Monday, May 6, 2013

Shetland and Finnsheep Lambs 2013

WHO are YOU??
Do I need to say "copyright protected"?  Mari's finn ram lambs.  Too precious for words.
 The last lambs were born 8 days ago. Shetland ewe, LittleRedOak Trillium, started the baby boom on April 14, with this big, strong moorit gulmoget ram lamb out of Little Red Oak Scurs-- a brown scurred ram with beautiful wool.  He will need a new home.  He will grow up polled-- no horns.
With all of these pictures, remember you can double click to see them up close.


Our sweetest Shetland ewe, LRO Anthea (Annie) was the last to lamb on April 28, presenting her twins outdoors in the small barnyard near the windbreak trees. Minnesota still had a bit more winter weather for us in April, so all the sheep were held in for a few days. This is the first day of release to the grassy barnyard:


Mari (officially Reese TRP16U) brought her little rams outside.   Both rammies have brown spotted noses.  For those of you who care about sheep color genetics, that means they are Brown spotted sheep wearing white clothing.  They will pass the brown gene on to offspring.  These 3 are mild and sweet. 

Lassi, my original brown Finn Ewe,
had quads again this year, but only  two boys made it, perhaps due to their size and vigor. We had an unusual year, in general, with many RAM lambs, a few preemies, breech births and stillborn.  All of this was very hard on the shepherds, but usually the ewes got a little treasure or two to take care of in the end.
Lassi is brown piebald/HST.  Bred to Stillmeadow738 NY69-0205 (Toivo), a black HST badgerface ram, they created these fabulous boys, a Badger HST (already promised away) and a black piebald.
Next we see a lovely ewe lamb I named Frowsy (for now).  Her wild, puppy dog, glossy fur will later be replaced by nice lambswool, I have learned from past lambs.  However, last year's lamb like this stayed incredibly soft and pitch black.  Frowsy is out of LRO Nappylainen, a Holstein-styled piebald and Sulev, last years' black HST ram with TripleL genetics.  She will likely go to Missouri.
 

 


LRO Sukka, brown ewe, produced this handsome HST ram with Toivo.
I had to show you his stylin' jacket before he outgrew it.
Emily needed a picture of herself in her new Yale T-shirt for the student directory.  She chose Kimi
and quads to highlight.  Coin, the ewe lamb with the quarter shaped spot, is behind Kimi;  a ram lamb
behind Coin.   Em has Friendly the ewe lamb in her lap, while the biggest ram lamb sucks on her finger.
 

Monday, April 15, 2013

Post-Shearing, Pre-Lambing

We had a nice gathering of friends on shearing day last week.  I thought I'd show you the cleaned up flock-- only a dozen sheep this year!  9 Finnsheep total, 3 Shetlands. 

Here are the ewesies when the ordeal was over:
Trillium (Shetland, or S), Sukka, Kimi, Lassi (Finn-F) , Nina, little Shetland in front;  Nappylainen (spotty Finn) Annie (S) and Mari (F)  all pregant as can be. 
Kaia, Kimi's daughter, was hiding behind Lassi, above.


Lassi, Finn girl;  Nina, Shetland
Kimi joins Lassi and Nina.  Sooo big with babies.



Nappylainen, pregnant now, moving to Missouri this summer!
 
Lanni and Sulev, Finn yearling rams
All 3 Finn rams:  Sulev, Lanni and Toivo, who's 1-2 yrs older.


Oh feed us, please?  We are nice boys.
 

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Sheep in Minnesota winter

 
 Finally, a normal, snowy Minnesota winter--  we begin to worry about the effects of global warming when Minnesota has little snow and 40 degrees all winter, as it did last year.

The Finn and Shetland sheep don't mind the snow and cold, they are built for it.  These Finn girls are mom and daughter: Lassi (right) and Sukka.  It appears they opted to sleep outside and get snow-covered , rather than go into their lean-to for shelter.

 
  I asked my husband to go outside and take hoarfrost photos on Sunday, and to please photograph the silly ewes walking in a line.  The snow is less than a foot deep, but they will rarely deviate from the path they've trodden from feeder to shelter to fenceline where they hang out with the neighboring rams.  The result was stunning.
 DH and I also discussed selling all the sheep this summer-- which we've considered for some time.  I need a shoulder surgery, and 3 months' rest .  I am quite sure that means no hay bale or water bucket carrying.  I also want to travel in winter.  So... unless something else changes -- always possible-- we will sell off the remaining dozen Finn and Shetlands we have here, as well as the 2 dozen lambs expected to arrive in April.
Keep a watch on this blog if you want more info, and message me to inquire.  This will take a while to get done, but I know some people will have favorites-- as we always have.
 
 

Monday, November 12, 2012

A quick post about fleece



Frannie the cat, fleeces from our sheep
From my little flock of little sheep:

April's shearing of raw finn or shetland fleece in two colors:

I have a cream shetland and a white and black spotted Finn, both ewes' fleece. Each is about 5-6 lbs.

These fibers are well known to handspinners and felters for their soft beauty and color.

Raw fleece: Shetland $10/lb, Finn $14/lb.



Kora, piebald black and white finnsheep whole fleece for sale.-- 5-1/2 lbs @ $14/lb + shipping.

Maple, cream color Shetland, 6 lb whole fleece @$10/lb + shipping.
I also have roving, ready to spin or felt: charcoal/espresso color blended Finn/Shet $2.25/oz.
Many colors of Shetland $2/oz. -- brown, brown/black blend, cream and fawn, cream and brown.

I've just sent 36 lbs. of raw wool to Hidden Valley to be made into roving-- most blended Finn and Shetland, some pure Shetland.  Lovely wool and colors!