June 22 and be home around June 28. My dad is taking care of all animals (thanks Dad!) but it will be easy on him since all the sheep (rams included) and cattle (bulls included) are in lush pastures and will be just needing daily fence checks to make sure the fences are not down or someone is stuck.

I will be taking Oliver and Zoe with me to place them in their forever homes and Ballantyne and Brewer get to make the trip out west to see their daddy Pilot's breeders. It should be a good time.

If anyone needs hauling I'm the cheapest there is! Someone inquired with a professional hauler for about a 12 hour trip and the first animal was quoted at 1065.00 and each additional animal 65.00. I guess my rates don't look so bad after all :) And I'm doing a 29 hour trip so double that price! :) :)

I'm so fortunate to have a dad who is willing to help me out, and a business that I can get everything squared away before I leave and can leave in good hands until I return.

Unless something changes, this will probably be my last trip west for awhile. The only way I can afford to go is if I am able to transport animals for people and this year is a slightly more meager year in that regard.

Can't wait to see those of you who are going there! Should be fun as always!

A trip to Jim Chastain's farm

While out at BSG I had the pleasure of officially meeting Jim Chastain. For those of you unaware, Jim is a past NASSA president and Board member. Jim has been to the Shetland Islands 14 times so far and has a great network of people he has met while on his trips. To date Jim has brought over semen from four white rams and two colored ones (Drum Jings, Ridland Ram, Island Skeld, Kier Gordon for whites and Drum Ram (black) and Brent (moorit)).

After talking most of Friday and Saturday with Jim, ever chance I could get (I asked a TON of questions in regards to the Shetland Island sheep), he invited me up on Sunday to see his flock. I did a quick change of plans and arrived just after lunch time to see his sheep. His wonderful wife Brandy and him had already caught up the entire flock of ewes and they were waiting for my hands on personal inspection. THEIR ENTIRE EWE FLOCK! I was IN heaven. How many opportunities do you have to go through each ewes fleece and body score??

These first two photos show the girls waiting in the squeeze area. What a great looking bunch of girls! Time to get my hands on them!

Below are the 8 ewes that I liked the best. There were two jet black, non fading yearlings that he would not let me even look at (he liked them that much) but these were all available to sell. MY PICK! After another round of evaluations, I ended up bringing home a white ewe, the shaela ewe in front of the rest and a fawn/mioget ewe. All yearlings.

This is the shaela ewe in the chute. She was one of my first that I put my hands on, and remained one of my top contenders all the way through to the end. Both her and mioget/fawn ewe are F2 Orion F3 Drum Ram and are actually 81.25% UK
Jim and Brandy no longer show their sheep. Nor do they advertise them. It seems most in the Northwest (and this is my opinion after seeing those sheep) prefer to 'breed for what they like' rather than what the Standard and the Shetland Isles are breeding for. Unfortunately for the Chastain's, this means lower sales each year. However.

Looking at these lambs I was just amazed as how solid they were! They would not sell any katmogets, and the kats sure look different than what i am used to seeing here, but they are katmoget nonetheless.


The black and katmoget lambs are out of Jim's Black F1 Orion/F2 Drum Ram pictured below. He is also the sire of my two colored ewes.
The black rams are both F1 Orion/F2 Drum Ram. The ram hiding in the back is the sire of my two colored ewes. The three white rams with big horns are all F1 Skeld, and the white ram with the smaller horns is the F1 Ridland ram. The white ewe I brought home is a daughter of his. I'm the only other person in the US with that blood line. Pretty cool huh?

The Chastain's were an amazing couple. Friendly, welcoming, full of knowledge that I soaked up like a sponge. They were so generous in their offering of MY PICK of their entire ewe flock, that I'll be forever grateful for that. So thank you Jim and Brandy! You have given me some great new sheep!

A pic from BSG

This was a great photo I found today in my email! Patricia Keeley (left) now lives in WA State and raises BFLs, but had raised Merinos with her husband in Nevada before they moved. I'm in the middle and on the right of the photo is Kathy Davidson. I'm pretty sure she knows, but Kathy ROCKS! I tell her all the time. She is one of my favorite sheep people and someone I highly respect and trust! Its always great catching up with her and I look forward to seeing them both again sometime soon!

Home again, Home again, jiggity, jig.

I just unloaded all of the new sheep/goats (mostly transported for other folks') in to quarantine pens until I can get them down to Heather Landin in Baldwin, WI. I was supposed to go today, but it took Emma and I THREE DAYS to get home due to tornadoes in Billings, MT and Miles City, MT. Heavy rain in Coer d'Alene, ID and that scary mountain pass, and rain so heavy in Bismarck, ND that we stayed over there for 4 hours in a motel room as we couldn't see the road, the lines on the road, the reflectors on the side of the road, or the hood of our truck.

I had a really fun time in BSG thanks to the BFL and Shetland people! While some avoided me like the plague(some Shetland folk), others were most welcoming. The best thing was I was not killed, injured, threatened, or beaten, so that was all I was hoping for :)

I did come home with FOUR new yearling ewes. The first ewe is 100% domestic and I've never seen such crimpy, soft, lusterous, silk, fine fleece. I was told her fleece was 5-6" long and she is the 'light badgerface' pattern I was searching for! And to boot she is moorit based. I can't wait to see if I can help save this very rare pattern in Shetlands. Her pedigree is quite short, and very old. her grandmother was 10 when she had her mother so you know its an old pedigree :0

The other three ewes are from a flock that I really admire. Two ewes are 81.25% UK, the third is 68.75% UK. The white ewe is the ONLY ewe that has this sire in her pedigree that is not on their farm. I'm stoked about the prospects of the new blood in my linebreed Orion/Jericho flock. I ended up with a white, a fawn (light moorit) and a shaela. They are everything I think of when I think of Shetlands in the SSS registry and I am very appreciative that I had the chance and bringing them to Minnesota :)

More later.

The tornado hit south of our house about 5 miles and my friend lost his home and his parent's barn with all their heifers in it. Wadena was hit terribly and 75% of my client base is in that town and I'm eager to help them clean up their yards.

More when I can.