Tuesday, November 10, 2009

New Finn Ewes, Oh boy!



The Finns I can get locally are fine sheep, of Wee Croft lineage, bred at Gale Woods Farm by Tim Reese, the Farm manager.  Gale Woods is a teaching farm park in Minnetrista, MN.  Tim's flock is certified scrapie-free and tested for OPP.  I was thrilled to get 3 new Finn ewes from him.  This black girl with the big white splash on her forehead also has a white foot.  She was sheared last month-- while her "sister", who to my eye looks modified black, or emsket in Shetland terms-- was not.    I was stunned to really see her color today.


You see, I wasn't even going to buy this solid colored ewe, but she came up to me and laid her head on my thigh.  She's a love, and look at that wool!

Of course, it's the spotted cow of a sheep that first caught my eye.  What a splashy look!

They're a little spooky in their new yard.  This lineup was caused when the farm cat walked by!

9 comments:

Sabrina Wille Erickson said...

Nice ewes! That fleece and color are gorgeous. And they all seem to have beautiful conformation, too! Congratulations.

I assumed the Finns would look just like Shetlands, but they don't. It makes me happy to think there are still these visible differences between the Northern Short-tailed breeds.

Gail V said...

HI SABRINA!
Nice photo you chose for your profile. Those Finns are long legged-- different from the Shetlands, you are right. Sometimes one of them, already here, moves like a deer, I've thought. I love them. I think all the new ones were bottle lambs, so they are super friendly, too. Niav is still just as sweet and friendly, by the way.

Candy said...

How exciting for you Gail. I love the color of that fleece. I'm glad you were there to save them.

Terri D. said...

Lovely ewes, Gail! Have you seen Finnsheep gray? I wonder if that is anything close in color to your Emsket ewe? I have been spinning up your ram Osmo's fleece. It spins like a dream. With his brown, it will be fun to see what colors you get! I am so pleased with my new Finn ewes! I'm glad we were able to keep them from the butcher...

Gail V said...

Hi Terri and Candy. I was glad to keep them from the butcher. Only a tenuous grip on reality kept me from taking them all home. I was lacking black in Finns, so now I will have it in spades. But I have always wanted a dark gray wool.
Terri, I don't think it's Ag Gray, or the color change would be dramatic from root to tip. It's so uniform, that's what makes me think modified color instead. But I don't know what the other Finn breeders call gray. . .

Terri D. said...

I believe I have read that gray is supposed to be rare in Finns. But I don't know what is considered gray in Finn standards either. I guess we will learn. :-)

Connie Peterson said...

I will be anxious to see what your spotted "cow" fleece looks like!

Lovely ewes there. So glad you saved them!

Caraleigh said...

WOW! What great looking ewes and I love the pied....neat markings. I can't wait to see what you have for lambs next spring!

Sabrina Wille Erickson said...

YIKES!
I didn't know that photo would be visible. Since I'm on dial-up I never load the profile pics.
Clancy took that pic. I'll have to change it to a sheep one or something.
Thanks for bringing it to my attention! :)