fourth and final breeding group

This year I have only had 4 groups together. Why, when I have 14 rams? Well, the easy answer is that I am not home a lot to be watering and feeding animals every day, like I used to. I also have so many nice rams now, that choosing who went with who, was fairly difficult, and so I kind of went by 'age'. Since I had no lambs this year, everyone was yearling or older. My oldest two, are both four and hadn't been used so I figured it was their time.

After utilizing F1 rams from AI every year, this year was no different, but I also used several F2, which are equally as nice. Several of these rams are going to be offered for sale, but about half of these rams will be processed in the spring as I cannot keep this many, and there are tiny reasons why I don't like each one. this is my best group of rams to date, so its hard to see any go. But go they must. I am hoping for some wonderful ram lambs to replace them with, when lambing starts end of march, 2015.

Anyway my last group is with a beautiful dark gray katmoget ram. He's a yearling and unnamed. WP1334 is a Jazz son out of WhitePine Beyonce (F2 Orion/F2 Jamie) who now resides in WA state with Franna. His microns were amazing (best ever for me) so I am using him on uewes that could use a little tweaking in areas that he excels in. Not only is he fine, but his conformation is one of my best. His fleece color and markings are lovely so i am hoping for gorgeous katmogets out of him.

**Any polled ram lambs will be available for sale, no matter how good of quality.**

WhitePine Nivea AI - gray katmoget - Jericho x Nirvana. She always produces and so this should be nothing unusual.

WhitePine Tecate - gray katmoget - FirthofFifth Nekomis x WhitePine Terah. Also lovely markings and fleece. eager to see what is produced.

WhitePine Des'ree - black krunet - Levi AI x Sommarang Eva. a fantastic ewe so anything here should be nice. very dense fleece.

WhitePine Roesound - gray katmoget - Whitepine Flo Rida AI (Holly) x WhitePine Rihanna AI (Jamie). gorgeous head and markings. dense fleece.

WhitePine Noss - white - Robb x WhitePine Neriah. she is a lovely white ewe who looks just like the whites you see in the UK. hoping for a nice white to move forward with.

WhitePine Uri - black - WhitePine Flo Rida AI (Holly) x ShelteringPines Amarige. she is also very dense and well put together.

WhitePine Nicollet - fawn katmoget smirslet sokket. Crosswind Apollo x WhitePine Nina Sky AI (Jericho). a ewe I was on the fence about, but decided to keep her after having friends go over her. I'd like to fix her tail a bit, and lower her CV. this ram should do the trick.

WhitePine Scatsa - gray katmoget horned - WhitePine Flo Rida AI (Holly) x WhitePine Snow Patrol (Jazz daughter). I'm looking to improve a few things with her too, but she is nothing to sneeze at.

Whistlestop 1204 - moorit - lots to like about her. she is mostly from island stock so curious to see how the fleece improvement will work over this type.

ShelteringPines Cabotine - mioget smirslet sokket flecket - Fudge x ShelteringPines Ceylon. An extreme mioget (meaning very light) but has produced nice lambs (like Carver, a ram I using for breeding). I love the dam's pedgree so hoping to capitalize on that in this breeding.

Late to the party, but still in with him are two newly acquired ewes:

Sheltering Pines Bengal - gray katmoget - She is a lovely ewe that I am excited to get my hands on. I think these lambs will be incredible, so hoping for something nice to keep!

Sommarang Isla - moorit FirthofFifth Avyt x Sommarang Ginger (a V Creek Guinevere grand daughter) I picked up in New York from Rich and Jen Johnson at Whispering Pines. Her micron, conformation and pedigree were all something i wanted to utilize (and proven to not be polled!)

third breeding group

I had promised to post this last week, but work and farm got in the way! For photos and more info usually, check out our FaceBook Page: Ramsay Farms!

The third group is UnderTheSon Duke Cardiff. He is a musket, four year old, fully horned ram with an AFD of 25.8 and SD of 5.4. He's extremely dense, nice length to fleece, and put together very well! He's also a gentleman around the ladies, and a silky soft handle.

His ewes:
WhitePine Delting - black sokket krunet flecket - ShelteringPines Jardin de suspendu x WhitePine Des'ree (F2 Jamie). I would love a gray out of her, and her fleece is short (under 2") as a lamb so hoping for longer staple. her micron was 19.5 with an SD of 4.1 and CEM of 7, so that's ok ;)

WhitePine Clousta - black - She is out of ShelteringPines Jardin de suspendu x WhitePine Colby Cailaigh AI (Timothy). with fantastic numbers micron wise i'm hoping for a nice gray out of her too.

ShelteringPines Tresor - is a Fudge x ShelteringPines Debonaire ewe. a definite polled ewe, i'm hoping for a ewe that carries Duke's horn genetics or a ram that is horned (its possible with her genetics too).And gray or musket is fine with me here :) Also like to maker her fleece denser and longer staple.

WhitePine Taconite - black gulmoget - OK Acres Cadillac x BlackForest Tilly. she is my ideal Shetland, in the gulmoget form. Now if I just had 10 of her. So baby steps...maybe and Ag Gulmoet, or heck any gulmogets with their fleeces and his length of staple.

WhitePine Reawick - white ewe - ShelteringPines TelSay Camden (spotted gulmoget) x WhitePine Robyn. I'd like to see what she is under the white. She had great numbers as a lamb, but would like to make her crimpy tinier, and fix her tail (its not bad, but not my best). a nice white would be fine, or anything else too

WhitePine Asahi - moorit - WhitePine Levi AI (Jamie) x FirthofFifth Ashanti. she carries spots and is a gorgeous ewe. But most likely polled. So she will hopefully have a knock out lamb or two so I can keep them. she is a nice ewe but will be for sale if she has the proper lambs.

WhitePine Noche Bueno - moorit - small horns - WhitePine Caiphas AI (Holly) x WhitePine Naomi (Blues x Nirvana). A lovely girl. I hope for lovely brown based lambs.

WhitePine Adele AI - moorit - Orion x FirthofFifth Ashanti. she carries spots but am hoping for just anything, as I'm sure they'll be lovely.

WhitePine Bethany AI - moorit - Orion x Justalit'l Black Lambo. probably my best ewe for conformation, size, fleece staple/length, microns and 'look'. I am so excited to see these lambs.

WhitePine Blu Cantrell AI - gray katmoget. Jericho x Justalit'l Black Lambo. she produced such a stunning lamb in 2013, that it was agreed to give her another try with a different ram. So we shall see what shakes out.

WhietPine Eureka = smirslet sokket gray katmoget. I can never remember if her sire is CrossWind Apollo or OK Acres Cadillac. Her dam is WhitePine Eiffel 65, a jazz daughter. She was to be sold, but things change, so she went in with Duke to see if I can get any spots (or Ag lambs). We shall see.

ShelteringPines Mademoiselle - fawn katmoget -. A gorgeous ewe out of Fudge x UnderHill Amethyst. Amethyst was a favorite of mine at Stephens so i'm so glad I was able to get her daughter. Id like to get her fleece more dense, so hoping Duke can do that.

dreaming of lambs - second group

The second breeding group i'm keeping is WhitePine City High AI. He is out of a ram called Heatheram Lightning (bred and owned by Tony Bennett, UK) and a ewe named FirthofFifth Koosi AI (bred by my mentor Cynthia Cailaigh) who is out of Todhill Jericho (love this ram) and Justalit'l Chloe (one of my founding ewes). This ram is talked about more, further back in the blog (with micron results). Lightning is a line that has mostly been lost in the US, so I'm glad to have him.

He has 13 ewes. I am really excited to see these lambs.

Whistlestop 0526. She is a lovely, typey, moorit ewe. She was my pick out of his lamb crop that year and she was the first on the truck :)
Whistlestop 1201 - black - She is also a ewe from Jim's flock. I like a lot about her, including her density and crimp, and oozes breed type.
Whistlestop 1234 - moorit - great density and crimp structure, as well as good conformation like all his sheep have.
ShelteringPines Classique - moorit smirslet sokket - She is a Fudge x V Creek Guinevere. lovely ewe that i can't really fault.
ShelteringPines Amarige - fawn katmoget - Fudge x Lil Country Possum. A beautiful ewe that I have admired for awhile.
WhitePine Sedalia - smirslet sokket gray katmoget. For anyone who reads my blog, knows that this ewe has been a favorite of mine since birth. A Jazz daughter, with a fantastic fleece and a great producer.
WhitePine Norah Jones - gray katmoget - WhitePine Levi AI (Jamie) x WhitePine Neriah (Blues x Nirvana). she has a lovely blue fleece with the tiny crimp i love.
WhitePine Pacena - musket - FirthofFifth Nekomis (Blues x Nadeen) x OwlHill Pranilla (Greyling x Orion). One of my favorites. Not much to dislike about her.
WhitePine Roseau - white - WhitePine Barnabas AI (Orion x Timothy) and WhitePine Rihanna AI (Jamie x FirthofFifth Rahu) another favorite of mine.
WhitePine Auburn AI - mioget - Heights Orion x FirthofFifth Ashanti. She is one of my finest ewes with the best numbers and has produced some lovely lambs.
WhitePine Brettabister - fawn katmoget - she's out of Whistlestop 1222 x WhitePine Blu Cantrell AI (Jericho x Justalit'l Black Lambo). One of my very finest yearlings.
WhitePine Aywick - fawn katmoget smirslet - WhitePine Flo Rida AI (Holly) x FirthofFifth Ashanti. She's a lovely yearling who's going to be a knock out. great head.
WhitePine Neap - black light badgerface - Whistlestop 1123 x WhitePine Naomi (Blues x Nirvana) is an exquisite yearling whom I fall for every time I go out to the paddock.

Micron testing on these ewes shows that they are all about the same as City High for numbers. However, I was looking for more density from these ewes, and his fleece length. HIS horns and pedigree, and many of the ewes are Orion based (which I have found blends nicely with the Jericho in my ewes). I am pretty excited about this group. I've held him over now (he's 4) while using other rams, but I'm glad I am able to finally use him.

Dreaming of lambs

I've been writing, and then re-writing my breeding groups for this fall. There will be 5 groups. Four at my farm in Perham, MN (visitors welcome by appointments!), and one in Wisconsin where the sheep were at Summer Camp.

I said in a previous blog that overall, i'm really pleased with where my micron numbers are in my flock. Micron testing is inexpensive, and a huge asset when trying to decide between two ewes, who are conformationally sound, proven mothers and are of patterns/markings/colors that you desire. MOST of my ewes compliment the rams I am pairing them with this year, either by hoping to correct AFD, CV, CEM etc or in the sense that they should produce more of the same, but in a color/sex that I am currently after. As always, conformation, breed standard type, and good Shetland traits (mothering ability, hardiness, etc) are sought first before fleece fineness (but I do want correct Shetland typical fleece (dense, soft handle, fine, crimp, elasticity)

I hope to get individual photos of the rams and ewes, once everyone is home in their breeding groups.

My first group I'll talk about tonight is WhitePine Carver's group.

He is a mioget, smirslet, sokket. He has wide sweeping horns, and was born in 2012, so he is 2.5 years old. This is his first breeding. His microns are amazing and are located elsewhere on this blog.

his sire is WhitePine Barnabas AI, out of ShelterPines Cabotine (Fudge x Ceylon).

His girls this fall:
WhitePine New Glarus - white - she is a Roman AI x Nirvana daughter with scurs. I haven't bred her yet so curious to see what she produces.
WhitePine Riahanna - white - she is Willowcroft Jamie x FirthofFifth Rahu. She's most likely polled and everything about her I love. She carries moorit.
UnderTheSon Souchong - white horned ewe - she is UTS Broderick x UTS Hopi. She produced a nice ram bred to Jazz, so looking for ewes and white is fine with me!
WhitePine Lunna - white - She is by Robb x WinterSky Layla AI. modified lambs would be fun, or i'm excited about whites!
WhitePine Foley - moorit smirslet sokket - OK Acres Cadillac x WhitePine Faith (a Jazz daughter). Obviously i'll get spots! hoping for his fleece style, although she is quite fine.
WhitePine Bivina - musket - WhitePine Caiphas AI x OwlHill Butter. lots of neat older UK genetics here (Holly, Greyling, Orion) on a nice ewe.She also carries spots.
WhitePine Isbister - moorit light badgerface - Whistlestop 1123 x WhitePine UTS Cinnibarina. she exudes breed type, but would like a more preferred fleece type on her.
WhitePine Skellister - black light badger face - Whistlestop 1123 x WhitePine Salome (horned, Jazz daughter). 
WhitePine Eiffel 65 - gray katmoget smirslet sokket - a Jazz daughter out of Sommarang Emerald. I love so much about her. I'm excited for spots.
WhitePine Neriah - gray katmoget - Wintertime Blues Ai x Nirvana. Love this ewe.
WhitePine Nina Sky AI - gray katmoget smirslet sokket - Jericho x Nirvana. Can't fault her much either.
WhitePine Lydia - gray katmoget - She is Jazz x Wintersky Layla AI. She's still one of my favorites although her AFD is higher (28)
WhitePine Snow Patrol - gray katmoget horned - Jazz x Sheltering Pines SnowCloud. Another great ewe.
WhitePine Aithsetter - gray katmoget smirslet - WhitePine Flo Rida AI x FirthofFifth Ashanti. she's an up and coming ewe worth watching.
ShelteringPines Nirvana . gray katmoget horned ewe. I can't stop using her. I've offered for sale numberous times but no one sees her virutes, so I continue to use her. She's older stuff: UnderHill TS Eliot x ShelteringPines Modron. A lot of the sheep now have lost this 'look' and so I hope to continue with her look, which is what I think of, when I see Shetland in my head.
WhitePine Norby - black gulmoget/katmoget. She is out of ShelteringPines TelSay Camden x WhitePine Nivea. So she carries spots and i'm hoping for a gulmoget lol.

So that's 16 ewes. I would possibly offer a few of these for sale, bred, but I am not sure which, without a lot of persuading! I have a lot of ewes lambing, so some could be considered.