Catching up on the lambs.

It was a pretty warm day yesterday, 4 May. All the ewes and lambs claimed their spot of shade for the afternoon. Of the 7 to shear, 2 are done. 

All of the lambing is done. Here's a update on the 2015 lambs.

First time mother, FMGL Portia delivered this handsome well made white patterned ram lamb, Mellark. Mel for short. He is polled with lovely long curls. His father is INGL Zeke.

 SM Deva delivered this fun set of twins also sired by INGL Zeke: Moorit Mouflon ram lamb, Cato, and Morrit Badgerface ewe lamb, Hawthorne. Thorne for short. Thorne is polled and Cato has barely noticeable scurs.

INGL Yuli's Moorit Mouflon ewe, MockingJay is growing nicely. She's very friendly. Her sire is Starthrower ram. She is polled.

These twin ewe lambs are out of SRX Tacocoa and by the Starthrower ram. Sae is the Moorit Grey on the left and Effie is the lovely Moorit Grey Spotted girl on the right. These two fall all over me for petting! Both are polled.

I'm keeping back Effie, MockingJay and Cato for sure. 

First lambs of 2015!

SRX Tacocoa (Moorit Grey) was the first to lamb with two ewe lambs on 4 April 2015. Their sire is STAR THROWER R M5SP1161A.

Moorit Grey Ewe "Sae"

Moorit Spotted Ewe "Effie"

INGL Yuli lambed 11 April 2015 with a single ewe lamb. Sire is also STAR THROWER R M5SP1161A.

Moorit Mouflon Ewe "MockingJay"

As you can tell I'm sticking with names from the Hunger Games Trilogy. This is the last year of this theme.

Frolicking Finnsheep and Icelandics! The Finn ewe is the only one not heavy with lambs. Makes a difference!

Introducing my new Finnsheep, Suklaa (means chocolate in Finnish).

I brought home my first Finnsheep Saturday! I drove 3 hours from NC to VA to purchase her from Shari Nees. I'm in love with her! Her fleece is so soft and her disposition is so lovely. Shari had put a lot of time and energy into gentling and halter training her. 

Finnsheep are in the Northern European Short Tailed family of sheep along with Icelandics and Shetlands. There are a few visual similarities in addition to the short tails: small ears that are set high, head shape, etc. The fleece is very different as it is fine to medium and a single coat. Finnsheep breed all year and can have litters of up to 7 and 8 lambs. Pretty wild!

I decided to go ahead and breed her for a fall lamb. When introduced to my young white patterned Icelandic ram, Haymitch, she immediately came in heat. I do believe she is bred! HA!

Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair 2014!!! A Year of Big Wins!

What Fun!!

It all started with my flocksire Zeke's fleece taking first place in the Primitive Breed White category! This was my first time showing a sheared fleece at SAFF. The judge takes each fleece out of its bag and looks it over very well and a scribe writes the judge's comments on a sheet of paper for the owner. The comments for this fleece were: "Very clean. Very strong fiber. Very nice. Beautiful luster. Strength good. Very uniform." The judge then takes out the other fleeces in the category and places them accordingly. This reflects not only on Zeke and his lovely fleece, but also on the quality of skirting done before bagging and presenting the fleece. In addition, the fleece sold in the Silent Auction for winner's fleeces! I'll be showing/selling more fleeces at SAFF next year!

The Junior Sheep Show was held on Saturday. I was lucky enough to have some very accomplished showpersons showing my ewes: Hannah King, Bailey Strub and Anna Hopkins. Big Thanks!!! Since there aren't Icelandic Classes yet, Icelandics show in the Long Wool Classes with Leceister Long Wools, Lincolns, Teeswaters, Wendslydales, and all Long Wool crosses. Wiress won her Ewe lamb class with Twill second. Portia won her Yearling Ewe class and Deva won her Aged Ewe class. Deva went on to win the Breed Championship and the Supreme Ewe of the Junior Show. She also won the Long Wool Colored Fleece class. Thanks to Hannah, Bailey and Anna for showing my ewes with such professionalism!

Jr. Long Wool Breed Championship Class. 3 of my ewes in the running with Deva winning.

Deva and Anna Hopkins. Deva went on to win Jr. Supreme Champion Ewe.

The Open Show was held Sunday. Breed Classes are shown first and the sheep are judged 60% on wool and 40% on conformation. Haymitch took second place in Long Wool Ram Lambs White behind a Teeswater and ahead of a Teeswater. Cinna won Long Wool Ram Lambs Colored. Wiress won her LW Ewe Lamb class with Clove in third. Portia was 2nd in her LW yearling class. Deva came in 2nd in LW aged ewes with Yuli in 5th. Fleece Classes are a different story; they are judged 100% on wool. Deva won LW Fleece Champion and was one of the top 4 the judge pulled out of all the sheep in the fleece Supreme Champion class. My friend Susan Proctor's colored Montadale won Supreme Chamion Fleece as a Fine Wool entry. What an incredible day!

Deva with some of her ribbons. In the Open Show ribbons are handed out only for Championships.

FMGL Wiress. She had 3 first places.

FMGL Twill.

FMGL Cinna  ~ photo by Ana Tucker

FMGL Haymitch  ~ photo by Ana Tucker

Ram Lamb For Sale: FMGL Haymitch

Here's a lovely ram lamb for sale: FMGL Haymitch.

He has a beautifully soft fleece and a nice wide horn set. 

He is halter trained and has a very respectful attitude.

$400.00

The photos below are of Haymitch's sire: INGL Zeke

What a remarkable resemblance!

At the Sountheastern Animal Fiber Fair in Asheville, NC,          Zeke won 2012 Longwool Ram Lamb class and 

went on to win Longwool Ram Champion. 

In 2013 at SAFF, he won the Longwool Yearling Ram class.

Now he has my favorite fleece and a great disposition.

Below are pictures of Haymitch's mother, INGL Yuliana.

She is a 2011 Moorit Mouflon. 

At SAFF in 2012, she won Longwool Aged Ewes.

She has the sweetest disposition, incredible milk

and has had very square, lovely twins both years breeding.

Update on Lambs for Sale

Since it finally stopped raining, I was able to get some nice shots of some of my lambs. More ram lamb photos will be in a separate post. All of my sheep are registered Icelandic Sheep from parasite resistant and heat tolerant breeding. Milkiness is part of my breeding program, too.

These two are twin ewe and ram lambs: Twill on left and Marvel on right. Marvel was the bottle lamb who has now surpassed his sister in size. They are both halter trained and very friendly. They were born the end of April. Their fleeces are SO soft. They are $400.00 each.

Twill

Marvel

These are twin ewe lambs. On the left is Wiress and Clove is on the right. They were born the first week of April. Both are halter trained and quite friendly. The fleeces on both of these girls are long and soft!

They are $500.00 each.

Wiress

Clove

There are discounts if you buy two or more at a time.

Contact me if you have any questions.