[Jacob-list] shear pleasure

[Mary E Hansson]

Hi all,
 
I managed to get the fleece off of one of my new girls this evening.
She is the "middle" one of the three based on tooth vestiges left in
their mouths and is the proud mother of twins.  Apart from acting like
she had never seen a set of shears before in her life, we got along
famously for the styling ceremony.  I clipped away fleece and she is now
the cleanest of the large girls in the sheep shed.  Also no freckling to
be aware of on her body.  My bet is that there will be one freckled girl
and two unfreckled ones in the clan.
 
A few of you might be aware that I did some playing in a sheep flock on
the road to MD.  My son learned that his mom is terrified of heights and
driving UP bridges that seem to head toward the sky (we took the Bay
Bridge in MD).  He had a great time with that one---and probably won't
soon forget the experience either for that matter.  He helped corral the
sheep while I selected some critters to thoroughly enjoy.  
 
These came with no pedigrees.  They came most certainly with no
paperwork.  They came with nothing other than their cute little faces
and the bare information of where the flock had started about 15 years
ago.  2 ewes purchased from Susanna Davy that had been bred before
purchase.  One didn't produce offspring (replacement provided which died
in delivery with no live lamb surviving).  The entire flock comes from
these 2 girls and their progeny.
 
This flock has to be the MOST inbred flock (short of the one that Gordon
has mentioned just earlier this evening on the list) around.  This one
was started with the 2 ewes (half sisters) who had been bred back to one
of their sires.  Oddly enough, it was the ewe bred back to her father
that produced the living 15 year old ram that is still on the property.
There is another one that is 11 as well.  All other ram lambs through
the years have been eaten or castrated :o) (one other pet twin to 15
year old that had to be put down 3-4 years ago--castrated many years
ago).  
 
I picked out 2 old girls (another one was coming from Katrina's group of
Twigg sheep) as well as a group of 5 lambs as a starter group.  The
flock all appear(ed) healthy.  Udders were intact.  Ewes were generally
fertile and still lambing.  There was 1 two-horned ewe in the group and
several 2 horned lambs.  There was a 2-horned male and a 4-horned male.
Approximately 50% of the group of adults were lilac.  Most have blue
eyes.  Approximately 75% or more of the lambs are lilac.  Blue eyes
predominate there as well.  The lilac color is the "chocolate"
variety---none of the grey coloring.
 
The 15 year old ram is rather faded out, but his spotting pattern is
still distinct.  He is lilac and blue-eyed.  He isn't all that
pretty---but at 15, he doesn't much seem to care.
 
The 11 year old ram has very little gray on him.  He is a black and
white animal and quite the looker.  His horns are also damaged.
 
Both rams were complete gentlemen----and I am extremely leary of rams.  
 
As to expected defects that I noted.......1 case of parrot mouth in
older ewe, 1 possible issue with a lamb---but those have to be evaluated
at a year of age rather than before the jaw has finished growing, 1
grade 2 notch in 2 separate old girls, 1 grade 2 notch in one lamb, lack
of penile covering in a ram lamb (might have been caused from excessive
cleaning by mom, but could be inbreeding)---all other ram lambs had all
their parts in the correct places.  Size of lambs and adults were not
being depressed either from what I could detect.  One long-term breeder
in MD felt like the hooves were narrow on one of my ewe lambs as well.
 
Culling practices in this flock through the years were purely done by a
butcher coming and picking out enough meat animals to keep the owners
happy.  The bulk of the flock does seem to be older rather than younger.
There are a few younger ewes in the group.  The original 2 ewes have
been dead a number of years---5-8??
 
Fleece types:  the 3 girls pretty much tell the story well......one is
"old style" (rather coarse-looking and nasty), one is open, crimpy and
with that demi-luster, and the third is more of the downy variety thick
and spongy.  Lambs ran the gamut from soft fleeces to the hairy type
fleeces, to the middle fleeces between the 2 extremes.
 
Hooves and horns were black or striped.
 
One interesting aside:  never has there been a bottle baby raised or
produced in the flock.  Mrs. Twigg mentioned that if there were any
lambs born without a mother accepting them, they would have had to be
adopted by another mother or die.  Few lambs have died through the
years, and apparently unplanned deaths have been the rare occurance.
Poor health and bad mothering don't appear to have been issues that
survived or were fostered.
 
Am I excited about this group?  Yup!  I am also clearing out a large
percentage of the sheep I have accumulated to make room for this
"playing" that will be done.  I won't be keeping sheep based on their
background or pedigrees......I will be keeping sheep that I absolutely
love.  The "making room" has already begun.
 
Mary Ellen Hansson

ISeeSpots Farm

Jacob Sheep:  Those horny, fuzzy critters

Shop:  Knitting, crochet, spinning supplies

www.iseespots.com

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