Finally. some photos

Coming up for air...and i know you want to see some photos :) only three ewes left to lamb :) never will I again breed this early, OR this late :)

This white ewe lamb is out of WhitePine Roman (F1 Orion) and ShelteringPines Nirvana. I hope to God she is horned. She has a pink nose :) My first in a white :) And she is the blending of two of my favorite ewes....Rachildas and Nirvana. The perfect blend. She's a keeper :)
WhitePine Salome and her Nekomis gray katmoget son. He had a krunet and obviously carries spots. He's available for sale pending further evaluation.
These three lambs are all lovely. The white is available for sale. He's related to the white ewe above..Same sire, and his mom is WhitePine Neriah, who is a Nirvana x Blues daughter. The moorit kat is most likely going to Oregon and the gray kat is going to New York! Handsome boys they are. The White ram is available for sale pending final evaluation.
Owlhill Butter gave me a spotted musket girl out of WhitePine Caiphas. She's a keeper!
Caiphas also sired this gray kat ewe lamb out of ShelteringPines Fleur De Lis. She's a keeper too.

This POLLED gray katmoget ram lamb is out of FirthofFifth Koosi (shown here...F1 Jericho) and my F1 Jamie polled ram Levi. Koosi proved last year she carried polled so this boy could be double polled/homozygous polled. He's available for sale. I'm repeating that breeding and praying for a ewe :)
Sommarang Eva (left) and her gray kat ewe lamb out of Caiphas. He really produced. I'm tickled with the lambs.
This 3/4 BFL ram lamb carries color and is out of B17 my Shetland Mule from Under The Son. He's a handsome lad and is available as a crossing sire or he is destined for my freezer. Mmmm lamb chops. lol
There's that handsome white lad again. Still for sale :)
Spring is coming. The White Oak trees are finally starting to open their buds. And we are in a frost advisory tonight. Come on grass! The girls are getting restless!

ram lamb for sale and a moorit ewe

This handsome lad is for sale. Sire is WhitePine Roman (F1 Orion) and dam is Justalit'l Chloe. He is white, showing his fawn katmoget pattern underneath (incomplete dominance). I was thinking he was a giant spot, but his katmoget is apparent on his spots on his rump. He is horned and will be a nice single coated ram. He is white/katmoget and is moorit based. I have much of both of his parents lines and that is why he is offered for sale. Micron results and blood tested negative flock, annually. Typical Shetland tail, very growthy. His dam is one of my foundation ewes and his sire is fine fleeced white ram with giant horns. Pending final evaluation he'll be offered for sale $325 Can be delivered to Black Sheep Gathering or Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival in September. A keeper for sure! Sire is WhitePine Caiphas (horned gray katmoget F1 Holly) and WhitePine Neriah fawn katmoget (Blues x Nirvana)

I'm gone for the weekend but am borrowing my sister's digital camera for a few days so will have more lambs to post (for sale ones too) when i return.

I promise to reply to emails at that time and post more photos of animals of interest.

Eat your heart out world!

FirthofFifth Kamachariy (Forrest x Koosi) is a fawn katmoget ewe who carries polled. She was bred to WhitePine Levi (F1 Jamie) and produced this stunning dark gray katmoget girl! To say I am pleased is an understatement! :)

Lamb stats so far

So far....

FirthofFifth Nekomis sired the following lambs:

x ShelteringPines Nessebar (gray kat) = gray kat smirslet ram, fawn kat krunet ram

x OwlHill Pranilla (Ag gray) = gray kat ewe, musket ewe

x FirthofFifth Rahu (white illget) = black ram

x WhitePine Terah (black) = gray kat smirslet ewe

x Whistlestop 0916 "Zariah" (shaela) = moorit ewe and fawn kat ewe

x Whistlestop 0934 "Xena" (white) = black ram, black ewe

Wintertime Jazz sired the following lambs:

x FirthofFifth Booto (fawn kat) = gray kat ram and gray kat ewe

x WhitePine Charity (gray kat) = gray kat ram

x RiverOaks Eliza (white) = white ram and gray kat ram

x Sommarang Emerald (black flecket) = black smirslet sokket brandet ewe, gray katmoget bersugget ram

x WhitePine Eve (mioget) = gray katmoget ewe (looks to be modified!)

x Wintertime Galina (black gulmoget) = gray katmoget krunet ram, black gul/kat smirlset ewe

x BlackForest Tamarack (moorit gulmoget) = black gulmoget krunet ewe, black krunet ram

x WSR Alisa (moorit light badgerface) = gray katmoget krunet, black light badgerface ewe

x FirthofFifth Sukhada (black gulmoget) = gray katmoget ram

WhitePine Levi sired the following lambs:

x FirthofFifth Ashanti (mioget smirslet) = black ewe, moorit ewe

x FirthofFifth Koosi (gray katmoget) = gray katmoget (polled) ram

x WhitePine Skor (shaela) = black ewe

WhitePine Roman sired the following lambs:

x WhitePine Festus (black smirslet) = black smirslet ewe

x Justalit'l Chloe (homozyous fawn katmoget) = white ram with tons of phaeo or giant white spot fawn katmoget. I will have to look tomorrow when he's dry!

WhitePine Barnabas sired the following lambs:

x WhitePine Faith (gray katmoget krunet sokket) = fawn katmoget krunet sokket ram

x WhitePine Rush (white) = black ewe

x RiverOaks Lucy (gray katmoget) = fawn katmoget ram (polled) and moorit smirslet (polled) ram

I think that's its for the Shetlands.

Beechtree WyCliffe (purebred white BFL ram) sired the following lambs:

x Beechtree Kearsley (white) = white ewe

x Beechtree Kershope (white) = white ewe, english blue ram

x Cross Wind Clover (white) = white ewe, white ram

x ShelteringPines Catalonia (white) = white ewe, white ram

x Beechtree GlenLuce (english blue) = white ewe

Lamb photos part 1

I'm trying to keep up! Honest! I'm just tickled with this years lamb crop and I still have 36 ewes to go :)

Below is a gorgeous black ewe lamb out of WhitePine Skor and WhitePine Levi (F1 Jamie)
Here is Skor (shaela, modified whole color, not iset or Ag) with her daughter WhitePine Saku. She's a keeper for sure!
Speaking of keepers.....This is OwlHill Pranilla (F1 Greyling, F2 Orion) and FirthofFifth Nekomis (F2 Jericho) twin ewe lambs. Musket ewe and gray katmoget ewe. Dynamite I think. Sorry for the blur. More photos when they get outside! Below is the gray kat ewe.
This is obviously the musket girl. I'm tickled to have gotten an Ag from Pranilla, even if it is moorit based!!
Just minutes old (maybe an hour?) On the left WhitePine Pacifico (musket) and WhitePine Pacena (gray katmoget). Just beautiful. Thank you Pranilla for such awesome little girls!

A Favorite Ewe Lamb...

A favorite ewe lamb of mine....she is 79.5% out of Campaign Timothy and WhitePine Centennial (Jazz x Chloe, also twin to Castle Rock). Centennial has really decided now (at two) to be extremely friendly like her mother Chloe. This ewe lamb runs up to me and stares at me, but won't let me scratch her, but she sure gives me the once over (or 100 times over) every time she see's me.

Centennial was my favorite lamb from 2008, and still remains one of my favorite ewes..both in structure, and fleece. I think her girl is a stunner too.

Thoughts?
In this photo Momma Centennial is getting rooed. I sheared early this year in hopes of having longer fleeces for the shows, but most of the ewes (no rams) all went through the rise late May/early June. *sigh*

Another white ewe lamb! I don't believe it!

Last night I thought for certain WhitePine Rush (FirthofFifth Aman AI x RYL Rachildas) looked 'fishy'. I did several barn checks in the night to her just chewing her cud. I went out at 6:30 to see her water bag break and I went back in the house to feed the dogs and check some lively debate on the Shetland lists, which of course I had to respond to. Its my nature :)

Afterwards I went out to find Rush with a WHITE EWE LAMB! I couldn't believe it! Its my third one this year! Out of every possible breeding that could throw white, they did and they are ALL GIRLS! Just what I seriously wanted! The proud papa is again Wintertime Jazz AI. This ewe lamb is F2 Jericho, F3 Orion. She is just adorable, and running around already when I went to check on her. Yes! Photos soon.

two more ewes lamb with ewe lambs! *edit*

This morning at 1am, just when I was doing my last barn check, WhitePine Castle Rock (Wintertime Jazz AI x Justalit'l Chloe) gave birth to a splendid WHITE EWE lamb when I got out there. She was just getting her up to stand when I got out and moved them to one of the waiting jugs. Such fun lambing when this happens this way! Happy father is my F1 Orion white ram WhitePine Roman (out of RYL Rachildas). I was hoping for white ewes out of him and I got one!

This afternoon, at 1pm, ShelteringPines Snow Cloud had a cute-as-a-button gray katmoget ewe lamb with body spots which will fade. Snow was laying down and her lamb was doing races around her when I got out there. She hasn't passed the afterbirth yet, and I'm hoping for another lamb as this girl is quite petite. Happy sire is Wintertime Jazz, and full sister WhitePine Salome from last year is happy she is a 'big' sister now. Well not really. But I like to think so :)

I'm quite happy with three ewe lambs so far in the purebreds :)

Mule lamb photos

twin mule ewe lambs from Autumn and Burma. They are English Blue (Aeb) carrying solid (Aa). They do carry moorit and modified from their mom so curious to see how the Aeb pattern is affected, if at all by the modifier gene. Cute spotting on the faces huh? They weighed around 7 pounds each.

On the fence

Remember I said I was NOT breeding ewe lambs this fall? Well I'm not this year due to the market (and I have 38 mature Shetland ewes I'm breeding anyway!) but would normally breed some of them (at least the larger ones) in a good year.

Let me explain my pro's and con's.

Pros: Breeding ewe lambs

1. Most likely will have single lamb, so will have some sort of income on the ewe first year out.
2. I can see what their genetic potential is faster than if I waited another year
3. The ewe will not have a 'free ride' their entire first two years.

Cons:
1. ewes tend to not grow as fast as ewe lambs that were left open. (I have however seen that by the time the ewe is two and half years old (weaning time of second lamb(s)) they are just as big as the ewes that did not lamb their first year.
2. feeding a sheep for nearly two years before you get any lambs out of her. not money well spent
3. may not have a market for lamb that is on yearling ewe, and that lamb tends to be a little smaller than from a ewe that is two years old or older

Any other Pros or Cons you can think about?

a few parting photos

Before my big trip that I'll be gone for I wanted to share a few photos of black based lambs...Too many times buyers overlook them just because they are black. A big pity!

Above we have F1 Jamie on the left named WhitePine Levi. He "may" be going to Oregon for a fall of courting some ladies..... On the right is White Pine Reuben. He is slated to be going to Pennsylvania to court some ladies there as well!

Below, Reuben and his mom Rahu.
Isn't he just breathtaking?!! :)
Below is WhitePine Terah out of Black Forrest Tilly and UnderTheSon Arapaho.

All three lambs carry moorit, and Levi carries spots to boot! Terah is staying here for the time being. She is just beautiful.

Updated lamb photos - PHOTO HEAVY!

After 3 inches of rain fell, I decided it was a great time to get some photos of the lambs with their lock structure a bit more apparent.

WhitePine Barnabas (Heights Orion x FirthofFifth Booto F1 Timothy). He will more than likely be getting a group of girls this fall, pending microns of course. AbAa, BbBb, SSSS, MMMm. 76% UK.
WhitePine Ephraim - mioget. (Heights Orion x FirthofFifth Evidence of Autumn). Full brother to FirthofFifth Aman that Bill Stearman has now. He will more than likely also be getting a breeding group this fall.
This is Ephraim's twin sister Eve. Both are 62.5 % UK. It looks as though both will be mioget. Both are BbBb, SSS?, MmMm, AaAa.
Eve walking
Eve walking again...

Below is Justalit'l Black Lambo (Bramble Dixen daughter) and her twin moorit lambs (ram and ewe) out of Heights Orion. Both are beautiful single coated sheep. Her ram lamb will more than likely be for sale.

Sheltering Pines Fleur de Lis with her black ewe lamb WhitePine Festus out of Wintertime Jazz. She has a powerhouse of a build and I'm waiting to see how her fleece will be. It looks to be long single coat at this point.WhitePine Faith walking away from me (Wintertime Jazz x Miwawe Flopsy) She carries moorit and is built beautifully.
Here is Faith from the front.
Her is Underhill Peep (F2 Greyling/F2 Jamie) and one of her sons out of Heights Orion. He is looking to stay moorit (maybe a dark fawn) with nice horns and build. He is 75% UK and will more than likely be staying here.

Another shot of the pair. I couldn't get him to raise his head up!
WhitePine Lot (Wintertime Jazz x Bono Creek Lavender Brown) has been sold to a great lady in Florida. He will making the trip back with several ewes this September. He is the bluest fleeced katmoget I've had to date and is super crimpy. Very single coated!


Winter Sky Layla (F1 Orion) and her gray katmoget ewe lamb out of Wintertime Jazz. She is 76% UK and very soft, even and single coated. In the background you can see a dark gray katmoget ram lamb and a fawn katmoget ewe lamb. They are twins out of Justalit'l Chloe and Greenholme Holly. The ram is WhitePine Caihpas who will more than likely have a breeding group this fall and his sister is WhitePine Candace. They are 65.5% UK.Another shot of Lydia.
And again...These boys below are with their mother in the background (Underhill Ulla). Their sire is Shirehill Minder. The musket on the left is also smirslet (almost yuglet) sokket with a white tail. the ram on the right is a fawn katmoget that I think is light badgerface as I'm losing the pattern on him and he cannot be Ag as his sire was AgAb and the lamb either had to be AgAa or AbAa as their mother is in the photo and is AaAa. I haven't decided if either one will be for sale yet. Micron tests will tell the story.

The next two photos are of WhitePine Skor's ram lamb. She is shaela and he looks as though he will be shaela as well. His sire is FirthofFifth Barish so this ram lamb is an F2 Timothy and looks to be a scurred boy.
This handsome man will be available for sale.

And look whose back! Minwawe Sea Breeze is back and this time with a ewe lamb! The lamb is named Ivy and is out of Wintertime Jazz. She is a smirslet sokket with a white tail ewe lamb. I may keep her or I am wililng to sell the pair together.