Monday, January 25, 2016

Transitions!

After much discernment I decided to sell all of my Icelandic sheep. Living here in the hot humid Southeast (central NC) where there are strings of days where the temp reaches into the mid to upper 90's along with very high humidity with 80's at night is just too hard on this lovely sheep breed. I grew tired of watching them be stressed from the heat and then having to drench them with all manner of things to keep them healthy enough to fight off the menacing barber pole worm. I had a feeding and mineral regime which worked well enough that I only lost one sheep to parasites since 2012, but the worry and all the dosing with things to keep them healthy here became too much for me. I just love this breed and I loved each individual Icelandic sheep I've owned. This was a heartbreaking decision that was made out of love for my sheep. I sold them all to farms that are at least 10 degrees cooler on average than mine. Currently, I have two Finnsheep ewes, a Finn ram and two Gulf Coast ewe lambs. I am hoping that I can find a breed that is more adapted to being healthy in my climate that also has fun personalities and lovely fiber.

In March last year I bought a lovely dark brown 2 year old FBA Reg. Finnsheep ewe and named her Suklaa (Chocolate in Finnish). She has a nice conformation and luxurious coffee colored fleece.
Suklaa on her way home with me.

Suklaa

Later in June I bought a yearling FBA Reg. Finnsheep ewe from Circle M Farm in Tennessee. Her name is Fiona and she is quite the pet. It's hard to get good photos of her because she wants to be up close to me whenever I'm in the paddock with her. Along with her I bought a weanling wether, Pilvi (Finnish for Cloud).

Fiona is a 2014 ewe that has won my heart as a pet. She's silly too.
 
Fiona has a lovely, open, curly, very soft fleece!
Included in that trip was my purchase of a gorgeous 2014 FBA Reg. Finnsheep ram named Highlander. He was bred by Ironwood Hill Farm in New York, but had spent the year with Joanna Dufort in Kentucky siring some lovely lambs. I am so excited to have him and Fiona!! Both Fiona and Suklaa are bred to him for April lambs.
His fleece is so soft and open. His color is gray and his pattern is Badgerface.

In September I took a road trip with my friend June to Colbert, GA and purchased two wonderful Gulf Coast Native ewe lambs from Hope Springs Farm, Jan Souther. Their names are Frida on the right and Kahlo on the left. I'm excited to have this landrace breed that has been adapting to the hot humid South for nearly 500 years. The breed shows parasite resistance and heat/humidity tolerance.

Frida and Kahlo at SAFF. (Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair)
Kahlo won the Fine Wool Ewe Lamb class in the Jr Show and went on to win the breed Championship.
Both Frida and Kahlo placed well in the Open show.
Lastly, in November I bought a 2015 Gulf Coast Native ram lamb, Finster, from Joanne Maki of Smithsonia, GA. I want to add some color to my flock and Finster was as close as I could get this year. He has a lovely smokey blue face and legs. His fleece is very soft with small but open locks.

Finster
My plan is to breed Finster to Frida and Kahlo in March for August lambs.