Hay up is a good feeling

Tonight we put up 500 small square bales (60-80#) into the hay mow in the dairy barn that has been remodeled into my sheep barn. The nice thing is the upstairs (hay mow)is that it can house roughly 4000 small square bales. We do not stack the bales but let them fall. The weight of the bales if they were stacked, on the roof of the main level would cause it to collaspe! The barn is a good 80 years old and made out of strong Tamarack wood, so it will last the test of time (unless a fire or tornado decide otherwise).

I much prefer to feed the small squares for several reasons:
1. easier to lift, carry and portion out (round bales have to be peeled and then pitchforks of hay moved and it gets quite messy)
2. less mess in the aisles and outside of feeders
3. tends to be a better quality hay (round bales are typically baled after hay has been rained on or the need to get the hay up faster)(at least in this area)
4. There are hay holes to drop the hay down from above, near or in the feeders (talk about ease of feeding (or laziness!))

I have figured that if I had to feed hay every day from August 1st until April 30th I would need nearly 800 small square bales to feed the sheep, goats and mini horses. I know that there are at least 200-300 more square bales in this 20 acre feed that we can bale before we move on to the next field.

LAST year in the drought we got 80 bales off of the same field for second crop. Amazing what a little rain does huh?

Pictures from Duluth Dog Show

Here is Mac with his breeder, Barb Peterson (of Vermilion Kennels in Saginaw, MN)going Winner's Dog and Best of Winner's on Friday July 11th, 2008.


Zoe was Winner's Bitch, Best of Winners and Best of Opposite over a special for her first 2 points! She is shown here with her breeder Wanda Bendinelli (of Bendi Cardigans of Olivia, MN) and myself. I was showing Ell that day and wouldn't you know...Zoe won :)

Just a couple left.....

Here are the last boys that will be available from Ramsay Farms this year. I do not have deposits on any of the boys, but do have interest in several of them, so if you've been waiting to decide, now is the time to do it! There is a lead out for the ewe lambs as well, but again, no deposit so they are still 'available'. For more information on any of the animals listed here, please check out my website www.ramsay-farms.com for more details.

Head shot of Rico and Romeo. Rico is Bersugget (Ag spotted) with short scurs. He is modified and is very crimpy with soft handle. Also carries moorit. Romeo is jet black, could carry modified or spotting but can't guarantee. He may carry moorit. soft, crimpy fleece.

Salida is a black krunet ewe lamb just now eight weeks of age shown with her mother, Skippy who is also for sale. I have a LOT of this bloodline in my flock and need to move some of it out.

Here is a photo of Rifle taken today. He appears black but when you part his fleece.......

EMSKET! He is NOT Ag and neither parent is or was Ag. He is a beautiful bluish/grey fleece color and soft.

This is Mopsy II. She has the same mother as Skippy, and again, need to move some of this bloodline to others who need it. She is a very beautiful and inquisitive ewe lamb.

Daylilies for Rayna

These are for my daylily addict, Rayna :) They are quite common varieties.


Hem. Happy Returns. They are a very pale-ish yellow color. Repeat bloomer.



Hem. Pardon Me. I love the dark red petals. It too is a repeat bloomer.



Hem. Stella D'Oro. Everyone has these! Golden flowers that bloom from May until frost.



Hem. Little Wine Cups. My first daylily. I absotlutely love this pale mahogany/wine colored flowers. Its also a rebloomer!



This is Hem. Mini Stella D' Oro. The flowers are less than 1" across, smaller shorter clumps of leaves as well. great for borders along sidewalks (even better than the original Stella!)



A great big flower (6-7"wide) is Hem Mary Todd. A bright yellowish/gold that gets a bit taller than the other varieties so far. Isn't really a repeat bloomer, but blooms for a LONG time.


Hem Siloam Doodle Bug. I love this one!


Hem. Siloam June Bug. More of a gold, versus the more muted one above. The flower stalks are a bit taller on this one as well.


I have the rest of my daylilies starting to open..or in the bud stage yet. Will keep you posted!

no news is good news

I've been busier than a one-armed wallpaper hanger (have you tried doing it with TWO arms? nearly impossible!)

I'm getting ready for a 4 day dog show in Bismarck ND next thursday-sun. That following wednesday I have to drive to Hutchinson, MN where I am judging the open class and 4H class of pigeons (there are many divisions,but i'm judging both shows). Its my first county fair judging assignment and even though its just kids, I don't want to be 'too' hard on them LOL.

The following friday i leave for Albert Lea, Mn for a 2 day dog show and then 3 days of work before heading off to Michigan Fiber Festival!. I get back the following monday and have 3 more days of work before I got to another 3 day dog show in Lake Elmo. I have to stop there. I can't even think further ahead than that and I've got three or six more weekends in a row lined up with stuff. Call me crazy!

Taika, my gulmoget was out when I got home from work today. She saw me, walked nonchalantly over to the fence and jumped OVER it from a standing position (not running). She cleared the fence with two feet to spare. (no pun intended) She has alwas been my 'gate opener', tree climber and now fence opener. That stinker!

Boys, Boys, Boys

Blogger is a great way to stalk other people's lives, and to be nosey about what they do, and then can pretend they "didn't know" even when they really did. LOL

In other ways its a great way to check up on your friends when you have time, and you don't have to wake them up, bother them at work, or if you don't feel like talking....you can just check in to see how they are doing. Hi Auntie Paula! :) LOL

Ok so we all like to see how sheep are growing, right? Of course. People are nosey by nature.

For those who haven't been fortunate enough to come visit me yet this year (shame on you!) Here are some of the boys I have yet.



Here are WhitePine Peyton and WhitePine Peterson. They are both of out Wintertime Black Forrest, a black gulmoget. Peyton is out of Underhill Peep and just found a new home today!. Peterson is out of FirfthofFifth PiLo Chun and is still available. Peterson looks to have normal horn growth and is NCWGA registerable.


WhitePine Lyons (shaela) out of Wintertime Jazz and Bono Creek Lavender Brown and WhitePine Romeo (black, scurred) out of FirthofFifth Barish and FirthofFifth Rahu. I am going to keep Lyons as I think that color of his is absoultely stunning! He is even from front to rear, gorgeous horns, nice disposition and perfect tail, and HE's SO SOFT! Romeo is super crimpy as well thanks to his dad and I think he will stay jet black with no iset as his Grandpappy (Campaign Timothy) was jet black at 9 yrs of age yet. He's NASSA registerable.



Minwawe Fiddler, a moorit yuglet flecket is still available. I was going to grow him on but realized he is very related to all my spotted girls! He is NASSA registerable.



This is WhitePine Longmont, an F2 Orion, Double Tennyson breeding. He is currently fawn and could change yet to mioget like his mother. Super crimpy, correct boy with nice horn growth and square back end. He is NCWGA registerable.



And this long scurred guy is FirthofFifth Barish, my poll carrier ram, F1 Timothy. He's turning out to be a handsome young boy.

To buy or not to buy

These may sound a bit rambled, but I was thinking a lot about this topic after Sabrina left today.

Why does a person buy what they do? Now I'm speaking mostly from an agricultural point of view. Having been born, raised and educated on the farm (and when away to school i studied animal science, emphasis in genetics and nutrition) I think like a 'farmer'. What is my bottom dollar? Can I make money at this? Will it provide me with enough money to reinvest into them, as well as supply me with what I need?

I'm not an impulse buyer. I admit buying a pack of gum or bottle of pop while waiting in line at Target, but that is not the typical me. I think things through. People are amazed at the amount of sheep I purchase. I've only been in this two years and I can say I've come a long way already. I've researched and researched pedigrees, UK rams, domestic lines, I've picked people's brains until BOTH of ours hurt LOL.

Shetlands have amazing advantages over the commerical stock. My neighbors (and by neighbors I mean anyone within a 5-10 miles radius is considered your 'neighbor') laugh when they see the size of my sheep. "What are you going to do with THAT?!" one exclaims. Or another says "you can't EAT those can you??!!". And the best yet is "You mean you actually KEEP the wool?!!".

Without trying to sound degrading I tell them all the reasons the shetlands are an amazing breed, that have yet to be utilized to their fullest potential. From a marketing stand point Shetlands have a long list of attributes (and I won't be able to list them all)
1. Hardiness. If they can survive the treeless, wind ravaged, wet and damp weather the Shetland Isles, they can certainly handle the MN winters. they actually prefer to sleep IN the snow, rather than in their barn.
2. Thriftiness. My idea of a thrifty animal is one who requires little in the ways of management as far as wormers, parasite control, diseases, genetic/environmental health issues etc.
3. Amazing mothering ability. From the moment that lamb is born, those yearling and mature ewes are cleaning and calling their babies, and ever watchful of the shepherd. They lamb without assistance (in most cases) and are able to be crossbred to much larger breeds, carry that lamb and lamb it out with little effort, even if its twice the size of a purebred Shetland.
4. Their small size, allows for more animals fed on less hay.
5. Their primitive-ness allows for a grass only diet (or other forbs) and requires little to no grain or other supplements.
6. The hybrid vigor of the shetland mules is amazing and every producer of commercial sheep should have them as their core group of ewes. They finish their lambs at the same size as the purebred commercial moms, on less milk and feed.

I could go on and on, but these reasons were and are some of the reasons I got them in the first place.

To be honest, my original goal with them was to have a group of ewes or whethers as a testing group for my Corgis to herd them. I soon fell in love with them and read all I could about them and wanted to help 'save' the breed, promote the breed, and enjoy sheep for the first time in my life.

Being 6'3" has its advantages when it comes to working the sheep. I can move them myself and sort, worm, lift to move to another jug, ear tag, give shots to (when needed, and rarely at that). The only time I've really needed assistance is when the hooves needed to be done, which here is at least four times a year. This breed is docile, smart, friendly, colorful and truly, the softest of the British breeds.

So back to my original question. To buy or not to buy?

Since I'm not an impulse buyer, my orignal quest starts when I read a 'for sale' announcement on a yahoogroup, or blog. I see what is available, research the animals, check pedigrees, ask about lambing history (if mature ewes), ask for fleece samples, micron reports, strength and weaknesses,etc. Each animal is discussed at great length. An animal that I might pass on this year, may be just what I am looking for NEXT year, or would have been my ideal animal a year ago. It is true I'm a sucker for diversity in my flock. I have many patterns and colors in my sheep. That was a goal of mine. Now that I have them, I want only the best of each color or pattern. And in all reality, your lambs are your future and if you sell them off, you are back to where you started the year before! It is better to move the mothers out, as hard as it may be, to a home that is perhaps one step behind you in your goals, or to a fiber farm where their fleece can be appreciated. Maybe someone's goals have changed (like deciding to go ALL POLLED). Suddenly some of your ewes or rams may be just what they are looking for. I am glad that I can be of help and am honored to be the one they come to asking.

I feel that I will be a positive influence in the breed, and I hope that it will show. I truly believe it already has. I know what I was looking for, I find it, I get it, utilize it and reap the just rewards. Not every endeavor with them is fool proof, or without consequences, but if you know what you are looking for, have goals and don't impulse buy because it is cute, or friendly, then you are on your way my friend.

Enjoy these Shetlands. Spread the word. I think they have a bright future in our lifetime!

Good-bye Babies!

Sabrina from Boston Lake came down today to get her two polled rams, WhitePine Parker, a button scur musket smirslet (Forrest x Peep), and WhitePine Arvada, a short scurred grey katmoget (Jazz x Meleng). We went over all of my fleeces from this year and she brought some samples of her own to share and compare. We also did the pedigree swap and looked at each others pedigree books. Very educational and fun for sure!

We then went outside to go over all the rams and ram lambs and she was very happy with her choices, she should be, they are NICE boys! We moved onto the ewe pen and she was able to see the Jazz and Barish offspring and the scurred black and scurred emsket ram lambs out of Barish. When I caught Silverthorne, the krunet burrit ewe lamb that is Ag, she had said something like "I've always liked her"....the rest gets really fuzzy but in the end she ended up taking her with also :)



Here Parker and Silvethorne are preparing for their ride home in the "North Country".

Arvada and Silverthorne can hardly contain their excitement!

I always enjoy Sabrina's company and like I told Becky and Kim and Gail V, I wish we all lived CLOSER! Come again anytime!

I'm excited to see what those babes of mine are going to produce for you!

New stock

Considering I've moved over half of my flock out this year, I'm doing good by only purchasing a few sheep this year! I had a few goals I had in mind from the beginning of this year:
1. find a moorit based ram with UK genetics
2. acquire a few more gulmoget ewes/rams for my flock
3. AI ewes that best complimented the UK rams I have straws of
4. Continue with my fine-fleece program, while adding more pattern to my flock



Goal #2. Check. This is Black Forest Tilly, a lamb that came from Cynthia's granddaughter's flock. She loves gulmoget and spotting. She is very elegant! She is a full sister to my Taika.



Goal #3. Check. This is actually Barish's twin sister! FirthofFifth Booto. She is a fawn katmoget, F1 Timothy and will be used in the AI program this fall.



Goal #4. Check! I have a few katmogets, but only have one that is spotted. This is SheltrngPines Fleur De Lis, a yearling girl with 44% UK blood, going back to Himothy, Holly, and Minder twice. She'll be bred to Jazz and hope for spotted katmogets!



Goal #3. Check (again!) This is Justalit'l Black Lambo, also from Stephen. She was bred to Roban Dillon and produced two very striking rams for him, so it was with this in mind, that I would use her in the AI this fall. I have no Dillon straws, so it will be a different ram, but hoping for good things! She goes back to Holly and Timothy.


Goal #1. Check. This is UnderTheSon Arapaho with his brother Apache and mother. He is an F2 Orion, F4 Timothy, F4 Jamie with lots of Rarebriar and WinterSky in the pedigree. He'll be used on the Jazz/Barish lambs that are katmogets and possibly BB/BB. I decided to get him AFTER I had dibs on the ram below as I wanted a SOLID brown factored ram as well. I guess I just want it all.


Goal #1. Check again. This is UnderTheSon Mohican. He is 50% UK and is F2 Brent, F3 Jericho with Jamie twice in his pedigree with Greyling also back there. I had picked him out first, but was really torn about making the right decision. I wanted a slightly different angle on the Jericho and didn't have any Brent bloodlines and he is a fawn katmoget, one of my favorite pattern/colors. I think he'll comliment Arapaho's daughters nicely. He'll be bred to the solid black ewes out of Jazz/Barish in hopes of pulling some fawn kats and moorits out.


Goal #3. Check again! This is Underhill Ulla, an F2 Jamie, F4 Timothy and F4 Holly. Juliann said she doesn't think that she carries the poll gene, so we'll try her with AI and see what we get :) She has beautiful fleece.

So THAT's IT! With me cutting back on the cattle to around 5 cows, I will have plenty of more pasture/hay/yardage to house the sheep in. We have 320 acres to expand into, so 40 ewes isn't sounding SO terrible :)

Testing your flock and eating your rams

When I first started with sheep it was my goal to test my entire flock for diseases such as OPP, CL, Johne's and Brucellosis. I had also heard of testing for Tuberculosis and was trying to find a diagnostic lab that tested for all of them from one blood draw.

I think I've settled on WADDL (just google it) for a place to test. Granted my flock is slightly larger than most, so it might be more expensive but its better for 'peace of mind' than to be paranoid about it (hey that's my personality!)

WADDL tests for Johne's, OPP/CAE (CAE is in goats, OPP in sheep) and CL. OPP and Johne's are each 6.00 per test, while CL is 9.00 per test. I highly doubt my flock has any of them, especially CL (as its quite noticeable) but am going to go ahead and do all yearlings and older for OPP and Johne's. In this day and age, every little bit helps when trying to keep your flock healthy, and it doesn't hurt when selling your animals either, that they are negative of such and such a disease. People seem to rest easier, even if they didn't think about that when purchasing in the first place.

I will keep you posted, maybe even take photos, when the vet is out to take the blood draws.

On a slightly different note I'm quite excited for the first butcher lambs! WOHOO! I grew out four ram lambs from last year, plus one I purchased and wanted to see what thier fleeces would micron at, how their horns grew and what their disposition would be. I was amazed at how soft most of the boys were, and realized I was dealing with abherrent horns in all of the boys too! How crazy!

I am quite sad to see three of them go, as they all microned at 18.9AFD, 21.5AFD, 22.3 AFD and such a waste I think, but who wants scurred rams? And who wants horns/scurs you have to keep trimming? I'm quite excited to see what i get back...I hope its enough meat! I'm getting all breakfast sausage and lamb brats (thanks Cynthia and Gail!) and am tickled pink to think of how great its going to taste!

Come on over for a BBQ! We can supply you now with lamb, beef, pork and deer, and OH chicken!

The Agouti (Ag) gene

I love the look of a white animal with black or brown faces. When I found that the gulmoget pattern also was beautiful with Ag, my mind was made up that I'd have to have one!

Well I got one, Peyton, but he's a boy!! There is nothing wrong with Ag rams, but I sure don't want one on my farm. Why? Because half of the lambs would be Ag, just like with white rams (Awt), half the lambs would be white. This is a great 'problem' for those who love white, or Ag fleeces or sheep, but I think it would take over a farm fairly quickly if its not kept in check.


Minwawe Merry-Go-Round (Ag/Aa, BB/Bb, Ss/Ss)

Ewes on the other hand are welcome here if they have the Ag factor! I have two Ag/Aa ewes that are black based....Minwawe Merry-go-round (hey I didn't name her)(LOL) and Justalit'l Shasta. Both are intermediate in length, and Shasta is horned.
Justalit'l Shasta (Ag/Aa, BB/B?, Ss/Ss) in full fleece.

I also have an Ag/Aa Ss/Ss BB/Bb scurred bersugget ram lamb, named Rico (who is still available btw)I love this pattern/marking when they are babies and watching it mottle out as they get older. Simply stunning! (And he's super crimpy and soft too!)


WhitePine Rico F2 Orion (Ag/Aa, BB/Bb, Ss/Ss) still available!

I have one ewe who is Ag/Aa brown based, and she is my musket Underhill Peep. She has a single/intermediate fleece and both her lambs out of Wintertime Black Forrest are very crimpy and solid boys. If they were both girls, they'd have replaced their mother and I would have kept them both! But alas, they are both boys, and Peyton the Ag/Ab gulmoget boy is still available...and he is a poll carrier!
Underhill Peep in full fleece (Ag/Aa, Bb/Bb, SS/S?) F2 Jamie


WhitePine Peyton scurred, grey gulmoget (Ag/At, BB/Bb, Ss/Ss) with tiny krunet

So is there a point to this blog? Probably not. Maybe if you need one, that I personally like heterzygous Ag ewes and that they will always have a place on my farm. I've heard from some that Ag and Awt fleeces are softer naturally. I'd have to say I beg to differ as my softest ewes (handle AND micron) are both shaela :P

A few new Pollie lines

With the onslaught of poll carrier ram lambs born this year, I realized I had way more poll carrier ewes/rams than I thought possible. I have been talking to the Poll Gene Guru, Juliann Budde of Little Country Acres in Illinois about the possibility of aquiring a slightly different line of poll genetics to match up with the ewes I have here.

I watched her lambing blog and fell in love with a very tightly crimped moorit gulmoget ram lamb. After months of waiting to see if he had 'made the grade' I was so excited to hear that he was indeed going to be a knock out of a ram!

I also was really hoping to get a few more FAWN katmoget ewes into my flock of mostly black based stock. I ended up waiting all year to hear if the katmoget girl of my liking was turning out and with Juliann's rightfully high standards, both have indeed passed with flying colors! I'm eagerly waiting to pick them up at the AGM in September!



This beautiful girl's sire is UnderTheSon Silvio Dante, an emsket katmoget who is F4 Greyling and F4 Holly. Her mother is Underhill Ulla, a rich moorit who is an F2 Jamie, F4 Holly, F4 Timothy



This guy's sire is Shelteringpines Octavian, a full poll, black gulmoget who is a double F2 Dillon, and F4 Holly. His dam is Lil'Country Babybee who is an F3 Holly.



Just look at those tiny scurs!



He seems quite solid sided to me, with little britch wool!

Look at that back end with the large "purse" :)

Phew!

Well its a good feeling to have most of the first round of animals that I needed to sell or wanted to sell, SOLD! I have kept back a fair number of ewe lambs in hopes of microning them mid-late September to get a rough idea of where their lamb fleeces will end up come spring time. This part of the evaluation, as well as my final goals that I want to try and obtain in fall breeding groups will determine who definitely stays, and who goes. I still have a few older ewes that I've decided NOT to AI, so they will be available for sale any time. Most of them carry spots and/or modified genes, possibly polled too.

This fall I am keeping a larger than usual amount of ewes for several reasons:

1. I am doing a massive AI this fall and many of those ewes are my tried and true girls that have proven to me in their fleece reports and lambing stats. These are definetly my girls with the most to give, and also the most to lose.

2. I am learning my lines and by keeping more lambs to breed, I'll be able to see the true range of what they can do for me. I know for a fact that both my F1 rams proved to me they can put crimp on even 100% domestic ewes, as well as only throw black based lambs!

3. I have a unique opportunity to test for the polled gene in several of my ewes by using a smooth polled ram (possibly a full poll) and this will help determine which way those ewes need to be bred in the future, either for polled genetics to a polled ram to hope to get more polled stock, or back to horned rams and hope the boys inherit the one horned gene.

4. I'm really trying to find or obtain F1 rams from most of the UK imported rams. Its my hopes that these F1's, bred to each other's daughters will produce more UK style fleeces, and softer, more uniform to boot.

5. Oh did I mention modified and spotted recessives that I'm trying to see if I can bring out? :)

An exhausting, but fun filled weekend!

On Thursday evening I headed over to Duluth, MN for a 3-day dog show, held right on the harbor, downtown at the DECC (Duluth Event and Convention Center)

On Friday, Mac, who is the tri boy that lives with me but belongs to Barb Peterson, was Winners Dog for two more points, and best of winners! He hasn't been shown for a good 10 or 11 months so it was fun to see him out showing again.

Also on Friday, Ell my little black masked brindle girl went Winners Bitch for another point! (Both Mac and Ell now have 3 of the 15 needed points for a CH title)(two of the wins need to be 3, 4, or 5 pt major wins)

On Saturday, Zoe, my blue merle girl was Winner's Bitch, Best of Winners and Best of Opposite Sex over a special for her very first two points! (She has been the reserve queen more times than I care to share!)

On Sunday, Ell was Reserve Winner's Bitch.

Rayna, was able to come downtown to watch the Cardi's show and it was fun to have her there and grab some Dairy Queen afterward!

Barb and Steve Peterson (Mac's owner's) were amazing hosts and they fed me enough food to feed four families! It was great to see so many friends at their BBQ supper at their place on Friday night, despite the strong storms that hit the area. I took all five dogs with me and it was fun to be able to let them all out in their amazing kennel runs. I was also quite happily surprised to see Maggie and that she was REALLY happy to see me too! Maggie was the bitch I had tried to AI this winter but she didn't settle :(

Also thanks to Barb and Steve for letting me set up grooming with them, for supper at Hell's Kitchen (a MUST eat if you find one in your area!) and for all the laughs and Diet Mt. Dew's! LOL

Also thanks must be given to Barb and Wanda (Zoe's breeder) for their expert handling services!! It was great to see them on the end of the lead when the judge pointed to them with MY dogs! :)

So all in all it was a great weekend! I was able to come home and see the lambs right away and its so amazing to see how BIG the lambs have gotten in just a few short days!

Sabrina is coming this weekend to pick up her boys and I'm quite excited about seeing her again and having her look at the boys for the first time :) :):)

A few poll carrier rams

Meet WhitePine Arvada. He's going to be a scurred boy out of Jazz and Meleng (she's the poll carrier!) He had tiny tops of Hershey Kisses on his head and now they are starting to thicken and get slightly larger. He still is polled. Lyons, who is the same age has horns that are quite apparent and over six inches long! Arvada will do great things for Sabrina up in the Northern Woods.



Here is WhitePine Romeo with his yearling momma Rahu. Rahu is out of Wintertime Black Forrest the gulmoget and RYL Rachildas (who I also have). His daddy is FirthofFifth Barish, who has long scurs and is an F1 Timothy. I expect Romeo to stay jet black like his grandfather, Timothy, and he is very crimpy and soft already. Rahu is one of my top 3 for Finest Fleeced ewes.



Here you can see Romeo's tiny scurs better. Big-i-fy the photo for a closer inspection :) He's still available for sale. He's also listed on my website and the NASSA sale site!


This is Romeo's rear. Quite straight (except for him leaning). Its hard to get good photos of BLACK sheep as their color sucks up any definition with a camera. Guess you'll just have to stop in and see him!

We all really want to see sheep photos, right?

Yesterday this being my favorite ewe structurally and fleece wise, Centennial, kept walking all the way around the hay feeder and staring at me. Each time she'd get to 'my side' of the feeder that I was sitting near, she's slow down and really stare at me. After about five or six rounds around the feeder, she came directly up to me, matter-of-factly and stood for petting. I thought she'd get sick of it after a few minutes, but nope! Not even after TWENTY minutes. I'd try to stop and she'd literally try climbing into my lap. Now i have tame lambs, but she has never shown an interest in me or any other human for that matter. This photo was taken tonight, day 2, when I thought maybe she was just trying to trick me. Nope! Here she is, not blinking from the flash, but with half wide open eyes off somewhere in La La land :). I'm showing her at Jefferson. She is the F2 Jericho F3 Minder out of Jazz and Chloe.

This little bug is Sedalia. She is a bit younger than Centennial and I had hoped to show her this year, but she is just too young! So we'll show her hopefully next year as she's just too nice to keep at home :) She is also an F2 Jericho out of Jazz and Sterling, one of the Minwawe persuasion.




These two photos are of WhitePine Sheridan. She is also an F2 Jericho out of Justalit'l Shasta. This girl will have a more intermediate fleece like her mother but wow is it crimpy! She's also built wonderfully and I'll be showing her also at Jefferson (thanks to Rayna's fine sheep handling skills :P)




This is Minwawe Sea Breeze, out of ShelteringPines Wind Sprite, a shaela smirslet and Hopalong I think...a moorit yuglet sokket. Sea Breeze is a big girl already...as big as most of the yearlings and she may be modified as she is much lighter than her sister is.

A few new sheep photos

Here is Meleng and yearling daughter Skor grazing along peacefully. They are both shaela. Meleng and Skor are my two softest ewes on the farm.

The polled musket boy in the middle is Parker. He is going to his new home at Boston Lake in the next couple of weeks. Very uniform and crimpy and soft!

The grey katmoget on the right is Rye, who is going to live at Sheltering Pines. Her mother, Rooibos is on the left.



The last two photos are of Lyons, my F2 Jericho, F3 Jamie black/going shaela ram. He has the most beautiful horns and I really like him....conformationally, crimpiness, softness, color, disposition, everything. If he doesn't sell, I plan on keeping him and breeding him to a few select ewes this fall.