update

This spring I moved 86 adult sheep (yearling or older) to the new place 10 miles away. Of those 86, I have 39 wintering this year. Of the 54 ewes that lambed, I have only 13 of those left. of the 18 rams, I will have 5. To say it was a year of downsizing, is no understatement. Although I tried diligently to keep ewes out of each of the ewes I sold, that did not always work. I hope that because I sold them to homes I know, i can someday get something back if i need to.

That being said I'll be breeding this fall:

Three yearling Leceister Longwools from Anne Campers flock in Montana. I purchased them last fall when I had plans of staying on my 32 acre place, but that sale fell through due to the seller, so I am where I am now because of that.

Four Blueface Leicester ewes, two yearlings, a four year old and a six year old. Thank you Nancy, Lisa and Brenda for these girls, again.

27 shetland ewes, with 2-4 ewes available as bred ewes this fall/winter, so I will lamb 23-25 Shetland ewes, totalling 30-32 ewes to lamb.

so in 2013 - 146 ewes lambed
2014 - 0 (i didnt know if i was moving or not)
2015 - 72 ewes lambed
2016 - 34 ewes lambed (i had a crossing ram who was sterile so had 18 ewes not lamb this year)
2017 - 49 ewes lambed

So it will be my lowest number of ewes lambing in quite some time. It will feel like a holiday!

Flock numbers for the 27 shetlands are averaged to this:

AFD 25.5, SD 4.9, CV 19.1, CEM 8.6, CF 80,6, SF 24.5, CRV 70.8

I am extremely happy with these numbers, and although i sold a lot of my best sheep, I have a nice mix that I've kept, plus ewe lambs to move forward with. 

That being said, I will have at least 10 ewes available next year after lambs are weaned. The list is subject to change, but this is what I am thinking:

WhitePine Versoix - 2016 - black gul/kat - Sommarang Luca x UnderTheSon Viva

WhitePine Bivina - 2012 -musket - WhitePine Caiphas AI x Owlhill Butter

WhitePine Neunkirch - 2016 -black gul/kat - Sommarang Luca x WhitePine Nina Sky AI

WhitePine Laga - 2015 -moorit - WhitePine Carver x WhitePine Lydia

WhitePine Nike - 2015 - moorit smirslet sokket - WhitePine Carver x WhitePine NinaSky AI

WhitePine Renens - 2016 -white - WhitePine Loki x Lancien Clarice

WhitePine Nidau - 2016 -white - WhitePine Loki x WhitePine Noss

WhitePine Yeshivas - 2016 - black light badgerface smirslet - Whistlestop 1123 x PS23Josey

I will also have an older ewe, UnderTheSon Viva, who I would like to find a good home for, or a breeding home that could use her another year or two. She's ridiculously soft and placed 2nd in her fleece class at MSBBA fleece show.

If you send a deposit now to hold a ewe, I will pay transfers, room/board and give a 10% discount.

I am hoping after the next week or two I will have time to get better photos of the ewes and the breeding groups.

WhitePine Crosby's Breeding group (4 of 6)

Crosby was a ram lamb that I really didn't want to part with when he was a lamb. Lori S. had inquired about a quality ram and i offered him to her with the agreement I get first refusal if she decided to move him on. After two years of using him, she asked me if I wanted him back and I jumped on it. His dam, ShelteringPines Classique, has a ewe family I've long admired, and his sire, Jazz is out of Todhill Jericho and a whistlestop ewe who has done a lot for fine fleece shetlands.

To boot, he carries spots, moorit and modified and has a lovely blue-gray fleece, which seems to be lacking in about half of the katmogets in the US. My plan was to use Crosby this fall and then slaughter him, but I may need to keep him around at least until his lambs start to develop. I have a lot of ewes with him, but two are here to be bred and two i'm hoping to offer as bred. So Crosby has 18 ewes.

UnderTheSon 14148 - fawn katmoget - is a yearling ewe from Theresa that I got as a lamb. Her fleece and conformation is quite incredible. she needs some more time to develop but she should finish maturing next year on the lush pastures.

PS23 Isadora and Lancien Athena are going to Iowa as bred ewes.

WhitePine Bivina - musket - is available as a bred ewe from this group. She produces large horned rams with great fleece, dense and crimpy.

Sommarang Isla - moorit/fawn - is available as a bred ewe from this group. Her ewe lambs in the past have been wonderful, with lines I like to work with. But shes moorit ;)

Sheltering Pines Bengal - gray katmoget (SP Starry Night x Underhill Alix) is a ewe I"ve love admired with lines that are easy to work with. She has produced three outstanding ewe almbs for me, so hoping for a horned ram from her this next year. She'll be 9 this next year but she is incredible soft, silky, crimpy and in great condition. I'm hoping with her blue/gray fleece as well as Crosbys that I"ll get more of it, but guessing she'll have nice stuff no matter the color.

Lancien Aida - white - (Lofty Pine's Krill Spot x Underihll Madame Butterfly) is another ewe I love for her lines, and how she has produced. She gave me twin rams this year so hoping for white ewe lambs out of this pairing. She'll be 8 next year so hoping for a few more productive years with her.

WhitePine Snow Patrol - gray katmoget horned (Jazz x ShelteringPines Snow Cloud) is a half sister to the ram, but both have the lovely blue gray fleece. Hoping for katmogets and maybe a horned ewe lamb to replace her, as Snow Patrol will be offered for sale next summer, as i've kept quite a bit from her.

WhitePine Aithsetter - gray katmoget smirslet (WhitePine Flo Rida AI x WhitePine Adele AI) She is one of my finest ewes and goes back to Greenholme Holly closely, one of the original rams imported and is out of Adele which is my finest ewe line. Her blue/gray fleece is again in hopes of lots of katmogetes.

WhitePine Lydia - gray katmoget (Jazz x Layla) is another half sibling but hoping to solidify the type and the dark blue/gray fleece of both parents. Lydia has repeatedly been a good producer so hoping for more katmogets next year.

WhitePine Nott - black - (UnderTheSon Duke Cardif x WhitePine Noche Bueno) is a very fine, black ewe with extreme crimp. She was so nice I had to keep her (and she's obnoxiously friendly). Hoping her dark fleece will produce more black like her or katmoget!

WhitePine Riko - gray katmoget (WhitePine City High AI x WhitePine Roseau) is a beautiful typey ewe with probably the best fleece I sheared in June. Just tickled with how well she's done in the show ring and so anxious to see her lambs with Crosby.

WhitePine Orthia - gray katmoget (WhitePine City High AI x Whistlestop 1234) is half sister to the above ewe with high UK bloodlines. She was FFSSA Champion in Colorado in June 2016 and placed 4th in Jefferson in a competitive yearling class, right behind Riko. They also helped me get best pair of ewe lambs in 2015, best small flock 2015, third place small flock 2016, and 2nd best fleeece on hoof 2015. So anything from this should also be nice :)

WhitePine Urd - gray katmoget (WhitePine City High AI x Shelterpines Amarige) is another half sister to above and I'm anxious to see what is produced. She has the length and luster and density i'm after, and extremely well marked.

WhitePine Laga - moorit (WhitePine Carver x WhitePine Lydia) is a typey moorit. hoping her dark fleece translates to dark katmoget lamb fleeces. Her fleece is ridiculously crimpy but looking to get a bit more length on it (its 3.5" full fleece)

WhitePine Atina - moorit (WhitePine Carver x WhitePine Adele AI) is another typey moorit who looks a lot like her mother. Very crimpy again, and hoping for more length. She's extremely fine.

WhitePine Eosha - musket yuglet flecket sokket (UnderTheSon Duke Cardiff x WhitePine Eureka) was a surprise when I got out to the lambing jug. Her fleece is extremely dense, extremely crimpy and everything about her is correct. I just wish for a bit silkier handle, so she's in here for that (and to see if I can get more spots)

WhitePine Juno - gray katmoget (WhitePine 1334 Perfection x ShelteringPines Bengal) is a dark blue/gray fleeced, dense ewe whos tame, typey and correct. Just excited to see what she produces.

Overall the group was put together to get more blue/gray katmogets that are correct and sound, typey and fine. I really don't think there is a ton to improve upon, just wishing for more of the same, but younger :)

KSpirit Farm Cedar's breeding group (group 3 of 6)

When Donna and I first started enabling each other a few years ago, she teased me with this horned gulmoget ram. Since most gulmogets with fine wool are polled, i was a bit skeptical over how much crimp or fineness or softness this ram would have. She sent me a sample last spring and I was really pleased with it. Well as enabling happens, she ended up getting one of my favorite ram lambs last year and it was agreed I'd get Cedar this year. We both know his horns are close (not touching) and that we would need to consider that, as well as keep back ram lambs with good horn spacing (not too wide, but not too close). I had planned on eating him after this years breeding groups, but he's pretty nice so will hold on to him to make sure we get something gulmoget with nicer horns.

There are 11 ewes in here but only 9 are mine/will be staying here.
WhitePine Des'ree is going to Iowa as a bred ewe, and GlenTam Ganymede is here to get bred. She's a knockout ewe, so honored they brought her here to be bred.

That leaves 9:

WhitePine Taconite - black gulmoget (OK Acres Cadillac x Black Forest Tilly). Throwing all my gulmoget chances to one breeding. Let's hope they produce them! She really produces.

WhitePine Ady - black light badger face (Whistlestop 1123 x FirthofFifth Ashegon). She is a great producer so whatever she throws will be nice.

WhitePine Pacena - musket - (FirthofFifth Nekomis x Owlhill Pranilla AI). She's a sweetie who also produces well.

Whistlestop 1241 "Heylor" - fawn/moorit (WS 1108 x WS 0922). constant producer of high quality modified sheep, i'm hoping for some lovely miogets or gulmogets from this.

WhitePine NinaSky AI - gray katmoget smirslet sokket (Todhill Jericho x ShelteringPines Nirvana). She's been a fantastic producer as well and so i'm hoping she'll really click with Cedar.

WhitePine Niamh - fawn (WhitePine Carver x WhitePine Neriah) is a beautiful yearling with the perfect fleece length, crimp, handle, silkiness, density. She's also friendly. Hoping she produces like her mom.

WhitePine Frigg - fawn smirslet sokket (WhitePine Carver x WhitePine Foley) is another yearling who really came in to herself this year. I'm excited to see if she'll produce some spotties or modifieds

WhitePine Kali - fawn (WhitePine Carver x WhitePine Isbister) is another beautiful yearling who really came in to her own this summer. she's a beautiful ewe and hoping for more greatness here.

WhitePine Adicia - fawn katmoget (WhitePine City High x WhitePine Aywick) is one of the typiest ewes i've had with phenominal looks and fleece from birth right on through to adulthood. I really wanted to put her in all four groups but had to make up my mind. Let's see some magic happen here too.

Overall the ewes in this group were put here for either more fleece length, more density or if nothing else, because they are great sheep and I hope for more modifieds (so I can offer them to friends who produce those colors more specifically)

In my quest to move out my moorit based sheep, Niamh, Frigg and Kali and 1241/Heylor, will be available midsummer of 2017. If you would like to put down a deposit, I would be happy to hold  them until that time for you.

2012 breeding groups Part 1

My deciding my groups every year is a big thing for me. Last year I wanted more moorit and more spots. I also wanted to continue with fine fleeces. Amongst other things of course. Every year my goal is the same, but how I approach it is a bit different.

This year, I am breeding for fine fleeced fully HORNED rams. I was unable to fill requests for horned ram lambs this year. I"ve also found that most breeders of Fine fleeced Shetlands are going polled, for various reasons. I love the polled lines, but realize we cannot ALL breed for polled rams or the diversity of the breed will be at stake.

I also was able to obtain two black Light Badgerface ewes and a black Light Badgerface ram from different lines and different flocks. Its my goal to maintain a diverse flock of Shetlands with ALL patterns, colors and horn expressions (rams and ewes).

I've pared down my ram breeding pens to 7 rams. They all exhibit fine fleeces, excellent conformation, a diverse amount of bloodlines (nearly every import ram is in at least one of the rams I'm using) and are fully horned. Some have produced horned ewes as well. And I've matched them by pedigree, color, fleece AND conformation. We'll see how well I did come spring time, but I get less and less 'throwbacks' every year.

Two of these rams will be available Thanksgiving Weekend. They are Jazz and Flo Rida. I also have several rams I am NOT using that are available now: Calvinus (gray katmoget, fully horned), Radler (black, scurred). They are my top picks from 2011 lambing crop but I am wanting to use other animals this year based on the above reasons. 

So without further ado:

Wintertime Jazz AI - 87.5% UK. Grade 1 ram. Last micron still under 25 AFD, CV 20.1 CEM 9.5. This boy is a spotted gray katmoget that throws blacks or katmogets and with our without spots when bred to spotted or spot carrying ewes. He has been used 3 breeding seasons so far and again has ewes put to him because he always improves what he is bred to. This year the roster is pretty nice so I'm expecting magic here. He's a mellow, respectful ram who continues to keep the 20 boys I have living together in harmony and stops fights before they start. I couldn't have asked for a better ram lamb when I picked him up!

The ewes:
OwlHill Butter - musket 72% UK -F1 Orion F2 Greyling. She's a deep bodied ewe with a very crimpy, soft and fine fleece. I retained her musket ewe lamb from last year.
Last micron AFD 22.7, SD 4.8, CV 21, CEM 8.6 CF 94.4 and SF 22.1

UnderTheSon Souchong - white 55% UK - horned. Another big bodied ewe with the most amazing set of horns for a ewe. She falls off after last rib so I'm hoping to fix that Jazz. He's produced horned ewes so I'm hoping this match is good for that, and I love the density and length of fleece that this ewe has. She's out of a ram I highly admire, UTS Broderick, and I'm hoping that this orion x jericho pedigree clicks like the rest of them here.

ShelteringPines Classique -  moorit smirslet ewe. (Fudge x V Creek Guinevere). Reserve Champion Shetland Ewe WSWF 2012. She really is the 'it' ewe for me. Density, body, fine bone, classic breed type. Her dam was a ewe i highly admired and I hope this breeding throws me some great lambs.

UnderTheSon Romie - gray ewe. She's from lines further back that I have nothing related to. She carries horned ram genetics and her body, density and wool on cheek/poll were reasons why I chose to take her and try her even though she isn't as fine as the rest of my stock. I really would love a deep bodied gray ewe like her out of this, with a finer fleece.

UnderTheSon Cassandra - moorit ewe. She is also from lines not super related to me, and carried horned ram genetics. If I got black ewes out of this pairing with Jazz's fleece, I'd be tickled.

WhitePine New Glarus - white ewe. WhitePine Roman AI x ShelteringPines Nirvana. She has scurs that keep breaking off. I love a lot about her and she has been a favorite of mine since she was born. Nirvana doesn't disappoint and I'm hoping her daughter won't either.

ShelteringPines Nirvana. horned gray katmoget ewe. Carries moorit and spots. Nirvana was always a favorite of mine at Stephen's house. She has produced twins every year here, and while this year she was put to the BFL, and gave me twin English Blue marked ram lambs, she has produced for me 5 Shetland ewe lambs that I admire so much. She was bred to Jazz's brother in the past (Blues) and loved those ewe lambs so hoping with Jazz it'll be a nice repeat (but maybe get horned ewes this time)

WhitePine Beyonce. She is double F2 Orion - Fawn ewe (Ephraim AI x Bethany AI). She also has a small krunet and again, getting black spotted ewes would be OK from this breeding. Love her fleece, her breed character and how dense/soft her fleece is.

WhitePine Asahi - moorit ewe (WhitePine Levi AI x FirthofFifth Ashanti). She carries spots and is a very dark moorit (from her grand sire Jamie), so again hoping for nice blacks from this and possibly spots.

-=-=-==- Excited yet? :)

WhitePine FloRida AI - fully horned gray katmoget - F1 Holly (Greenholme Holly x ShelteringPines Fleur de Lis). Dense, crimpy, fine, soft, with a very deep body, wide horns, dark katmoget markings and great rear on him. He is one of the last F1 Holly rams available anywhere in the USA, and is my last F1 Holly here. After using him I will have secured this line in my pedigree for sure (both Fleur and Holly lines. He'll be available (so will Jazz) Thanksgiving weekend.

His ladies:
WhitePine Norah Jones - gray katmoget (polled ewe) with a dark blue fleece. She produced well this year with his half brother Ludacris, so I'm hoping this time for a horned ram lamb to keep back :) Norah is F2 Jamie so I'm hoping the depth of color will follow suit as well.

WhitePine Rihanna AI- white ewe F1 Jamie (Willowcroft Jamie x FirthofFifth Rahu). Everything Rahu is, plus a finer fleece is exactly what I got here. Rihanna was my last Jamie straw and is my only F1 Jamie offspring. She produced amazingly well with Barnabas this past year so I'm hoping that bringing her to Flo Rida, she'll do it again. Perfect conformation and I love the mirkface she has.

WhitePine Adele AI - fawn F1 Orion (Heights Orion x FirthofFifth Ashanti). This is my number one ewe on the farm when going by fleece characteristics/numbers and I love that she has wool on the poll and cheeks. Most of mine have that, but hers is quite apparent. This will be her first breeding and I'm hoping for some incredible lambs out of this.

WhitePine Snow Patrol - horned gray katmoget ewe (Jazz x ShelteringPines Snow Cloud) is another wonderful katmoget ewe I have with fine fleece, nice conformation and depth of body. Also her first breeding I'm secretly hoping for more horned ewes.....

WhitePine Pacena - musket (FirthofFifth Nekomis x OwlHill Pranilla AI) F2 Greyling F3 Jericho. Extremely fine, dense, typey, crimpy and obnoxiously tame. I'd love another gray from this, but won't be picky :)

WhitePine Aaliyah AI - gray katmoget F1 Jericho (Todhill Jericho x FirthofFifth Ashegon). Also her first breeding, she is shorter in leg like her mother but more stout, deeper bodied and longer fleece than her dam. I'm excited to see what she might be able to produce.

WhitePine Noche Bueno - moorit F2 Holly/F3 Jericho. A slight line breeding and I want to see if Flo carries moorit. She is a VERY dark moorit and I hope that the concentration of Holly in these lambs will continue with the intensity of color. Super fine.

ShelteringPines Tresor - black (Fudge x Debonaire (Lambo daughter!). Another larger ewe with jet black flece and good conformation. Seriously anything out of this should be nice.

ShelteringPines Amarige - fawn katmoget (Fudge x Lil' Country Possum). Her mother was a favorite of mine too and Amarige does indeed carry the polled gene (two ram lambs born from a horned ram this year, one fully horned, one fully polled). She's also modified as the horned ram is/will be emsket. Her fleece is phenomenal. super fine, and I love her dark color. Who cares if they are double katmoget?! These lambs should be lovely.

OwlHill Miss Lilly - F1 Holly F2 Orion - polled black ewe. Another ewe who is for sure polled but is jet black and looks/feels very fine. her CEM is 7.1! She has produced some nice ram lambs in the past but hoping for a ewe lamb with intense dark moorit or black to it.

More breeding groups later. Must do some chores for now.

Barn Updates

As is the 'norm' around here, things continually change and I need to be ready for it when it happens. A few weeks ago I applied for a job with Washington State University. I planned on moving and needed to make the barns as efficient as possible for the sheep to stay at the farm over winter until I could afford to bring them out in the spring. That may be on hold for now, but in the mean time my barn is FINALLY becoming much more efficient :)

Something that I wanted to do for a few years was build a better way to feed my sheep. Round bales are terrible on the fleeces, I lose ear tags on some of the sheep, and unrolling them take a lot of time and I have to feed them outside in a pasture.

This is the lean to our old dairy barn. This alleyway is used about 90% of the time when entering the barn now so I needed to keep the space wide open. The plywood used for the small square bale flakes of hay is perfect.  They fit in there snugly against the metal hog panel and still allows me a clean, open, bright place to walk.

Inside the pen shows enough feeder space for the 60+ Shetland adult ewes that will be here over the winter. There is room to add three more 8 foot sections, giving me head space for 24 more Shetland adult ewes if I ever needed it.

Below is the south side (left side in photo above) showing some of the feeders.

A better close up below showing only the smallest holes in the hog panel exposed, while using lightweight plywood for the top. The hay all fits in there (more actually on the north side) and still there is room in the small trough for the beet pulp and hay chaff that falls down. No eating on the floor (unless they eat the bedding/oat straw). Little to no hay on their backs or the neighbors' backs.

Reinforced mineral tubs. The ewes kept rubbing their butts on them and breaking/snapping them off of the board they were on. This makes them much sturdier.

Above is the ewe lamb pen feeders that I am using for now. they were 55 gallon plastic drums that I cut in half and screwed on boards for the ends so as to not flip them over. They are lower, and easier for the lambs to eat out of so I am using them in their part of the barn.

Above and below, the girls are approving of the finished feeders.

Above is my home made chute system. This used to be the manger of the dairy barn where we fed the cows and walked with he wheelbarrow. It works nicely for the smaller sheep and I can get an entire system within an area that wasn't utilized before. The middle aisle is for myself. Its not the largest area but this allows me access to both sides of the chute and the digital scale is to the right where the plywood 'gates' slide up and down to allow a new sheep to enter or exit. I've not had any jump over it yet and its low enough I can access the sheep ear tags and check eyelids and worm if necessary.


And below are two samples of the new Whistlestop rams I described in my last post. The 'white' fleece is actually a light badgerface ram (black based) yearling ram that I am SO pleased I got. He is everything I'm looking for in a rams: fine fleece, conformation, horns (my preference only), rare color pattern, depth of body and capacity yet still fine boned, and some unrelated lines to work with. He's a yearling that I hope to use a LOT in the future.

The moorit fleece is of a ram lamb. I was able to go through Jim and Brandy's entire flock and take my pick of the lamb crop. There was a ram lamb with wider horns but this one was finer in my opinion. They will both be going to quite a few ewes in the next week or two.

Breeding Groups: Polled boys WhitePine Ludacris AI and WhitePine Levi AI

My two handsome smooth polled rams got several ewes each this year. While I am not specifically breeding for polled there is a large demand for polled stock. I have found about 12 ewes that are polled or have a good chance of producing polled offspring. Some of them I had to put with a horned ram in hopes of ewe lambs or horned ram lambs. There are not a ton of fine fleece breeders breeding for horns anymore and we can't have all of our fine fleeced stock only polled. Since polled is a dominant trait, in theory an entire flock could be homozygous polled in two generations. While I'm OK with polled breeding stock, I don't want it to take over my flock, so as I find ewes that throw polled ram lambs, I'll keep doing what I'm doing and keep both!

WhitePine Levi AI (Willowcroft Jamie x River Oaks Lucy) is a black krunet ram (warm black or shetland black I guess) with an extremely crimpy, lustrous, silky and dense fleece. He placed in the ribbons this year at WSWF under Kate and Alan and has produced lovely lambs for me the last two years.

He only got four ewes this fall:
RiverOaks Ginger - Moorit - is a yearling I bought from Becky U. this summer. She's not my biggest ewe, but I believe she is homozygous polled. I'm hoping for lovely moorit and black polled lambs.

FirthofFifth Kamachariy - fawn katmoget (Wintertime Black Forrest x FirthofFifth Koosi AI) is an F2 Jericho with some Dillon thrown in. She'a bit leggier than I like, but she produced a very correct and very fine fleeced ewe lamb that is now living with Kelly Bartels at OK Acres. I'm hoping to repeat the same results this next year and keep this one :)

Owl Hill Miss Lilly AI - black ewe (Greenholme Holly x Owl Hill Rose AI (Orion)) is a bit leggier as well, has produced moorit in the past and very crimpy, dense and fine handle. Anything should be nice out of this breeding

WhitePine Bethany AI - moorit ewe (Heights Orion x Justalit'l Black Lambo) is a lovely ewe but again seems a big leggy. has a fine fleece with very typey head and tail. She has produced lovely lambs for me both years so far so am excited to see what she produces with Levi.


Then we have WhitePine Ludacris Ai (Greenholme Holly x River Oaks Lucy). As you can tell Levi and Ludacris are half brothers from unrelated sires. Ludacris had a complete white necklace around him at birth and tiny flecks of white across his poll and forehead. I can only see them now when he is shorn. He has a very dense, crimpy and silky fleece. Kate and Alan's favorite of the group of rams. he only got 3 ewes though. All very worthy girls I might add!

FirthofFifth Rahu - white illget (Wintertime Black Forrest x RYL Rachildas). I believe she is homozygous black but I hope to find out with this breeding. She is very silky and crimpy but her micron dictates otherwise. Thank goodness I don't use only the microns but use them as a tool! After four years of lambs she gave me a polled ram out of Nekomis this year and so she goes to the polled ram groups this fall. she is a real producer and i'm lucky to have her.

WhietPine Norah Jones - gray katmoget (WhitePine Levi AI x WhitePine Neriah) she is a stunner of a yearling and its a linebreeding but one I'm very excited about. I like everything about this ewe so look forward to their lambs.

RiverOaks Freya - black gulmoget from Becky U.'s flock. She could be homozygous black, but she does not have any side dusting. She is also constantly bleating at me for I have no idea why. She even yells at me with her mouth full eating hay, or even when trying to drink water. She must not like it here, but maybe after she lambs here it will be better!?! She has a very lovely crimpy and dense fleece and could also be homozygous polled.

I think that is it for my purebred groups. I won't bore you with the crossbred groups but I have put a ton of my Shetland ewes over the BFL ram and the Finn ram in hopes of faster growing lambs for market (and for more Mules from the BFL for me to retain). I'm trying to grow my crossbred flock so the fastest way to do that was to use 20 Shetlands this fall on the BFL and Finn. I'll keep you posted as to how that goes!

Breeding Groups: WhitePine Barnabas AI

Last year I used Barnabas on a select group of girls. I was so impressed with his get, that I had to use him again. Even though I'm awash in katmogets, I needed to use him. Kate and Alan were impressed with him as well and told me to use him heavily.

Barnabas is F1 Orion F2 Timothy and has a pinch of greyling WAAAAAY back there. He's Scrapie 171 QR, microned mid side at AFD 22.3, SD 5.3 and CF of 94%. He carries solid and has thrown modified lambs. I'm on the fence about his horns as he produced scurred ram lambs so his horns may be aberrant, but I'm still not decided on them.

All these ewes have nice fleeces so if they become slightly finer I'm all for it. I'm looking for the ewes to improve on his slight 'in at the knees' and solidify their other strong traits, as well as his virtues. its all about fine tuning. And my lambs every year seem to be better. fingers crossed.

WhitePine Terah - black ewe (UnderTheSon Arapaho x Black Forest Tilly) is a jet black ewe with loads of breed type. Her AFD is 24.7, SD 5.2 but I would like to see more organized crimp. Barnabas should improve on that. If they produced rich dark moorits I'd be happy too.

WhitePine Ciara - white ewe (WhitePine Roman AI x WhitePine Castle Rock) is Orion/Jericho blended. She's a nice ewe with a lot to offer, density, crimp, breed type, silkiness etc. I'm just excited about some nice lambs.

WhitePine Centennial - gray katmoget (Wintertime Jazz AI x Justalit'l Chloe). I've found the Orion lines blend well with Jericho in my experiences, so I'm hoping for nice things here. They both carry solid so solid lambs would be gravy.

WhitePine Blu Cantrell - gray katmoget smirslet (Todhill Jericho x Justalit'l Black Lambo) This pairing could be dynamite and the chance of double katmogets too but if they are nice who cares!

OwlHill Pranilla - gray ewe (Enfield Greyling x OwlHill Rose AI). She is greyling/orion and I think the linebreeding on orion could be special. More grays or muskets would be ok too.

FirthofFifth Ashegon - moorit (Wintertime Blues x FirthofFifth Ashanti) the mother to the Grand Champion ram as WSWF this year (Avyt). She's a smaller ewe but produced dynamite last year when bred to Barnabas (they gave me a moorit ewe lamb). I"m hoping to repeat it again.

Black Forest Tersk - moorit gulmoget (WhitePine Ephraim AI x FirthofFifth Towanda) carries spots but I'm really just wanting a few more moorit gullies with a finer lock structure.

ShelteringPines Tresor - (Wintertime Fudge x ShelteringPines Debonaire) black ewe. Any of Stephen's stock is phenomenal conformationally and I'm just lucky to have her :). Tresor goes back to lambo and I can see it in her face.

ShelteringPines Cabotine - mioget smirslet sokket (Wintertime Fudge x ShelteringPines Ceylon). I'm pumped to see if Barnabas carries spots, and hope for some modfied lambs here. Anything again will be good from this pairing.

WhitePine Rihanna - white mirkface (Willowcroft Jamie x FirthofFifth Rahu). My only F1 Jamie ewe, she IS white, but she carries that gorgeous dark moorit fleece of Jamie's. I'm excited to see what she produces. She is a brick house, and my pick ewe lamb from 2010.

Breeding Groups: WhitePine Christian

In my third group I'm blogging about there is a huge desire for black and moorit lambs that are NOT modified and are NOT going to sun bleach on the tips. I put my best fleeced ewes with Christian as he has near perfect conformation, carries moorit, should NOT carry spots and has nice spiraling horns. Everything I wanted in the first two groups (spots, modified, etc) are NOT being wanted in this group. Yep. I want it all. I want every color, every pattern, with fine fleece, polled or horns, and great conformation on a Shetland with primitive (unimproved) characteristics like, hardy, good mothering etc.

Christian has a 5"+ fleece, nice black color, and very typey Shetland characteristics. His last fleece test was AFD 23.0, SD 5.4, CEM of 9.6 and CF of 92%. He is out of UnderTheSon Arapaho and WhitePine Centennial (Jazz x Chloe). He carries dark moorit which i hope I can get.

WhitePine Rush: white ewe (FirthofFifth Aman AI x RYL Rachildas) needs a bit straighter rear with more breed type (her ears are a bit pointy and stand more upright than I like.) Her fleece is ok but could be finer. I'm being extremely hard on the ewes. I'm my worst critic.

WhitePine Lydia: gray katmoget smirslet (Wintertime Jazz x Winter Sky Layla). Lydia is a double F2 (Jericho/Orion) and is my best ewe in terms of fleece (AFD 24.4, SD 3.9, CV 15.8, CEM 6.7 and SF of 22.8. I'm just expecting the best from this mating.

OwlHill Butter: musket (OwlHill Xavier AI x OwlHill Rose AI) Greyling/Orion genetics and her lambs have really impressed me. She's a bit leggier and longer than I personally favor, but excited to see what I get. An Ag gray ewe lamb would be ok with this pairing but anything would be nice!

FirthofFifth Koosi: gray katmoget (Todhill Jericho x Justalit'l Chloe) is a homozygous katmoget with lower stature (i find this true of the entire Jericho line). She is an average sized ewe (74 pounds) and has a fine fleece, but I would wish for a longer staple length from this mating.

FirthofFifth Blottir: gray katmoget (Wintertime Black Forrest x Minwawe Boppitty) is a very fine fleeced ewe. She is longer on leg like many of the Forrest offspring and a slightly longish tail. I'm looking to lengthen her staple length and pray for moorit lambs (both she and Christian carry moorit)!

WhitePine Neriah: gray katmoget smirslet (Wintertime Blues x ShelteringPines Nirvana) is fine fleeced ewe with 5-6" crimpy staple length. AFD 23.3 SD 5.5 with a CEM of 9.8. Looking now I'm not sure what i was hoping to improve on her with Christian, except perhaps to see if she is double katmoget or double black. At any rate her lambs will be great I am thinking.

ShelteringPines Amarige: fawn katmoget (Wintertime Fudge x Lil'Country Possum) is a nice addition to this group. Size, fineness of fleece with proper tip, I have loved her mother Possum since I met her years ago at Stephen's farm. I'm anxious to see if this breeding happens or if she is bred to Stephen's ram.

Breeding Groups: Crosswinds Apollo

Crosswinds Apollo is a moorit flecket ram lamb out of FirthofFifth Avyt and Crosswinds Mountain Laurel. he is most likely modified and I fell in love with him at birth. I pretty much tried stealing him every chance I could get and when Jefferson came around I was tickled that the option of me REALLY taking him back with me was happening!. I had to pinch myself.The photos below are from a few months back at his place of birth. I need to get updated photos.

Apollo got 8 ewes. Apollo is most likely modified and most of his girls are modified or spotted, so this group should give me great lambs. Apollo is a Forrest grandson and his grandmother is Ashegon, who I have, so he's related to some of the sheep here but am excited nontheless!

WhitePine Skor (FirthofFifth Telmo don Bourbon x FifthofFifth Assam Meleng)- shaela ewe. Could carry spots. She does carry moorit. She is the only lamb left from my first year of lambing. I love her color want more of it. I'm hoping to add more crimp and more consistent from front to back.

Wintersky Layla AI (Heights Orion x Underhill Loretta Lynne)- mioget horned ewe. Could carry spots. I'm hoping for something modified with fine fleece.

WhitePine Sedalia -(Wintertime Jazz AI x Minwawe Sterling) smirslet sokket gray katmoget. One of my favorites. Curious to see if she carries moorit. Fleece and spots will be abundant I'm assuming from this breeding.

WhitePine Eiffel 65 (Wintertime Jazz x Sommarang Emerald) smirslet sokket flecket gray katmoget. Her fleece, conformation and type are just awesome. I just want spotted babies (and to see if she carries moorit)

WhitePine Nina Sky (Todhill Jericho x ShelteringPines Nirvana) bleset sokket gray katmoget who carries moorit. She is a gorgeous ewe who is easy on the eyes. She produced magic when bred to Caiphas (F1 Holly) this past year (remember she jumped the fence to be with him for a JUNE lamb?!) These lambs should not disappoint.

WhitePine Naomi (Wintertime Blues AI x ShelteringPines Nirvana) fawn katmoget smirslet, quite related to Nina Sky above but totally different 'look' to her...shorter in leg, wider, deeper bodied and her fleece is a more bold crimp. She produced wonderfully when bred to Barnabas (Orion) this year so eager to see what Apollo can do to her.

FirthofFifth Basotho (WhitePine Ephraim AI x FirthofFifth Blottir) gray katmoget yearling who grew amazingly well this year. she could be modified (its hard to tell on a lot of the kats) but for sure carries modified and moorit. Gorgeous ewe with lots of breed character and typical Shetland fleece.

FirthofFifth Anki (Wintertime Black Forrest x FirthofFifth Ashanti) smirslet black gulmoget. I wanted some moorit gulmogets please! More organized crimp would be a bonus too. And spots. Hey I'm not picky.

This group excites me, just as Cadillac's did. I don't expect any bad surprises out of either of these groups and the hard work of honing in on what I like and what I see in the UK is happening here. I can't wait to show you photos of the lambs from these matings.

Breeding Groups: Ok Acres Cadillac

The groups have been in since October 16th. The last few days has seen a flurry of flirty ewes and rams that pace the fence lines to other pens with girls in season. I have quite a few pens again after swearing I wouldn't breed this many this fall but after Kate Sharp and Alan Hill's visit after the Jefferson show, I was pretty eager to breed more :)

I ended up getting two spotted moorit ram lambs at Jefferson. They both have a mixed bag of ewes. I was having a hard time finding a moorit ram, and a spotted ram, and this year I found two very deserving ones that Kate and Alan really liked.

Ok Acres Cadillac (ShelteringPines Bug x Sheltering Pines Ceylon) got 10 ewes.

WhitePine Salome (Wintertime Jazz x ShelteringPines Snow Cloud) is a black yuglet sokket flecket horned ewe. I of course was hoping for spotted lambs (and to see if Salome carried moorit) and more definintion of crimp as Salome has unorganized crimp. She microned around 25 AFD and SD of 5.5

WhitePine Nivea (Todhill Jericho x ShelteringPines Nirvana) is a gray katmoget smirslet. She could be bred to any of my rams and give me awesome lambs (i would hope) but again put her here to see if she produces spots and moorit. Kate loved this ewe every time she saw her.

WhitePine Faith (Wintertime Jazz x Minwawe Flopsy) is a krunet, sokket gray katmoget ewe with a white tail. I'm expecting spots and fine, crimpy fleece from this pairing.

BlackForest Tilly (Wintertime Black Forrest x FirthofFifth Twiling) is a black gulmoget who carries moorit. I'm not sure if she carries spots, but we'll find out! She oozes breed type but lacks the lock structure I'm after so she is here in hopes of getting that Shetland character.

FirthofFifth Sukhada (Wintertime Black Forrest x FirthofFifth Soleit) is also a black gulmoget without side dusting or very visible eye flashes. She carries moorit and solid, but again checking for spots and a longer staple length in this pairing.

FirthofFifth Ashanti (Wintertime Black Forrest x Yuletide Angel) is  moorit smirslet. This pairing better give me moorit spotted lambs! haha. Ashanti is a great ewe with lots of descendants in this flock from her. Anything she gives me should be great.

BlackForest Andalusian (WhitePine Ephraim AI x FirthofFifth Anki) is an emsket (whole color, modified black, not Ag) with length, tippiness and gorgeous steele blue coloring, but not enough crimp definition. I'm hoping for modified lambs out of this mating with more crimp. maybe spots too.

WhitePine Festus (Wintertime Jazz x ShelteringPines Fleur de Lis) black krunet ewe. I would like more lock character here as well (my blacks seem to have more disorganized crimp than my other colors). She has nice fleece length, tippy fleece, breed type, and would like to see if she carries moorit and will throw some spots.

BlackForest Tokhara (WhitePine Ephraim AI x FirthofFifth Towanda). Tokhara is a lovely fawn/light moorit color who carries spots. I'm in need of more moorit based ewes so am excited about what they can produce together.

ShelteringPines Mademoiselle (Wintertime Fudge x Underhill Amethyst) is a fawn katmoget who carries spots and has the most amazing fleece. This is a win:win pairing. Then again all of these matings should be hopefully fantastic!

New Scale and Chute System

Photos will be forthcoming :)

I am now able to run the sheep through the chute system myself wihout assistance. The chute is home made, but it works pretty slick! The scale is so helpful because 'eye balling' a sheep for its weight can't be done effectively and correctly all the time.

The average weight of my mature ewes (2 years and older) was 82.4 pounds. The Shetland Sheep description states ewes can be up to 99 pounds in the south of England where grain and grass is plentiful. Since my sheep are grass fed and not fed grain, having two ewes at 95 and 96.5 pounds was surprising to me. I did have some ewes around the 60-65 pounds as well, so I guess I have the whole spectrum of size in my flock. Another time I can use the term 'diversity' :)

Lambs were weighed and I was pleased to see my Mules and terminal lambs weighed 55-70 pounds. I have some orders from friends for grass fed lamb and I ate quite a bit myself this year so will hold back everything for myself and friends' orders.

I am putting my breeding groups together when I return from my Michigan trip. I guess it looks as though I"ll have 9 breeding groups again this fall. Three are for crosses:  A BFL ram to my three BFLs and 20 Shetlands. A Finn ram to 10 Shetlands and some of my Mules, and my Leicester Longwool to my LL ewe and a few of my Mules.

I'll be using 6 Shetland rams: Crosswind Apollo (spotted modified moorit) will get 10-12 ewes, OK Acres Cadillac (spotted modified moorit) will get 10-12 ewes, White Pine Barnabas (modified moorit katmoget) will get 6-8 ewes, WhitePine Chrisitan will get 4-6 ewes, WhitePine Levi will get 6-8 and WhitePine Ludacris will get 6-8.

Well as of today. We all know we change our mind at the last minute :)

74 Shetland ewes will be bred this fall, 11 Mules, 3 BFLs and a LL. I'm holding back 12 ewe lambs and not breeding 8 yearlings that I think are too small. We shall see if this holds true the day i put groups together :)

Ewes available for leasing

Last year I leased 18 ewes out to other people for purebred lamb breeding. Since my flock is in the Scrapie program as well as tested negative for OPP, Johne's, CL and BTv, I want to make sure that that stays that way. Since I have a plethora of ewes, and am not going to be breeding them all pure this year for myself, I was going to use them fro crossbreeding for mules or other crosses for market lambs. Last year every ewe except one that i offered for lease was leased out so only had one ewe bred for mules last year.

This works for people who want to utilize the sheep and bloodlines that I have, but I'm not quite willing to sell them yet :)

Below is a list of the ewes available for leasing for this fall. They can be bred to any of my rams for a $35 breeding fee, plus $130 for feeding/boarding them. More details are available privately.

Ewes:
ShelteringPines Nirvana - horned gray katmoget. I have five of her daughters and a ram.
Sommarang Eva - gray katmoget. lovely ewe, I have three of her daughters
RiverOaks Lucy - gray katmoget poll carrier, I have two of her sons.
FirthofFifth Booto - fawn katmoget , probable poll carrier. Very typey ewe.
ShelteringPines Myra - fawn katmoget - deep bodied ewe that really produces. I've kept back two of her rams and she is very breed typical
ShelteringPines Nessebar - gray kat smirslet - deep bodied ewe who had amazing lambs when bred to Nekomis last year. I wish all my ewes looked liked this
RYL Rachildas - white/Ag ewe. Carries spots. homozygous black. has improved under ever ram I"ve used her on.
Justalit'l Chloe - homozygous fawn katmoget. She is one of my foundation ewes. I've kept everything out of her
FirthofFifth Taika - longer fleeced with more tip, carries moorit and spots. Produced some lovely lambs
ShelteringPines Fleur de Lis - smirslet gray katmoget. Lovely ewe that produces well. I've retained all her lambs
RiverOaks Eliza - white ewe - carries moorit and spots. She had awesome lambs this year when she was leased out to someone else.
FirthofFifth Tamarack - moorit gulmoget. she had lovely lambs out of Jazz last year
WSR Alisa - moorit light badgerface from Oregon.
Whistlestop Yuma - fawn ewe from Jim Chastain's flock
Whitestop Zariah - shaela ewe from Jim's flock
Whistlestop Xena - white ewe from Jims. F2 Ridland, very rare new bloodline Jim brought in.


Any of these ewes can be bred to any of the rams listed on my Current Rams page of the blog. Please inquire!

Breeding Groups and Sheep Breeding

Yesterday I put the clean up ram WhitePine Caiphas (F1 Holly horned gray katmoget) in with all the Shetland mature ewes. Having never been with ewes before and nearly two years of age I didn't know if he'd know enough to breed anyone, but within moments WhitePine Naomi was batting her eyelashes and standing for him. I've never witnessed a mating between sheep before. I honestly thought the up until now that the stork brought them as I never witnessed it.

Now I know why!

It lasted an entire 5 seconds, twice. Last year Naomi was a lamb and she didn't cycle apparently when I had her in with her ram of my choosing. Not odd as many lambs don't cycle at all their first year, or cycle late. This year she was with Barnabas, but apparently she is a slow/late cycler again and so now I'll have a May lamb for sure. Yippee.

I was unable to find a way to the Bluff Country to pick up another Texel ram so my 5 mules and one unregistered Shetland ewe, and the three mule ewe lambs that were to go with him I finally just put in with Burma the NC BFL and the 10 BFL ewes. If my white BFL ram lamb Wycliffe missed anyone in the purebred BFL group, Burma will get them, along with the mules and crosses. Better late than never. And no Texel crosses for next year, but I'll make sure to be better prepared then.

I had separated out the Shetland ewe lambs in to two groups today. Breedable size and 'too small to compete today' size. I was going to put my other F1 Holly, a bielset moorit smooth polled ram lamb named Ludacris in with the larger sized girls, but then decided reasonably that I am crazy to want 10-15+ more ewes lambing in MAY after my initial 65+ in March/April and then the Burma group later. Reason finally won over.

I really wanted the Brits to see lambs out of the F1's and may change my mind tomorrow but if I don't decide soon, it will be way too late and I don't want tiny lambs come next fall that I can't breed or sell that are of any iffy size.

Always rambling. And still waiting for snow here in the deeply frozen MN country.

Breeding groups in and ramblings!

Every year my lambing dates have to be around the Cardigan Welsh Corgi Club of America's National Specialty. I am usually gone for 10-12 days that include the days spent driving. This year it is in Houston Texas and I am planning on doing agility and rally with Sadie and conformation shows with Ell, Ava, Ballantyne and maybe even Brewer. But this is not a dog blog so I'll end that here :)

The BFL ram lamb Wycliffe was put in with all 10 ewes on Sunday the 10th. All of the Shetlands were put in their groups this evening after work. I of course did a few last minute additions. :)

ShelteringPines Nessebar (ShelteringPines Starry Night x ShelteringPines Morgan Le Fey) was put in with FifthofFifth Nekomis.

WhitePine Skor (FirthofFifth Telmo Don Bourbon x FirthofFifth Assam Meleng) a shaela, was put in with WhitePine Levi. Skor 'COULD' carry polled, but I really was wanting some more solid colored lambs that weren't patterned :)

Lambs 'could' start March 9th but of course give or take a few days. I'm hoping to have them in with the rams for only 29 days.

While I was sorting through the ewe lambs (over 30 of them) I found it more and more difficult to decide who stays. Some were longer legged and longer bodied. Some were shorter legged, wider and more stout. All the fleeces were great on the ewe lambs I'm retaining.

Some of the ewe lambs are too small to even consider breeding, and I hate to even think of breeding MORE than the 30+ ewes especially considering I personally don't need more than what I have ;)

But I see the fleeces on these ewe lambs and I melt. Some are very UK crimp already 3"+, others are crimpy at the base but have more tip and are already 4-5".

I'm pretty sure none of the ewe lambs will cycle early, but the desire to see results faster with these F1 ewe lambs or double F2 ewe lambs is really tempting me. And not all of the girls, but just the biggest ones.

My digital camera screen is still broken. It still takes photos but its almost like an old 35mm camera. You don't know what it looks like until you go tot he house to develop them. And trying to get a single good photo of a sheep is nearly impossible WITH a screen that works! I need to get a new camera...they keep getting better and cheaper at the same time! I need to take photos. You guys would all love what you see!

The Texel and his ewes will go in this weekend. Same for Burma and the Shetland ewes to make mules.

Enough for now!

Jazz's breeding group

Wintertime Jazz AI (F1 Jericho) out of Whistlestop 0427 Izzy, is 87.5% UK. Ab/Aa, BB/BB, Ss/Ss. His 3rd fleece micron is still very respectable for North American Shetlands and well within breeding rights!

OwlHill Butter - musket - 82+% UK F2/F3 Orion, F2Greyling etc. Butter had a gorgeous musket smirslet sokket ewe lamb out of Shirehill Minder this year and I hope to breed magical lambs like her with Jazz.

WhitePine Charity - F2 Timothy F3 Jericho etc - gray katmoget (Barish x Castle Rock). This gorgeous katmoget girl is getting put to Jazz. He is her grandsire but I think this linebreeding will prove interesting. She could be Ab/Ab BB/BB but who cares when she's awesome! :)

Whistlestop Yuma - F2 Orion F2 Skeld F3/F3 Jings, F3 Drum Ram etc. 80%+ UK. She's a bigger girl who is fawn, very solidly built with a very dense fleece. I think I'll like these lambs. A lot.

WSR Alisa - moorit light badger face. 99% DOMESTIC. Alisa is the ultimate in what a domestic ewe can look like when bred with specific goals and to the standard. Her current fleece length is not any longer than my other kindly fleeced animals and looks a lot like what Bill Stearman has with his Dailley ewes that he has. I am hoping for fleece improvement first of all with this breeding but also hoping to tease out some LBF in the black colors as well. She's also a bigger girl and excited to see what she produces.

Other ewes getting bred to Jazz:

FirthofFifth Sukhada - black gulmoget (Forrest daughter)

Black Forest Tamarack - moorit gulmoget

Sommarang Emerald - black flecket

Wintertime Galina - black gulmoget

FirthofFifth Booto - fawn katmoget (F1 Timothy)

FirthofFifth Anki - smirslet black gulmoget

RYL Rachildas - white illget

WhitePine Candace - F1 Holly fawn katmoget smirslet

RiverOaks Eliza - white

WhitePine Eve - mioget F1 Orion

Nekmosis' breeding group

Nekomis is from Cynthia's farm. He is out of Jazz's twin brother Blues and Bramble Nadeen. He'll get a fair share of girls this fall as I'm really excited about using him on Jazz daughters down the road.

OwlHill Pranilla - F1 Greyling F2 Orion Gray (Ag) ewe. She carries moorit and solid and is 75% UK. She's fantastic.

FirthofFifth Rahu - Forrest daughter out of RYL Rachildas. She carries solid and is structurally on point. All her offspring are great. Her daughter this year out of Willowcroft Jamie is just breathtaking.

ShelteringPines Myra - Fawn katmoget (Sheltering Pines Starry Night x Canosia Farm May). She carries solid, modified and spots. Her offspring have been stellar. This pairing should not disappoint. Her only fault is her slighly longer tail (however still proportionate and fluke shaped)

WhitePine Salome - yuglet sokket horned black ewe. Jazz x Sheltering Pines Snow Cloud (Snowy daughter). Salome for a black really is amazing. And she's horned. And spotted. Such a diverse flock that I have.

WhitePine Terah - black. UnderTheSon Arapaho x Black Forest Tilly. Again for a black she is incredible. She carries moorit recessively. I'm hoping for solid lambs out of this pairing. Structure is awesome.

Whistlestop 0935(Xena) - white - F2 Ridland, F2 Skeld F3/F3 Jings F4 Gordon. She'll be bred to Nekomis. They are both shorter in leg but very stout animals (while still being fine boned and nimble). Excited to see what comes of this breeding.

Whistlestop 0914 (Zariah) - shaela- F2 Orion, F3 Drum Ram F3 Skeld. A super friendly, stucturally correct, larger ewe, this breeding should maybe tease out some solid lambs? Here's hoping.

Barnabas' Breeding Group

Barnabas is a 76% UK F1 Orion F2 Timothy (and greyling waaaay back) out of FirthofFifth Booto. he is a mioget katmoget that carries spots. He wasn't used last year, but will get 9 ewes this fall. Perfect horns and conformation, he also is a mellow boy. Yes he's getting a lot of katmoget ewes. I don't care about the pattern! I just want nice fleece, nice conformation! pattern is so secondary!

RiverOaks Lucy. Yes she is a proven poll carrier. However both polled rams I have are her sons, so I'm going to breed her to Barnabas in hopes of getting a Aa/Aa EWE lamb! She hasn't given me a ewe or a katmoget yet, so we'll see what shakes out.

WhitePine Sedalia. Another favorite ewe. She's hard to fault. spotted. fine fleece. stellar conformation. tame. These lambs will be terrific.

WhitePine Rush. F2 Orion white ewe. her lamb out of Jazz this year was gorgeous, so i'm going to try to get something moorit based out of her this year with Barnabas.

Sommarang Eva. minder/timothy lines. gray katmoget. conformation is awesome. Fleece is lovely. I'm hoping to make it more fine by breeding her to this ram. Hoping she carries moorit!

WhitePine Faith - krunet sokket gray katmoget. Jazz daughter. she's a huge improvement on her mom Minwawe Flopsy. Faith carries moorit and has an ultra fine fleece. Conformation is wonderful.

White Pine Naomi - fawn katmoget - Blues x Nirvana. She's more stout than her twin or mother Neriah/Nirvana, but I love her look. Another great match i think.

ShelteringPines Fleur de Lis - smirslet gray katmoget. She was bred to Holly last year and to Jazz the year before. All her lambs are just awesome. Bred to Orion lines should be wonderful.

FirthofFifth Ashegon - moorit. This feminine girl is getting bred to Barnabas in hopes of solid moorit lambs. Their body style and type is similiar and She hasn't been bred to the Orion line yet. I'm eager to see what this breeding produces.

WhitePine Centennial. gray katmoget (Jazz x Chloe). She was bred to an F2 Orion two years ago which gave me a gorgeous black ram, and last year bred to Timothy gave me a gorgeous black ewe lamb. I know she carries moorit so third times is the charm!

Roman's breeding group

Roman is my F1 Orion yearling ram out of RYL Rachildas. He has the nicest fleece out of any of Rachildas' offspring here and he will be used on a select few girls. I'd use him much more but he IS white, and I don't want an entire white flock!

Sheltering Pines Nirvana - an Underhil Thelonius Monk daughter out of ShelteringPines Modron. Nirvana carries moorit, solid and spots. She is also horned. She's one of my favorite girls. Very improveable when bred to the Jericho lines. Conformation is spot on.

WhitePine Neriah - Nirvana's daughter out of Blues. Neriah was born spotted, not sure if she carries solid or moorit though. She was bred to Levi last year and she had a knock out ewe lamb (gray kat of course!)

WhitePine Festus - Jazz x Fleur De Lis - black krunet. She's a yearling black with great conformation. I'm hoping she carries moorit and Roman throws his moorit solid gene here too!

Polled Breeding Group plans

I am excited to use my F1 Jamie boy WhitePine Levi this fall on all the poll carrier and poll suspect ewes. Levi is a black krunet smooth polled ram out of Willocroft Jamie and River Oaks Lucy (Dillon and Holly lines). He is almost 64% UK, fine fleece, with good conformation and personality. Carries moorit and spots.

He will get:

FirthofFifth Koosi - F1 Jericho - gray katmoget. Koosi was bred to Heatheram Lightning last year and gave me a poll carrying ram lamb with long scurs. She is homozygous katmoget but carries moorit so could get either black or moorit based katmogets.

Justalit'l Black Lambo - (Holly and Timothy lines) - black ewe. Lambo has given her stamp to the breed with lots of descendants, and improvable fleece. She carries moorit and spots and has been bred in the past to Dillon, Orion and Jericho for AI. She has not dissappointed. Aa/Aa babies.

FirthofFifth Ashanti - moorit smirslet. She is a Forrest daughter out of Bramble ewe lines. This past fall I bred her to Orion and I got a gorgeous moorit krunet and a mioget. Both ewe lambs. I could get some pretty spotted babies (and Aa/Aa babies!)

OwlHill Miss Lilly - black ewe who carries spots. F1/F4 Holly F2 Orion. Lilly gave me a mioget smirslet ram lamb out of Orion this year. She is a proven poll carrier and I'm excited to see what Levi and her can produce. All Aa/Aa lambs.

WhitePine Bethany - F1 Orion fawn ewe. Bethany is Lambo's daughter and I'm eager to see what the Orion influence will do with Lambo's lineage. Again only Aa/Aa lambs.

FirthofFifth Blottir - gray katmoget. Another Forrest daughter who is half siblings with Barish and Booto on the dam's side. She may carry spots, modified and moorit but hard to say. Aa/Aa or Ab/Aa lambs.

FirthofFifth Kamacheriy - fawn katmoget. She really is my favorite ewe. Body capacity, structure, fleece. She was bred to Eprhaim this year and had a scurred ram lamb. She's a proven poll carrier and so Levi was an obvious choice. Another Forrest daughter out of Koosi, she also will be an exciting one to see bred to Levi.

FirthofFifth Agio - yuglet sokket black gulmoget. Sweet personality and dynamite fleece, this ewe really is perfection. Bred to Levi I can hardly wait to see what she has next spring.

I could put a lot of ewes with him just to improve conformational points, or fleece, but we'll use him just on poll carrier ewes this year and see what he produces. This last year he was used as a clean up ram and the lambs were structurally amazing, and most had wonderful fleeces.

Leasing Option

I decided that perhaps the ewes I weren't going to use personally would benefit others. I created a 'leasing option' for several ewes that would keep the ewes on my property. I would house them and feed them for the winter. At 12 weeks of age, the lambs would be picked up by the lease person(s) and the ewes would remain in my custody, both in physical self and by pedigreed ownership.

In essence you would be buying the lambs, regardless of the sex/color/number of them. This helps other breeders out without having to buy the ewe, and you can utilize my ram stock. This also helps me as I get to see if those breedings were beneficial and can use the ewes the following year based a lot on their offspring from this leasing agreement. This also maintains my OPP/Johne's/CL/BTV free flock and doesn't introduce any new sheep.

Rules:
1. ewe is bred to ram of your choice that i currently have on the farm.
2. ewe remains in my posession and I am responsible for all feed, worming, and lambing of the ewe
3. Person who leases the ewe would pay room/board AND a breeding service fee.
4. All lambs from leased ewe would be property of the person who leases the ewe.

Contact me in the next few days for more information. I'm putting most of my groups together this weekend.