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Monday, November 23, 2015

Love Is In The Air


Don't these two kissing sheep make a cute couple?  The ram (on the left) is "the wool ram" at Final Frontier Farm.  His name is Rocket and he's a Border Leicester/CVM/Rambouillet cross from Nistock Farms.  He came in with Hershey who was supposed to be "the colored wool ram", but Hershey took one look at our farm that summer and decided he'd just stay put.  I'm not sure who the ewe is, but that's why they were in the pen.  


"You're missing out, Hershey!  Look at all  my girlfriends!"


I do know who this is.  It's Olive, one of my favorite ewes.  She's of the Keebler vintage, so has a fair amount of Cotswold and a little Wesleydale mixed in.  We know what to expect with her babies (long, pretty curls :-) but we don't necessarily know what to expect from other breed crosses - the more Texel-y ewes, the ones with some Suffolk mixed in, Polypays, Dorsets...  This year we are going to do a better job tracking what each cross produces.  

A few weeks ago Kathy and I picked out 31 ewes to put in Rocket's breeding group.  One afternoon last week we penned them all up and Miss B made notes about their breeding, fleece type, temperament...  I then took a quick picture of each sheep's number and a fleece shot.  




Curly, long, lustrous fleeces


Short, but finer crimped fleeces


Lofty fuzzy fleeces*

This is going to be a fun project.  Something to work on this winter while we wait for the start of Lamb Camp next spring :-).


*These are my favorite fleeces.  The lofty, fuzzy fleeces and some medium curly fleeces are what we picked out for the Lamb Camp yarn last spring.  I'm really excited to see what we get with our other crosses though.  If we could, say, add some length to the really short, finer crimped fleeces and get crimp somewhere between the fine and loopy curls that would be really pretty, eh?

 We'll keep you posted!


*       *       *       *       *


The winner of the calendar drawing is Barbara B. :-D

Shoot me an email with your address and I'll get your calendar sent out hopefully tomorrow.


14 comments:

Alice said...

How exciting!!! How many ewes can a ram make love to? Are they monogamous?

Benita said...

Hmmmm... I need to get a hold of Kathy and get my dibs in. ;)

Mary McAndrew said...

I'm really enjoying your blog, I've just found it recently. I have always loved wool anything and now love to do feltmaking. I want to learn more about what breed is what and which ones are good for felting. When we drive around or go walking (we live in Northumberland Engand) I try to identify but it's so hard! Maybe I'll learn something from your blog!
Your project of breeding and recording who makes what kind of wool sounds really interesting too!

thecrazysheeplady said...

I'm pretty sure if he's in a breeding group of 31 cute little ewes that he's not going to be monogamous ;-).

thecrazysheeplady said...

We will be shearing in March. Let me know what you want me watch for and I'll set some pretty ones aside for you :-).

MarmePurl said...

You da man Rocket.

sophy0075 said...

Rocket will have to speed along to have romance with all those ladies! Stud muffin!

I like curly, with color. Is it possible that a natural white (? Ecru?) Ram and ewe could produce shaela, or moorit, or oatmeal - colored lambs? Maybe the ewes with CVM background might?

Susan said...

ROCKET..........had to laugh! How prophetic!! No monogamy here kids :) no pun intended.......

T.L. Merrybard said...

In the second pic she's blowing sweet nothings into Rocket's ear. :)

Unknown said...

Those sheep are something else! It still amazes me that their fleeces look so clean and white.

Far Side of Fifty said...

Looks like Rocket has his work cut out for him! So many ewes... :) Love that you gals are keeping records! I see lots of lamby snorgling in your future! Happy Thanksgiving! :)

Anonymous said...

What sweet shots!

Sheepmom said...

Rocket grew into a big boy! Can't wait to see how the lambs turn out, and fleeces! Breeding is addictive when you are striving to create that perfect animal/fleece. You are off to a good start keeping notes and rating each animal on the traits you are interested in. No 2 shepherds have the same criteria!

Sheepmom said...

Rocket grew into a big boy! Can't wait to see how the lambs turn out, and fleeces! Breeding is addictive when you are striving to create that perfect animal/fleece. You are off to a good start keeping notes and rating each animal on the traits you are interested in. No 2 shepherds have the same criteria!

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