I got some good advice and had a successful ram search

I got some cautionary well informed emails about breeding a Border L/Shetland cross ram on Shetland ewes. The strong Shetland genes will result in Shetland sized lambs. The cross will not increase the market lamb size

Other breeds increase the height on the lambs....the old saying the air from the ground to the belly doesn't weigh much.  I like the shorter ear, short leg and blocky body of the Shetland  I just want to increase the size.

So I did some research. The first cross of an Icelandic ram on another breed of ewe the offspring

is single coated (dual coat is recessive)  lambs will carry the recessive gene for dual coat. So Icelandic breeding again on 1/2 Ice ewes could result in some dual coated lambs. But mine is  spinner flock and hand spinners like variety in their fleeces

The Icelandic fiber ranges from 12 to 27 microns, with most being in the 20 to 24 micron range with a soft handle. Fleeces are light and open and dry out quickly after a rain (on the sheep). Adults produce six to eight pounds of fleece  Such a soft fleece could improve fineness of my fleeces. Icelandics have the same hardiness and lively vigorous lambs as the Shetland. Using a polled Icelandic ram gives me no horns, fine fleece, keep the Shetland/Icelandic color patterns, and give me bigger faster growing market lambs . The cross ewes will have the same blocky short legged body frame of the Shetland and weigh in the 120-130 pound range

My long time friend, next door neighbor and sheep mentor raises purebred polled Icelandics She started out with registered stock of Tongue River breeding but stopped registering them . She has about 50 bred ewes lambing to one of three rams-- a white, a black and a spotted. She confirmed that the first Icelandic cross the lambs are single coated. We made a deal I can pick out a good ram lamb each  fall at market price, use him and ship him.  No lonely ram in summer, no ram around my granddaughter, just peaceful ewes and their lambs on pasture TCL and hover over the lambs will make them all tame.

 So I found my ram source next door.

 Till later

Jerry

Here is a picture of "Lulu" a Icelandic ewe I owned a few years back. Look at her soft fleece! it was extremely fine. I should have kept going, not sold out of sheep and went into Boer Goats. I am very glad to be back in sheep.

Shade is an eye catching little ram!

Shade is a lively lamb full of life. He was up and nursing right a way. Mom Shadow is a doting mother. She has excellent conformation--her parts fix together well. Nice snug well supported udder and a heavy milker.  She is a Ag  a grey black and her fleece is very soft. Shade has a wonderful crimp to his fleece. I will watch him close as he grows.  His white Border Leicester sire gave him a bit more size, an easy lambing head and shoulders.

Friend Gail said he will soon turn gray and the only black spots will be on his face and legs. He will give his greying gene Ag to all his lambs. So we will have musket, grey, pewter colored lambs. Thanks to Gail I get to sound educated on the colors, I am just learning as I go. This fall Shade will get all my ewes. He and the Shetland ewes should produce lambs that will grow into ewes for 120-130 pound range. All the extra lambs should weigh 70 pounds by fall and bring a good price.  

Our next sheep run: We have made final arrangements with Rayna. Next Monday we will meet in Brainerd to exchange my 2 ewes for Goldie and Silver. Silver and Goldie are due the same time as my other 2 ewes in May.

 Our next sheep run will be in early July to Gail's farm to pickup Blue Bell  and a nice good sized Finn ewe lamb of an interesting color....to be determined.

Mid July we will travel to Garrett's and pickup 6 wet ewes on weaning day. My flock will have a lot of color, some carry spots and modifers. My ewes are yearlings, most 2 and 3, and a 4 and  5 year old - many lamb years ahead of them. It will be an exciting breeding fall and then the WAIT for Spring 2011 lambs.

Its been a trial and error to get the flock "right". I bought some ewes that didn't fit my changing objective and they went on to good homes. My Shetland and crossbred Shetland ewes bred to Shade for increased size and wool clip should get me to my goal. A flock of medium sized ewes that has the hardiness of the Shetland, a bit bigger in size for bigger market lambs--as we know we can't keep every lamb-----and retain the soft fleece with good crimp.  The Finn ewe and Goldie - looks Tunis-no one knows her breeding-  will provide a bit of 'something different" to keep it interesting for many years.

Till later

Jerry

First Lamb of the season!! The first lamb for us in Six years!

6:30 at evening grain, Shadow wasn't interested. She hung back and was sniffing the straw as if she were looking for something. Her lambs had dropped and her ligaments were sunk. I put her in a large pen...She is so big I am expecting twins or more.I checked her at 8:45 nothing.  
11:30 barn check  Shadow has a beautiful lamb, its all cleaned off and nursing. Oh the color!  I check the sex it a ram lamb But what a pretty ram lamb.  "Shade" has HST markings. He is sired by a white Border Leicester ram  Shadow is a great mom and has plenty of milk. Shadow is a 120# ewe and Shade is a hefty lamb. I will be watching Shade as he grows and his fleece develops, maybe he will be a ram candidate for my spinner flock.
Shadow was in need of more groceries when I bought her, so dropping a single egg was probably all she could muster. And farming's perennial optimism maybe she will more lambs next time. I like her.
My other 4 ewes, Maybeline and Cher are bred Border Leicester, Goldlie and Silver are bred Shetland
are not due till May  So further lamb excitement will have to wait..and wait.........and wait........

Till later

Jerry

Bits and Pieces

I have too much time on my hands I will admit it. Retired and doctor ordered to take it easy...I have my hobby farming set up for ease of feeding and care. Half my barn is filled with hay and straw (yes right now plenty for winter 2010-11) and am feeding the last of the hay out of the garage. Now the garage is for parking vehicls in! Grains and supplements are handy by the hay, water hydrant in the barn, a heated tub for winter water- which I dip out a pail so the chickens get warm water. Chicken walk-in pens inside the barn. Chores are 'too easy' as in not time consuming.......more time to lean of the fence and watch.
Goldie possible parentage
Goldie  Note Goldie's ear 3 notches left ear ewe and a  triplet?

 Finn Tunis ewe  Same bare head and coloring

Where do I go from here? Shetland ewes weigh 68 to 100 pounds. A pure Shetland lamb is slow to mature. I have been surfing the internet for ideas. I found farms using colored Finn rams on their Shetland ewes. Today's Finn is larger and bigger boned. Finn ewes 130-160 pounds, rams 150-200 pounds, Finn cross lambs have small head and make for easy lambing. Finns are very docile so the crosses will be tame and easy to handle. The Finn increases milk production and the cross lambs weigh 80 -90 pounds by fall. And as we all know a Finn cross ewe can routinely have triplets and raise them. The Finn fleece micron test is 22-29. wool clip is 6-10 pounds and soft enough to be worn next to the skin. So adding Finn blood will maintain or improve the quality and quantity of the Finn/Shetland fleece I have spoken to Gail and have reserved a Spring ram lamb from her moorit Finn ram and her colored ewes....black, blue-grey and spotted  all of Wee Croft breeding.  I can maintain my Shetland colors on the crosses, increase prolifically, increase size and market a bigger lamb.  And most/all the lambs will be polled.

Gail's Osmo Finn yearling Ram  He is half again the size of Gail's Shetland rams

(pic courtesy of Little Red Oak)

A blue grey Finn Shetland ram lamb

A whole pasture of ewes like the blue grey above would be just great

Till later

Jerry

I need your help! What breed(s) is Goldie?

Goldie is an exceptional ewe. She was sold as a Shetland but is the size of a good mule ewe, so not a Shetland. I would like to produce more like her-- with the right ram on my Shetland ewes  I like her
Open face and head, clean legs, friendly disposition, small ears to the side, fine fleece. She doesn't have the erect ears of a BFL cross, nor the pendulous ears of a Karakul or Tunis, as a 2 yr old produced a beautiful single lamb so probably not part Finn or Romanov.
She was bred to a Shetland ram and produced Silver. Silver has Shetland quality fleece and again the size of a hefty mule.

I don't know the answer just ask for your best guess, may be you have a  ewe like her and can suggest her breeding?
Leave your comment or email me at pfletcher@gctel.net
 Thanks
Jerry
Karakul Finn ewe

                                                                                          

Karakul Cross ewe

Half Romanov ewe

  

      NC Cheviot/shetland                                             

Boy! Times Have Changed

I raised several breeds of Bantams and Chickens 2003-2006 Old English Bantams, Silkies, colorful laying hens. Fantail, Roller and Modena pigeons.  I shipped out +300 Express Mail live Bird shipments. Once I got an email from Las Vegas, a mother wrote that last night her son's hens were lost to a coyote. She wanted to replace them fast as her son was 10. We went out to the coops, picked out 2 colorful laying hens, took pictures and emailed the pics back to her, She was thrilled!  She paid $30 for the 2 hens, $10 shipping box and $55 to ship.....she sent the $95 by PayPal and we shipped them out that afternoon. Son was thrilled!
I sold rare color Modena cock birds for $100-150 a piece. Happy buyers all over I even sent bantams to Alaska!

I had Boer goats for 5 years. Registered Colored Boers, I sold breeding stock,  I would advertise my sale goats on UMListserv goat forum on Thursday and they would be paid for and picked up by Saturday, One Saturday I have 26 goats for sale, 3 buyers made appts came, bought and left happy All 26 were sold.

Enter the economic turn down, recession, depression, or mini-crash  pick your poison.  Hobby farmers tightened their belts with higher pries for gas, food,, mortgage payments, job loss or had their hours cut back and the fear of "where it will all end?"  and they quit buying stock for their small herds/flocks. By 2008 Registered sales were real slow and prices were down  December 2009 I was fortunate to sell my entire colored herd to a young breeder who wanted my breeding stock--I got lucky..I got pre recession prices.
  I had a commercial flock of sheep for 10 years, was raised on a dairy farm with hogs. I farmed independently as a dairy farmer for 11 years 1976 to 1986,milk prices dropped the variable interest farm notes at 8% (been variable for years but not a problem) went to 18-20%. I was diagnosed with Osteoarthritis in my knees and hip  at 32!! We decided to sell our dairy. We had our sale at the farm. We set up a sale ring and holding pens and sold cow families...grandma cow -daus-grand daus  We sold 103 head of Registered Jerseys in 3 hours to buyers from 7 states  Again we landed on our feet.

So I am new to Shetlands, but am an out hand at hobby farming. So at this stage of life, no hype, no registration papers, no chasing big money or showing. I will raise the Shetlands I like (bigger than average) with excellent fleece. Market the fleece, keep back the ewe lambs I like, ship the rest of the lamb crop  Sure if someone wants to buy my extra ewe lambs that will work too.

We have one grand daughter, her parents are not together, her dad my son has left our family. He won"t speak to us or his siblings.He has mental issues. (he is the oldest son but I didn't include him in the family blog) We are close to Nessie's mommy. We have court order visitation on weekends and weeks in the summer. When Mommy can't handle Nessie....now Nessie is an angel- really she is. We get a call to come and get her...we have her a lot, Nessie was here for most of her first 6 months, then her mommy gave Nessie to her mother to raise till Nessie was 2. Mommy Tracey rarely visited Nessie, daddy not all at. We had a family meeting. Tracey's mother has Fibromylgia (sp) and said she couldn't care for Nessie, so it was our turn. We thought Great and we go for physical custody! But Tracey wanted to try to raise Nessie.....she has been "trying" for 4 years. Before Nessie started Kindergarten we had Nessie for 18-27 days a month for 7 months.....if we have Nessie more than 50% of the time for 12 months we can file for De facto guardianship and be granted physical custody. Tracey pulled Nessie back when someone told her of the 12 month guardianship rule. We've tried for legal physical custody twice....we just have to keep being there for Nessie and see what happens. If  Tracey would be the bigger person admitting she can't do it and let Nessie stay here that would be ideal  Tracey could have weekends with Nessie.

I have raised kids (actual little kids not adult kids) for 32 1/2 years and am still doing it with Nessie

It would be best for Nessie to be here -- We like our peace and quiet but if we have to raise another child we will do it gladly and passionately  On that thought I coined this phrase by sheer accident.

One's legacy is the people they leave behind, the goodness they have spread and the lives they have touched.

 Till Later
Jerry

A Beautiful Afternoon!

I had some water run into part of the barn with the rapid thaw. I put down lots of straw but as I walked across it I could hear squish-squish and I was not pleased. We have a huge puddle west of us. At noon the frost is gone and the puddle disappeared. Good! an end to the water running across the frozen ground. So I cleaned the barn and put down some good hay/straw chaff. Nice The barn looks good again. I am a little frantical about my barn I like it clean, dry and fresh. And I will admit-- I hover over my ewes and chickens. I was raised by good German parents,who said" if you are going to have animals, you are to take good care of them and feed them well." I guess it stuck.

Met my Shadow, sold as a Shetland cross.... When we sheared she has black guard hair throughout her wool. I have had Romanovs in the past-- Shadow is part Romanov no doubt.
She is 2 yrs old-- we checked her teeth- due in late April and is carrying quite a load.
So tame she will stand for a good petting. Her fleece with its coarse black guard hair mixed in fine wool was one of the first to sell.......hand spinner wanted to try something different



I swapped my last two ewes for sale Charm and Diamond to Rayna. I am getting a mother/daughter pair. Goldie is a 3 yr old, her breed in a mystery but she's pretty, tame and look what she produced! Silver is a yearling was sired by a Shetland ram . Both Goldie and Silver are bred to a Shetland ram and due in May. Thanks Rayna they will be a great addition to my flock Pictures courtesy of North Star Sheep
Goldie stretching
.
Silver with Goldie

Silver is a Gulmoget
Just look at Silver's face!!




Another addition which has been much anticipated-- Highlands Hollow BlueBell from Gail. She is one of Gail's great foundation ewes. She is an exceptional ewe, excellent fleece and outstanding conformation. BlueBell is a hefty ewe 100 + pounds, I like my Shetland ewes a bit bigger than average. They work best for my hobby flock. BlueBell arrives after her lambs are weaned about July 1st. Thanks so much Gail Just think next fall BlueBell bred to Bombarde. Now that will be some great lambs. A nice son of theirs will be my next ram.
BlueBell last fall

Picture courtesy from Little Red Oak Shetlands

Its quiet around here. We have our granddaughter for an extended weekend. Last night Nessie complained of an ear ache. Paula took her to the ER, yep another ear infection. Ness is on meds and is taking it easy. At 6 she likes her alone time with us. She is our only grand kid so she gets lots of attention. We may indulge her a bit, but she knows to be kind, caring and be well behaved. At 2 yrs old she was hanging on my pant leg......howling away,,,for the first time , I looked down at her and said "hey....Grandpa doesn't like that" Nessie stopped and has never done it again. If kids know there is a line they don't across, the rest is easy.

About all I know

Till later

Jerry