Axel goes to a new home today. ...and...

 Axel in the forefront in above photo.  What a sweet ram.  He has been picked to go to a new home today.  I am sure he will be a nice addition to his new flock.  

Back left is Luxor, superfine fleeced ram, grey Katamoget scurred ram he is available.

Back right is Barqs, moorit based gulmoget polled ram another nice ram that is available. 

Both Luxor and Barqs are owned by Dave Lewis of Wee Middlebranch Farm.

 Above are some of the little guys I've held back from 2015 lambing.  Four are mine and the cute little AG grey polled ram looking at the camera is Dave Lewis' of Wee Middlebranch Farm

 These two are the ram lambs are the camera hogs.  Both very fine fleeced and potential rams.

 Above, grey Katmoget polled ram, very nice dispositioned ram...he is available if anyone might be looking for an awesome ram.

 Some of my girls fleeces are slipping...rooing...coming loose.  This weather has them confused.

 Warm one week and chilly the next.

We will be shearing in 5 weeks on March 11, 2016.

Anyone who might want a farm fresh fleece contact me to make arrangements to make your pick.  

See you soon.

Post Festivals

This is one of ours set ups from one of the festival/events that we have attended.  The scurrying begins the end of August and doesn't end until mid October.  It is enjoyable to meet and talk with everyone.  Now that it is over, we can take a deep breathe and assess all that needs done.
Like cleaning out the barn, setting up the breeding groups (see new pics.on ewe & ram pages), deciding who is for sale...since you can't keep everybody:)
Also as I look at what I have in inventory....Oh, I don't have any!  It's been a good year with sales of handmade hats and such that I need to get busy spinning so I can replenish my goods.

Ewes & Rams for sale

 I've taken some pics. this evening of some of the ewes and rams that I have for sale.
Above 2yr. old light grey ewe, Lilly Reg. # S40816

 Ewe lamb out of Amelia Reg.# S40815 & Luxor #S36643

 Three ewe lambs.....couldn't read their tags to know for certain who they are.

 Above, ewe lamb.

 Ewe lamb, she is of the smaller type dainty shetland out of Chloe reg#S35376 & Evaristo reg.#S40822

 LoLa, yrlg ewe out of Butter Cup #S36680 & Grand Luxe reg.#S34244

 LoLa above.

 This is GRAND LUXE.  This is an amazing ram Reg.#S34244 he has a wonderful dense fleece.  At 5yrs. old he still maintains a micron ave. of 24.9 and comfort factor of 92.4%.  This ram has over 30 registered lambs to his credit....not yet counting the 2015 lamb crop.  Oh, and he is scurred too.
***Additional note; Grand Luxe is owned by Wee Middlebranch Farm, flock #2003 but he resides at my location.  Grand Luxe's fleece was the Grand Champion Fleece at the 2014 Great Lakes Sheep and Wool Festival in Wooster, Ohio out of over 80 fleeces.

 Ewe lamb above.

 Mateo, yearling ram reg# S41850 son of Grand Luxe, scurred fawn color.  Lamb micron 20.3 comfort factor 98.9%.  He has a nice dense fleece.

 Barqs, 5yr old polled ram, gulmoget pattern Reg.# S30879 his last micron was at 2yrs old, micron ave. 26.0 comfort factor 80.3%  Still a nice ram with a wonderful disposition.

Axel yrlg ram Katmoget, musket color Reg# S41851 he is scurred.  His dam is Whistlestop 1113 & sire, Grand Luxe.  He has a very dense fleece,lamb micron ave. 20.4, comfort factor 98.6%


These are a few of the sheep that could get pictures of, some of them just won't cooperate and others want to mug you. 

Surprise!

This little ewe was my SURPRISE! last friday.  I walked into the barn with my son, he was helping me with some cattle panels.  I looked down and there stands this new little lamb. I was shocked! I didn't have ANYONE that I was expecting to deliver. 
Right away we knew who mom was, instantly I recalled that when we were lambing in March and April this particular ewe didn't deliver.  I figured that the particular ram I had her in with was just being lazy and didn't catch her.  -well that was the case with him....but this little lady is spotted and that is only coming from one ram......Grand Luxe.  

She certainly was not expected but she is such a cutie and I can tell that she is going to be fine fleeced with that short, crimpy consistant fleece across her body.

My time and the weather has not been a good match to get pics. up of ewes and rams that I have available for sale.  If interested in something particular, email me.  I will work to get details of available sheep.

Post...Great Lakes Fiber Show

I apologize for such a delay in posting since the Great Lakes Fiber Show.  This year was even better than last.  Moving the fleece judging to friday evening made a longer day for us, but Saturday morning allowed fiber enthusiasts the opportunity to make their purchases earlier.  It worked out great and it was so nice to meet and talk to everyone.
The picture above is a favorite ewe "Butter Cup"....who never lets me fill the water tanks by myself she insists on being right there with me and if I'm not paying consistent attention by rubbing or scratching her she will paw at me to remind me that she needs my attention.  Behind her are two lambs taking refuge in the shade of a calf hutch, the middle lamb is a ewe with a very consistent fleece from front to back and the little white lamb in the rear is a scurred ram that we will be retaining in the flock.

It is quite difficult to take natural pictures of the flock when all they do is follow you...
This photo shows most of the adult ewes in the flock.  At this time the older lambs were penned up and being weaned.  I find this much easier on the ewes going into warmer weather.  They can put the weight back on their bodies rather than into milk for their babies...when their babies are old enough to eat grain, hay and grass.

A shot of the rams...who also follow along, making it difficult to take pictures.  We have eleven rams at this time.  Several are for sale, pictures will be posted along with descriptions of each.  We have been focusing on fine fleeces and moving toward polled.  If interested in some nice shetland rams, please send me an email we have them....remember, your rams is your most important investment to use on your ewes.  This will determine the direction you move toward with fleece quality....be it good or bad based on your focus.

Have a GREAT DAY!

Lily

Lily delivered this cute little gulmoget ram lamb late this morning.  This was her first lamb and she did wonderful all by herself.  This little guy is out of Wintertime Barqs.

We are finally done with our lambing season...whew!  It's been tiring.  I have three of the crossbred lambs that I am supplementing with a bottle, morning and evening.  Everyone else is doing well.  We ended up with 23 ewes that were bred giving us 41 lambs.  Fifteen of these are crossbred lambs which will be sent to market at 50lbs.  We were pretty even with 20 rams & 21 ewes.
We have 26 shetland lambs, 18 ewes and 8 rams.  Some of these ewe lambs will be available to those looking to purchase lambs.  As far as I can tell (since I've not been 'hands on' with all the lambs) two of the ram lambs look to be polled so those two may be staying since this is the direction that I am going with our rams. 

I will begin evaluating my ewe flock soon as I have quite a selection.  I need to remove a few of the older ewes from the breeding program, who were part of my original flock but will maintain permanent residency.
Other ewes will be available for sale after lambs are weaned.  Right now I am thinking that in the fall I will be putting all of my breeding ewes to my Cormo/Shetland Ram and market all those lambs.
Anyone interested in Lambs, Ewes or Rams send me an email......

Galaxy

Galaxy delivered these two cutie pies Monday morning, 4/20/15.  The darker lamb on the left is a ewe, I'm sure she will lighten up in color.  The white lamb on the right is a ram.  I repeated this breeding with Galaxy and Duroy, hoping for another white lamb.  Yeah! 
We have one more yet to deliver, she just keeps hanging on.......