Mimosa

Mimosa delivered this beautiful big ewe lamb this morning.  She has speckling on her head and sugar lips and already below that black fleece you can see grey.  What a big ewe, as you can see the lambs behind her are five and six days older than her, and smaller.
Mimosa http://www.mtn-niche.net/NASSA/nassa_pedigree.php?pregno=S32022
was breed to Duroy http://www.mtn-niche.net/NASSA/nassa_pedigree.php?pregno=S34126
Mimosa is the Daughter of Lialac, who is in the back in the above picture.  Lialac has wonderful sheen and has passed this along to many of her lambs, including Mimosa and her triplets that she had this year.
......just love looking at the little spotted ram.  He makes me smile!
18 ewes yet to deliver.....and finally warmer weather on the way.

That's all for today.....

Cori with twins

Cori had twins today.  The Katmoget (the one on the left) is a ram and the Moorit with white speckling on her face is a ewe. 
This little ram appears to have crimpy fleece, the ewe a bit more wavy fleece.
Cori http://www.mtn-niche.net/NASSA/nassa_pedigree.php?pregno=S32023
Bred to Duroy our white shetland ram
http://www.mtn-niche.net/NASSA/nassa_pedigree.php?pregno=S34126

Hopefully we will have more deliver yet this weekend.

Lialac does it again!

Lialac has done it again for three years now, she has had triplets!  Lialac is the white ewe, with her three speckled lambs around her.  The two in the front with the (i think) yuglet markings on their faces and in the back is a spotted ram lamb (i don't know if he is considered blaget?).

Someone with more experience in the Markings of Shetland can let me know about that.

Lialac http://www.mtn-niche.net/NASSA/nassa_pedigree.php?pregno=S26912

was bred with Sheltering Pines Grand Luxe

http://www.mtn-niche.net/NASSA/nassa_pedigree.php?pregno=S34244

Now how sweet are these guys?? I mean girls and guy!

These are the ewes.

This is the little spotted guy on the right and one of his sisters on the left.  This little ram will have horns, as they are already protruding from his head.

and this is the other little ewe.  Not certain on her markings either.
Anyone who follows and knows, please let me know!

Many more ewes to deliver, but I think we are a few days out on the others.....hopefully they will wait until the weekend.

Sweet Pea

Sweet Pea delivered these gorgeous little lambs this morning.  The nursing lamb is a ewe with a white blaze down her face, in 'shetland terms' I believe this is called smirslet.  She appears to have crimpy fleece and darker coloration, maybe a fawn like her sire.

The little guy in the front is a ram with Katmoget markings, brown base fleece and crimpy, maybe fawn in color also.

Sweet Pea's pedigree: http://www.mtn-niche.net/NASSA/members/nm_pedigree.php?pregno=S36683

Bred to Grand Luxe: http://www.mtn-niche.net/NASSA/members/nm_pedigree.php?pregno=S34244

That's all for today!

Welcome Spring!! New lambs!

We began our lambing season Friday evening.  This ewe's name is Oregon, a grey Katmoget

http://www.mtn-niche.net/NASSA/members/nm_pedigree.php?pregno=S33987

She delivered two beautiful Katmoget ram lambs.  I didn't get a lot of 'hands on' time with them, as she was doing quite well by herself.

She was bred with Sheltering Pines Grand Luxe, a very fine fleeced fawn ram.

http://www.mtn-niche.net/NASSA/members/nm_pedigree.php?pregno=S34244

I'm sure either of these two little guys would make someone a great ram.

  



One of my Shetland crossbred ewes also delivered last evening.  I put my crossbred group together with three rams, a purebred white shetland, a shetland/rideau arcott cross and a shetland/cormo cross.
She delivered two ram lambs, one white and one black.  Everyone is doing well.

We have about 24 more ewes to deliver, many of my finer fleeced ewes I have bred with Grand Luxe.
Can't wait to see what we get.........just hope it's not a ram year as it has started so far.

Oh, and you were right Michelle, my crossbred group did not breed earlier as I had hoped......genetically they're just not inclined to breed in September.

Happy Lambing to everyone!!



Shorn Sheep and many bags of wool

We had our shearers come on Saturday and in about five hours, fifty-six sheep and two llamas got shorn.
Fourty-two of the sheep are mine and friends brought their sheep to have shorn.
I can't believe I have this many sheep, it is amazing how fast your numbers grow with sheep.
I started out in the fall of 2007 with two ewes.  In the summer of 2008 bought three more ewes and two llamas, that fall bought a ram.  Had nothing but ram lambs born those first two years.

Began to learn more about fiber and what I wanted in a fiber.  Micron tested my flock and began to learn more, one being that ram I bought wasn't a good buy because his micron numbers were terrible, but back then I didn't know any better.

Since then we have added a few more ewes and much better rams.  Remember, that ram you buy will be 50% of your flock.  Today we have five quality rams in our flock.  Some of those original ewes are still here and will always be here, but in the last 5 years we have had some really nice lambs with quality fleeces being born.

Three years ago I started crossbreeding some of the shetlands, those you will see in the above picture....all those white girls.  They are bigger and produce a very consistant staple length fleece across their whole body.

The shetland's fleeces are smaller but quite nice.  I have many greys, musket, several moorits, a couple of blacks and some I would call fawn.  I have not put coats on my sheep so some VM will be in fleeces.
I plan to begin skirting fleeces soon, if interested in raw fleeces send me an email.
All raw fleeces are $16.00 lb plus shipping.

 

Looking for a break in the weather

The girls are looking for some better weather and some tasty grass too!
This winter has really hung on.  Our extended forecast looks like it will be in the 30's and 40's.
It seems strange to say, but I am looking forward to it.  It will feel like a heat wave compared to what it has been.

I've been away from the computer for several months, so I will try and post regularly to update everyone with what we have going on here.

This Saturday, March 3rd we will be shearing our sheep, approximately 50 head will be sheared.
I have a wonderful young crew that comes in and within a couple hours all will be done.
Then the real work begins, when the weather cooperates with washing fleeces and having roving made or selling fleeces, roving and making items to sell at the various events we participate in.

Anyone who might be following my blog and be interested in fresh raw fleeces would be welcome to visit on our shearing day.  Just email me and I can give you more details.  I will have a crew of fellow spinners that will be helping with the sheep.  There is nothing better than getting to sink your hands into a freshly shorn fleece and what a great experience it is for any spinner to experience the different types of fleeces and colors.