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!