More ewes available

After going through my maternal lines, I have a few more that I have 'doubled up' on and these ewes are available now, or bred to one of my rams that I am using. Breeding fees are $50, on top of the purchase price.

WhitePine Robyn - white ewe - Wintertime Jazz AI x WhitePine Rush( F2 Orion). She has an exquisite fleece, wonderful length of fleece and wool on cheeks and polls. She hasn't been bred yet, but will be bred this fall. Last Micron 24.3 AFD, 5.3 SD, 22 CV and 10.1 CEM with 86.2 CF. $350

WhitePine Nivea AI - F1 Jericho - gray katmoget ewe (Jericho x ShelteringPines Nirvana). She carries spots and moorit, a very fine fleece. I'm keeping her twin sister, mother, half brothers and sisters and neices so she is available to an approved Fine Fleeced breeder. Last micron 24.7 AFD, 5.7 SD, 23.3 CV, 9.7 CEM, 83.7 CF $500

WhitePine Shakira AI - F1 Orion - fawn/light moorit . Orion x WhitePine Skor. She is modified and hasn't been bred yet, but will be this fall. I have so many AI ewes I should start to share the wealth :) Last micron 21.7 AFD, 5.9 SD, 27 CV, CEM 12.6, CF 89.3. $500

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 plansm - Available

The last 30 days has been a whirlwind of emotions and activity here at Ramsay Farms. My dad has told me he is burned out and doesn't want to really DO much farming any more. I respect his decision. However his decision changes what I can and cannot do here as I do not have the ability to completely do this by myself, yet.

When I purchased my business seven years ago, my goal was to work 3 full days (12+ hours a day) with that and then farm the rest of the week. I had visions of pasturing 300 ewes and 50 cows plus their offspring on rotationally grazed, organic methods and am well over half way there with those visions.

However goals are ever changing and sometimes outside sources change those goals.


There is a number one priority of fencing that must be done here to help move my goal forward and then the task of fertilizing and re-seeding the paddocks. I've already sold the pigs, pigeons (i can't believe it) and selling most of my laying hens to save on the feed expense and put it towards the sheep and cattle.

With that in mind, many ewes are going to be offered below with the intent of putting that towards that priority next year. These ewes are NOT culls, and are ewes I would keep to breed, if I didn't need to spend the money earned from them for breeding. More will be added in the up coming days!!

They are available now for $300 each registered or $350 after exposed to a ram of YOUR choice from the following rams (see below) that I will be using. I will not over charge for them, to get them in to new flocks, and as always, have multiple sheep discounts.

WhitePine Naomi - Wintertime Blues x ShelteringPines Nirvana - Fawn katmoget ewe. Horned genetics (ram and ewe). Solid ewe, wool on poll and cheeks, shorter stature, had two amazing ewe lambs I've retained. I also have her twin sister and her mother, her uncle and lots of cousins. Nice fleece length of 5". Carries Spots. F2 Jericho. Last micron report: AFD 26.9, CV 19.4, CEM 9.3, CF 78

WhitePine Robyn - Wintertime Jazz x WhitePine Rush - white ewe. Horned genetics. Wool on poll and cheeks.Nice fleece length of 6"+. Also shorter on leg (thanks to Jericho line). I have much that is related to her in my flock so she would be available. F2 Jericho, F3 Orion. Last micron AFD: 24.3, CV 22, CEM 10.1, CF 87

WhitePine Saku - WhitePine Levi x WhitePine Skor - black yearling. Could be polled. Wool on cheeks and poll. Fleece length of4-5". Smaller ewe like her mom but jet black, big soft eyes with alert expression. Totally looks Shetland-y. Micron test pending.

FirthofFifth Blottir - Wintertime Black Forrest x Minwawe Boppitty - gray katmoget. Most likely polled (produced polled ram), dark blue fleece. extra vertebrae in tail but does not throw it. A little leggier like some of the Forrest kids but very fine. Last micron: AFD 21.1, CV 24.4, CEM 9.9, CF 95. She has a chronic cough  that she's had since I've acquired her, but it hasn't spread and I'm not sure what is causing it. She is one of my finest ewes and Throws beautiful babies.

Black Forest Tokhara - fawn/light moorit WhitePine Ephraim AI x FirthofFifth Towanda - carries spots. lovely type and color. Last micron 21.8 AFD, CV of 24.9, CEM 11.3, CF of 92.4. I'm keeping her twin have many of her half siblings so she's available.

WhitePine Faith - Wintertime Jazz x Minwawe Flopsy - gray katmoget krunet sokket. horned genetics. smaller ewe with lots of flash and great mothering. Carries moorit. I"ve kept her ewe lamb from this year (spotted moorit) and she can therefore be of much use to someone else! last micron AFD 26.1, CV 21.9, CEM 10.3, CF 77.8


The rams I am using this fall are the following:

Wintertime Jazz AI. Everyone who follows my blog knows him well. This will be his final breeding here and would like to rehome him to a dedicated fine fleeced flock. I'd also think about collecting him for future use.

WhitePine Flo Rida AI - Greenholme Holly x ShelteringPines Fleur de Lis. He is fully horned, gray katmoget and a nicely built ram. His last micron 23.6 AFD, 20.6 CV, 9 CEM and CF of 90.6

WhitePine City High AI - Heatheram Lightning x FirthofFifth Koosi AI. Gray katmoget, nice round UK style horns. Could be modified. His last micron 22.5 AFD, CV 19.9, CEM 7.9, CF 96.1

Whistlestop 1123 - light badgerface fully horned ram. he is a compilation of Heights Orion, Skeld, Jings, Drum Ram and some domestic stock from the west coast. His last micron was AFD 22.8, SD 4.4, CV 19.4, CEM 7.9 and CF of 95.9

Whistlestop 1222 - moorit ram fully horned lamb. He is also of the same genetics as the ram above but slightly different combination. He is out of a dam who was 27.4 AFD, 5.2 SD, 19.1 CV and CEM of 9.2 with a CF of 73 as a three shear. His sire is 24.8 AFD, 5.7 SD, 23 CV CEM 9.8 and CF of 84.

Sheltering Pines Le Jardin Suspendu - horned moorit ram lamb. He is out of Sheltering Pines Grand Luxe (the epitome of a Shetland ram in my honest opinion) and ShelteringPines Andalucite (if memory serves me right!)

ShelteringPines TelSay Cambden - horned moorit flecket smirslet gulmoget. He is out of Wintertime Fudge x ShelteringPines Catherine.

WhitePine Starbuck - black yuglet sokket ram lamb (horned ewe dam) will go to my horned ewes that I have. He's well put together and the largest horns on a lamb i've ever raised.

RTF Robb - white ram lamb out of WhitePine Barnabas x WhitePine Rush. He should be moorit based under the white and maybe katmoget, but hopefully solid. He's a tremendous ram lamb I'm eager to put to some of my ewes.

Wow that's 9 breeding groups just for shetlands. Guess I better get at the pens......

WSWF 2012 - part one

 Let's get right to the important stuff in this post! BEST WEEKEND EVER (year two!)

Everyone had an amazing time, we had over 80 Shetlands and lots of laughter, bonding, sportsmanship and everyone helped out where there was help needed.

Supreme Champion Shetland was UnderTheSon Coburg, Reserve Supreme Champion was Sommarang Elise and judge was Letty Klein.

Coburg was also Grand Champion Ram!

Elise was also Grand Champion Ewe!

ShelteringPines Classique was Reserve Champion Ewe (thanks Stephen!)

OK Acres Ringo was Reserve Champion Ram!

So much more to come (candids, corny photos) and a full write up! Stay tuned!

A few more photos from this morning.

A few more photos of sheepies from this morning.

The fawn katmoget has one of the darkest fleeces I've seen on a fawn kat. She is either ShelteringPines Amarige or ShelterPines Mademoiselle. Both are very typey, 1927 Standard Shetlands with very fine fleeces. And they both twinned and gave me keeper lambs!

The black below, WhitePine Fiji is a yearling and she is available for sale. Her half sister is behind her and she is NOT for sale. The black is out of WhitePine Roman and WhitePine Festus. She is available for sale. Micron test pending. She rooed completely this spring. Lovely ewe for a black.

Below is Whistlestop 0934 "Yuma" and her Mule ewe lamb.

This gray katmoget is FirthofFifth Blottir and her moorit daughter out of WhitePine Christian. She may be available. Her name is WhitePine Brooten.

This is a mioget Finn x Shetland Mule ewe lamb. For now she's being retained (and nearly 70 pounds at under 4 months of age!)

A tribute to my three foundation ewes

Here are the three ladies that are instrumental in my breeding program. They were three of my original ewes.

They are: RYL Rachildas. Awt/Ag, BB/BB, Ss/Ss. All of her grey lambs were spotted/bersugget. She is a 75 pound ewe and produced Mules for me this year. She will be bred to a horned Shetland ram this fall. Every white on my farm goes back to her, and I'm proud to say that. As a 10 year old her micron is right around 30 AFD, with a CV of 20.1. She has definitely been improved upon, and I used her for AI (Heights Orion) and had lovely ram lambs (Roman and Rhodes). Rhodes is now in TN and Roman is in MD after I used him. LOVE this ewe. She's not particularly tame, but she is not wild, and every ounce of her screams PRIMITIVE (excellent forager, mother, resistant to worms, no lambing assistance needed etc). She'll live her until she dies. its the least I can do for her tribute to my flock.

Justalit'l Chloe was used for AI three times. (once to Todhill Jericho at my mentor's farm, twice here, Greenholme Holly and Shirehill Minder). She has been influential to my breeding program as well. She is Ab/Ab, Bb/bb, SS/Ss. And although she homozygous katmoget, she is worth her weight (which is 71 pounds) in gold. She is also 10, and had twin mules this year (badgerface!!) and I'm keeping her ewe lamb. Chloe is one of the tamest ewes I've ever owned and loves to be pet, scratched and loved on. She's also a wonderful mom and at 10, is 30.6 AFD with a CV of 21. Again not terrible numbers for such an old gal! She too, will live here until she dies, having given me such wonderful lambs.

Justalit'l Black Lambo was a ewe I saw at Stephen Rouse's farm for several years when I attended Michigan Fiber Festival. When she became available, I purchased her and promptly put her to Heights Orion (AI). I liked what I saw so much, that I AI'ed her again the following year to Todhill Jericho. She was also AI'ed to Roban Dillon back on Stephen's farm. Lambo is also another very tame ewe and this year she is 11. Her micron was 28.9 as a ten year old but I didn't micron her this year (also the blob on her belly is belly wool...I hand sheared my entire flock this year and missed a spot apparently on her!) I didn't breed her last fall (much to her irritation) and she was quite miffed to be with the lambs all winter, as I wanted to make sure she got enough groceries. However she someone managed to get back in with the flock the day her two daughters lambed and I found the entire family unit in a corner, with Lambo in front protecting her daughters and grand daughters. NO LIE. She made me weep. Sheep really are not as dumb as you think. She'll live her days out here as well and she is quite the legacy in the breed, particularly in the polled lines.

They aren't wonderful photos of the girls, but honest pics of them grazing out with the flock.Truly wonderful ladies that I'm proud to say I own.

Photos at dusk

I've been burning the night oil at both ends....My dad is gone during the weeks again out of state for work so that leaves me in charge of the farm and all the duties. Fortunately for me (note sarcasm) the oats are ready to harvest, aka combine, and then bale straw and stack bales, plus unload oats in to grain bins and bring extra oats to the feed mill in Perham to sell to them. Add on to that my normal chores, my 'real' job mowing and landscaping and trying to get certification for Organic status here, its, well a bit overwhelming.

The photos are very blurry if you 'biggify' the photos. So basically DON"T biggify the photos and you can enjoy smaller photos

Below is WhitePine Starbuck. He is out of OK Acres Cadillac and WhitePine Salome. Salome is behind him. Not that Salome is huge (70 pounds) but you can see how growthy he is. Oh and he's FULLY HORNED!. He was born with a dog coat but the crimp is quite fine at the base, so he'll be put to the other horned ewes in the flock (his mother is also horned and i'm trying to get MORE horned ewes). After spring microns he'll be re-evaluated to see if I should keep him for further breeding. His spots are flashy and all nice, but I don't NEED spots, but a few are ok. So he's staying for now.

The BFL ewe is ShelteringPines Catalonia. She weighed in at a hefty 160 pounds on Monday and she's nursing twins yet. She is a triplet, who's brother is Burma (I sold, but used for breeding for three years) and Ol' Blue, who is making Mules at Theresa Gygi's house and the sire of many of my Mules here. She's a friendly ewe and just a great mom.

WhitePine Faith with her daughter, WhitePine Foley. Faith is 74 pounds and you can see how growhty her daughter is as well. I'm keeping Foley so Faith is available. She is a Jazz daughter and is a krunet sokket gray katmoget. Her last micron was AFD 26.1, CV 21.9, CEM 10.3. She would carry horned genetics.

The BFL above is again Catalonia with one of my favorite ewes, Whitepine Sedalia. The BFL ram in the back is her son, who is sold to a local gal here with Icelandics and Wensleydales and wants to do some crossbreeding. Just look at the BFL bag STILL. She is quite a milker.

Above is Sedalia with her twins. her daughter Solway is in front and her son is hiding behind her. They are out of CrossWind Apollo and the ram is probably modified. the girl, Solway is staying here.

Below is WhitePine Lexington. She is also out of Apollo and WinterSky Layla AI. Apparently Layla does NOT carry spots, but this ewe is so well put together I don't mind. She is mioget when you part the fleece. Apollo and Cabotine (unrelated) are both mioget with dark face and legs so not sure what to call that 'kind' of mioget (versus rose or gold). I'm hoping she'll grow horns too.

Here is WhitePine Slayton. He is Sedalia's boy. He is a fawn katmoget but is probably Mioget. He's scurred and also krunet, sokket flecket. He's the only ram lamb that is still available for sale. I'd of kept him had he been fully horned. Oh well...

Second round of evaluations and ramblings

This year, thanks to my digital scale I purchased last fall, I am able to keep track of the growth of lambs, and the weights of the ewes. Not surprisingly, most of the ewes were down a few pounds that were feeding twins. I sent 22 ram lambs to the auction today, and 12 adult shetland ewes. The ewes had various reasons (bite was off in one, shockingly!), no milk, half udder (due to past mastitis), fleece that was not to my liking, and not being able to raise growthy lambs (they were smaller every year). The ram lambs were either mules or other crosses, and then the shetland ram lambs that were not sold yet, or didn't make the grade. There were several smashing scurred ram lambs with very fine, crimpy fleeces, but I think a lot of people are afraid to use scurred rams. I'm not, I'm have 3 and have used 2 of them heavily (so far!). One was an Ag/katmoget (moget face) scurred F2 ram lamb. Pity others did not see his merit like I did.

I usually wait until September to send a trailer of sheep to market, and although have plenty of grass (MN and ND seem to be wet, wet, wet this year!) I thought the pastures would appreciate the lighter traffic load.

My largest cross lambs were 70 pounds at 3.5 months of age! Absolutely incredible. The Finn crosses were also between 58 and 69 pounds, and the rest of the mules were 45-66 (again all at just 3.5 months of age!) These lambs are coming from ewes that are between 65 and 95 pounds so for the most part, I was very pleased with the crosses.

I'm retaining all of my Shetland Mule ewe lambs this year (six of them), 2 Finn/Shetland ewes (please someone take them as fiber or crossing ewes!), and my BFL purebred ewe lamb. In addition to the 10 Mules I purchased from Theresa, I'll have THIRTY Mules/Crossbreds to breed to the new Texel ram I'm getting in August.

Since I am comfortable keeping 30 mules/cross ewes for market lambs, I will not be breeding many Shetlands to the BFL this fall. Or so I say now. I was so impressed with the Mule ewe lambs I raised myself this year I am tempted to do more, but I have some hard work laid out ahead of me this fall with the Shetlands.

For remaining Shetland ram lambs, I have have only four left. A scurred Fawn Katmoget flecket, krunet, sokket who is available for sale (due to the polled gene or he wouldn't be leaving this place!), and three fully horned ram lambs. A solid black (Christian x ShelteringPines Amarige), a black yuglet sokket (OK Acres Cadillac x WhitePine Salome, horned ewe!), and a modified moorit yuglet sokket (WhitePine Barnabas x ShelteringPines Cabotine). These three rams are all finally coming in crimpy at the base, dense, soft and fine fleeces. I plan on using two of the ram lambs (spotted) this fall in addition to other horned rams to secure the fine fleeced + horned genetics.

I have about 5 or 6 ewe lambs left for sale. I'm keeping back 12 ewe lambs to evaluate and if they do not sell, I will keep them and re-evaluate them in the spring. One is available only because she is polled (both parents polled) and the others because they are katmoget and I have 28 other katmogets to breed from :)

I HATE sending older ewes to market, or tame lambs, but it is a part of farming that I have come to grips with (at least I'm not sobbing anymore when I leave the auction house), but the pit in my stomach still is there.

In the end, my flock is better quality, more available pasture and one step closer to that perfect sheep :)

Bringing out the big guns (horns)

After visiting farms, and visiting with shepherds there seems to be an alarming decline in fine fleeced HORNED ram lambs this year. While that may not sound alarming to many of you, you must remember that the Polled gene is a dominant gene! While I still maintain polled stock, many of the fine fleeced breeders in the Midwest have decided to go polled. And while that is a welcome addition to the gene base, those of us who don't want JUST polled stock are going to be up a creek pretty soon without a paddle.

So i'm bringing out the big horns (Guns) this fall to use for breeding:

Wintertime Jazz AI will be used again. He really is a great ram. Spotted. katmoget (carries solid) and his only downfall is he doesn't carry moorit. but nonetheless he has produced many fine fleeced lamb so he will get used again this fall.

WhitePine Flo Rida AI will be used for the first time this fall. He's an F1 Holly (hard to find!) and fully horned "D" style. He's also gray katmoget but could carry moorit. His dam is ShelteringPines Fleur de Lis and so he carries spots too.

WhitePine City High AI will also be used for the first time this fall. He's F1 Lightning F2 Jericho, with some Minder and Jamie and Timothy back there as well. He's again gray katmoget but he has full horns and a very fine fleece to boot.

WhitePine Negro Modelo is a yearling black ram out of FirthofFifth Nekomis and ShelteringPines Nirvana (horned ewe) who I'm hoping to use on few girls as well (in hopes of fully horned rams AND horned ewe lambs!)

ShelteringPines TelSay Camden is a yearling moorit spotted gulmoget that I'll be using on a a few select ewes this fall as well. I really want fine gulmogets and he's quite fine :)


I'm also bringing many of the older ewes back in to the purebred breeding groups this fall.

RYL Rachildas, one of my three foundation ewes will be going back to a horned ram. She produces giant horned lambs and goes back twice to Bramble Connor who had amazing spread of horns.

Underhill Crystal Gayle - mioget -, who I recently aquried will also be going to purebred breeding as she is known to produce giant horned rams.

Shelterpines Corinna - black light badgerface is also recently acquired and will be bred for both the light badgerface pattern AND full horns.

ShelteringPines Nessebar - gray katmoget will go back to purebred breeding as well. She's not super fine, but her ram lambs last year were, and as much as I enjoyed her badgerfaced mule ram lambs this year, she needs to go back to a horned Shetland ram. She's a ShelteringPines Starry Night daughter (and he had great horns too)

Just a few of my thoughts tonight while out watching the flock graze. They can hardly keep up to the grass its growing so fast, so moved their electro-net tonight while they were out. Always a great time for thinking. :)

If you need Katmogets....

These two lambs were the only ones that the camera somewhat cooperated with me tonight. Two hours of evaluations and the photo part sucked. Dark corner, flash too bright and can't figure out how to turn it off (new camera).

I found a few surprises (some dog coats turned crimpy and fine, other dog coats still dog coats...sigh) but overall pleased with the lambs.

Naturally I have a few katmoget lambs for sale, and although I would retain them in my flock, they can go as I have 25 gray katmoget ewes, 5 fawn katmoget ewes and 5 katmoget rams, these can go :)

I'll post a few here and if you have questions I can retake better ones for you. Time is of the essence here and we haven't had much of it to evaluate before now.

The first two are of the same ewe lamb. WhitePine Bricelyn. Barnabas x Blu Cantrell. Both are F1 parents. She'll stay here if she doesn't sell, but I wanted to sell something that was really lovely. 

 WhitePine Keister. This gray kat ewe is out of a horned ram WhitePine Christian and FirthofFifth Koosi (F1 Jericho). She was born with a dog coat and a lot of that is shedding out now and the fine fleece is coming in at the skin. Lovely deep bodied ewe. I need her fleece photo taken again.

more to photos to come.

9,644 miles later.....

Yes you read that correct! It's probably over 10,000 miles if you add the back and forth trips within the city destinations but SERIOUSLY! All in the past 9 weeks and most of it was in concentrated times!

I'm truly exhausted. But boy was it fun!

I transported sheep. showed dogs. evaluated pups. evaluated flocks of sheep. brought sheep from the east coast to the west, and vice versa. Brought pups out to the west and east coasts and even brought one back from the west coast. placed dogs (some temporary), sold sheep, bought sheep. I'm beat.

I've updated the sale pages on to TABS now on the blog. I'll be evaluating lambs again this weekend since its my first weekend home since April 15 or thereabouts.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer!