Like peanut butter and jelly...

In my humble opinion, kids and sheep go together just like PB & J.  I may be the teensiest bit biased, but I think that animals and kids are pretty great separately, but put them together and the joy is amplified.  All these photos are courtesy of Corinne Rasso of Crosswinds Farm, she and her sister Marie are kind enough each year to be the photographers for our show in Jefferson and my hat is off to them for the fine work they do for us. Since we can't post 200 photos on our MSSBA website, I thought I'd share a few of the kids and their sheep on here.  

See what I mean????  It makes an ordinary sheep show.....something special.   Thanks to all the parents and grandparents that cultivate the interest of our youth.  Without their support, these children wouldn't have a chance to do this.  

WSWF 2012.......another great year

Where do I start?  This year was my first as show chair for MSSBA and I have so many people to thank, that I'm afraid I'll forget someone.  But here goes........
Thank you to my show committee: Garrett Ramsay, Corinne Rasso, Kim Nikolai, Maureen Koch, and Chris Greene.  You guys are awesome.
Thank you to Juliann Budde for being our announcer, Maureen for being Ring Steward, Maegan Snow for tackling the sometimes confusing job of checking in the class entries and getting placings as the exhibitors left the ring.  Thank you to Marie and Corinne for taking photos and getting pizza for Friday night, the photographer that judged the fleece competition, the our fleece and sheep judge, Letty Klein, our handmade competition judge, Kathy Olmstead.   Thanks to to Penny and Alicia Becker for their help, Chris and Alan Greene for the very nice talk on Flett sheep and AI processes,  to Kim and Bob Nikolai, Theresa and Jeff Gygi for their help.  A special thank you to my husband, Mike,  for the million and one things he did for me over the past week and especially this weekend.  I know showing isn't his "thing", but he sucked it  up and hit the show ring with me this year.  I have no idea what I'd do without this wonderful man in my life. 
Special thanks to all our sponsors and volunteers, without you, the show could not happen.    Thanks to our exhibitors, for traveling and making this show successful.  If I've missed anyone, it is not intentional, so please forgive me. 

Some pictures and placings............more to follow.

Reserve Champion Ram

1st Place Ram Lamb

1st Place Pair of Ram Lambs

OK Acres Ringo

Ringo and I

 

 Reserve Supreme Champion

Champion Ewe

1st Place Senior Ewe

Sommarang Elise

And Gavin Snow

Gavin, Letty Klein (judge) and Elise

  

Reserve Champion Ewe

Sheltering Pines Classique

Garrett Ramsay

Garrett, Letty Klein (judge) and Classique

 

 

 

 

And drum roll please.............the Supreme Grand Champion is........................

Under The Son Coberg

Champion Ram

1st Place Yearling Ram

Supreme Grand Champion

Theresa Gygi and Coberg

 

Wisconsin State Fair

I was pleasantly surprised to be asked to participate in the Wisconsin State Fair Hall of Breeds this year.  I thought that the chance to share the FFSSA display kit, and some of my projects would be a great way to expose the public to Shetland sheep.  I was not prepared for the vast numbers of people that filed through the sheep barn, and was a bit overwhelmed by the interest that my little sheep generated while we were there.  It was 4 days of fun doing what I love.....talking about Shetland sheep. 
The most popular comment that my husband and I heard time and again was, "Oh my gosh, they are sooooo cute".   The most popular question was,  "Are these babies or is that their full grown size?" (I brought 2 growthy yearling ewes and 2 Apil lambs) The one comment that got the whole crowd smiling and giggling was, "Oh look, she's wagging her tail".  Now I know that none of this has anything to do with their fleece, but I wasn't there to push fleece, I was there to get Shetland sheep  in front of the public and they LOVED it. 
I did manage to have a table of roving, yarn, and some knitted, woven and felted items, and there were a lot of comments about how soft and nice they were, the favorite item being Sabrina's little felted mouse, Eek, with the little Brahma hen and her nest being a close second in terms of popularity.  I did a little spinning, which fascinated the children and brought back some fond memories for some of the adults. 
Most of the parents took such pleasure in showing the kids the sheep, explaining that we sheared off their wool, then washed it, and made this (the would show them the roving) then they spin it on this, (pointing to a spinning wheel) and then the wool is made into yarn, and they would point out the yarn and then you can knit, weave or crochet one of these (they would point to the finished products).   By having all that stuff right there in one place, I provided an opportunity for parents and children to make the connection between the animal and the end result and that was so unexpected, but very rewarding. 

Kids.......I love them and so does Alabama.  See the lady in the bottom left of this picture?  She's explaining to this little boy that the wool is used to make things.  She lost him about 2 minutes into the explanation, but she was so happy to have the chance to teach him about sheep and what can be done with their wool.  It made me smile. 

This little older lady was so taken with Alabama and she was the perfect ambassador for the breed all 4 days.  Each person got a lesson on why it's so important to clean and sanitize your hands after touching each sheep.  (they had no idea)  The Fair had hand sanitizer everywhere.

Display table and "feelers"  (people that feels things)  big grin

More crowd shots

2012 Micron data

Ewes

OK Acres Alabama-yearling        25.0 AFD/4.4 SD/21.9 CV/9.1 CEM/84.0 CF/24.6 SF
OK Acres Alexandria-yearling     23.6 AFD/4.4 SD/18.7 CV/7.2 CEM/95.5 CF/22.6 SF
Lil Ctry. Bailey-2 yr old               28.0 AFD/5.3 SD/18.7 CV/9.2 CEM/68.4 CF/26.8 SF
Lil Ctry. Bee Sting-yearling          23.7 AFD/4.8 SD/20.2 CV/9.0 CEM/91.0 CF/22.9 SF
Sheltg Pines Catherine-7 yrs        28.6 AFD/5.5 SD/19.1 CV/9.8 CEM/67.2 CF/27.4 SF
Sheltg Pines Ceylon-4 yr old        29.2 AFD/5.8 SD/19.8 CV/10.1CEM/60.2 CF/28.2 SF
Sommarang Challis-7 yr old         30.2 AFD/5.9 SD/19.7 CV/9.7 CEM/51.4 CF/29.0 SF (leased)
Lil Ctry. Disco-yearling                24.9 AFD/6.1 SD/24.5 CV/11.8 CEM/81.7 CF/25.0 SF
Kimberwood Dot-5 yr old           28.8 AFD/6.4 SD/22.3 CV/11.0 CEM/62.3 CF/28.4 SF
Sommarang Farrah-4 yr old         31.2 AFD/6.1 SD/19.4 CV/11.4 CEM/47.0 CF/29.9 SF (leased)
Wintertime Garnet-2 yr old          26.7 AFD/4.7 SD/17.9 CV/8.4 CEM/81.2 CF/25.3 SF
Sheltg Pines Hermoine-7 yrs        29.9 AFD/5.5 SD/18.5 CV/9.1 CEM/54.6 CF/28.5 SF
White Pine Killian-yearling           24.6 AFD/5.3 SD/21.7 CV/9.6 CEM/88.2 CF/24.1 SF
Sheltering Pines Maura-7 yr old   27.9 AFD/4.9 SD/17.7 CV/7.9 CEM/70.9 CF/26.4 SF
Lil Ctry. Meadow-5 yrs old         28.7 AFD/5.7 SD/19.7 CV/9.2 CEM/62.3 CF/27.6 SF
Sheltg Pines Salicional-6 yr old    26.3 AFD/4.8 SD/18.2 CV/8.3 CEM/81.4 CF/25.0 SF
OK Acres Salina-yearling            24.3 AFD/5.1 SD/20.9 CV/9.4 CEM/88.2 CF/23.6 SF
OK Acres Seneca-yearling          21.9 AFD/4.5 SD/20.7 CV/8.3 CEM/96.1 CF/21.3 SF
OK Acres Sierra-yearling            22.6 AFD/4.0 SD/17.9 CV/7.2 CEM/97.2 CF/21.5 SF
Sheltg Pines Temperance-2 yrs    24.4 AFD/4.7 SD/19.2 CV/9.1 CEM/90.9 CF/23.4 SF
Lil Ctry.Velma-3 yr old               29.4 AFD/5.6 SD/19.1 CV/9.7 CEM/60.4 CF/28.2 SF
OK Acres Vienna- yearling         22.2 AFD/5.2 SD/23.5 CV/9.0 CEM/94.6 CF/22.1 SF


Rams


Sheltg Pines Bug                       26.2 AFD/4.8 SD/18.2 CV/7.9 CEM/83.7 CF/24.9 SF  3 yr old
Sheltg Pines TelSay Camden     25.3 AFD/4.5 SD/17.8 CV/7.9 CEM/87.9 CF/24.0 SF  yearling
OK Acres Monroe                   22.9 AFD/4.2 SD/18.5 CV/7.9 CEM/95.6 CF/21.8 SF yearling
Crosswinds Thor                      23.2 AFD/4.5 SD/19.8 CV/8.1 CEM/94.4 CF/22.4 SF yearling
Wether
OK Acres Chandler-yearling       22.1 AFD/4.6 SD/20.7 CV/8.4 CEM/96.1 CF/21.4 SF  (fall sample)

Well, there it is, the good, the not so good and a couple surprises.  Looks like Thor is officially off the sales list for now, I will use him one more year and deal with the horns.  Monroe was going to be culled, but I have no idea how I will be able to send him to the processor in two weeks with numbers like that, and his structure is so fantastic to boot.  Anybody need a good ram?  lol  Just got his fleece back from being hand processed, got it on my wheel this weekend and it is spinning up fingering weight so easily that it's like I'm spinning nothing.  I've never spun fingering weight, and was scared to try it, but this fleece begs to be spun that way and attempts to spin it thicker is a struggle.
 
My hay this winter was superior quality, and I'm wondering if that has any effect on my fleece, as the previous year my hay was the worst I'd ever had and my micron numbers were a a point or two lower on the older ewes.  Just another thing that I'd like to explore more thoroughly in the coming years.  Since we started making our own hay last year, we have a bit more control of the quality, so I may be able to study the feed/fleece quality correlation more readily.  I also wonder if the fact that I got my fleece samples so late in the year has any effect on my test results......hmmmmm, I'm thinking I'll try a few experiments earlier in the year this next winter.  Maybe a sample taken every month on one or two sheep would be an interesting study.
Just an FYI to all you folks that micron test.........Texas A & M did NOT raise their fees!! I sent in $2.50 each for 27 samples and they returned the results in one week and I now have a credit.  The fee is still $2.00 per sample and the turn round time was very fast.


As usual, numbers aren't the be all and end all of a Shetland sheep, but it's a nice tool to help educate ourselves and our customers about fleece.   Now if someone wants a pound of Grade 1 fleece, I know exactly which sheep will give me that product and my customer knows that they will be getting what they ordered.

Nice Surprise

The Fine Fleece Shetland Sheep Association got a nice mention from a fellow blogger.  This gal did a very nice write up about our Shepherd's Harvest rooing demos on Mother's Day weekend.

Check it out at: Independent Stitch Blog

As usual, I have my mouth open.....for those of you that know me, that should come as no surprise.  :)

6 Reasons to smile

More beautiful wool =Reason to smile
Love our new shearer, David Keir and I highly recommend him for Shetland sheep.  He understands the "rise" in Shetlands, he's gentle, calm and my fleeces aren't full of second cuts!!!!  

I admit that this week has had some trials that I could have done without.  Without trials, we can't fully appreciate some of the little jewels in life, nor can we fully appreciate the priceless jems...Friends & loved ones. 

My hubby, Mike, the my #1 reason for smiling on a daily basis,.....and the reason I can do what I love in life.

Just when I think I'm having a horrible week, little things pop up that make me smile.  One of those is a little "contest" given by a friend, fellow shepherdess and blogger.  I shamelessly promoted the fact that I wanted to win and guess what? I won!!!  I opened my little package from Michelle of Boulderneigh and I found a yummy bag of candy and a mini raglan sweater that she had knit.  Thank you Michelle, I love the gifts, especially the little sweater because it was made by someone special.  

This picture made me smile

My friend , Terri....holding the oops lamb, Santana, that was born yesterday
Terri helped us with shearing yesterday, as did my friend Donna.  Since Donna was our photographer for the shearing, you won't get to see her .  (big grin) Reason #2

Candy!!!!  Who doesn't love candy?   Smiling again.

A perfect mini raglan sweater, THIS was a very pleasant surprise since I secretly covet these little
works of art.   Yep, smiling.

A couple weeks ago I got this wonderful gift from Pat, she is a fellow ASK member (Argylian Society of Knitters).  I was so touched by this kind gesture that I actually cried.  She paints a lot of dogs and when she saw that I had posted a picture of our new Maremma pup on Facebook, she picked out a rock and painted  a profile of Bianca's head on that rock.  My dad took the rock home and mounted it on a nice little wood plaque so I could hang it on my wall.  Another thing that makes me smile.  

Pat is a friend and fellow knitter that belongs to my knitting group, and she paints too.  I was delighted to come to knitting to find this little treasure waiting for me.
(the rock is about 3 1/2" in diameter)

Smiling can be quite contagious.....Happy Wednesday everyone. 

Life can be fickle

Before I tell you my good news, I want to thank each of you for your heart~felt words of comfort.  I know that there is no real answer to my question, but it's how I felt yesterday when my heart was heavy.   I prayed for an end to the little lambs suffering even when I knew there was not much chance she was going to recover, my prayer was answered, just not in the way I had planned.  Answers to pray aren't always what we want, but it's always what is best, that is a life lesson I've learned the hard way.  Her mom, Alabama, spent most of the day and night calling for her baby and I so wanted to be able to comfort her.

So, my good news.........We had another oops baby waiting when I got back home!!!  Salina, a Salicional x Forrest daughter, had a beautiful, healthy fawn kat ewe lamb.  She is lovely and has the oddest markings on her head and around her neck.  I had no intention of breeding any of my 2011 ewe lambs, but it turns out that Bug had other ideas.  When I saw that there was another lamb on the ground, my husband reminded me that Bug did escape after he got him back to me from his vacation at Juliann's house in December.  I remember saying to him, "Boy, I sure hope he didn't breed anyone".   Ha, subconsciously I knew it was rubbish the second it left my mouth.  

Here she is.....Santana, my little oops lamb that came at exactly the right time.  

Salina and her ewe lamb, Santana
Salina is a stellar mom, just like her mom...Salicional.

What would you say this head marking would be?  She has a white "beard " that goes around her head too.  And that
goofy white spot on her nose.  She's just a cutie pie.
Click to bigify

We spent most of last night preparing for the shearer's arrival, he is coming tonight after we get off work.  We spent a bit of our time flipping over the rest of the "unbred" yearlings to make sure we didn't have any more surprises.  Looks like we are finally done with a total of 29 lambs.  

Roo, roo, roo your sheep....

Merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream. (yep, I've finally gone completely wacko)

Thank you Tylor for your graphic expertise....

The kids loved it when we handed them some fleece to touch and take with them.

We had to blade shear this guy a bit to finish.

Another large crowd for the demo

Most of this one was roo'd easily, but the neck wool wasn't quite ready and she was finished off with hand  shears

Garrett showing the fleece to the crowd, this fleece was sold right off the sheep and Kim donated the proceeds to FFSSA....Thank you Kim!!! 

Display Booth.....next to the demo booth

Shepherd's Harvest was a great experience and loads of fun for myself, Kim and Garrett this past weekend.  We had planned on doing 4 demos, 2 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday, but the response to the the rooing demo's were so positive and well attended, we just kept going and managed to do 10 sheep!!!!  The weather was perfect and I understand from the event organizer that there were over 8,000 people in attendance at this year's festival.  Sunday morning Sandy (part of the festival organization crew) commented to Garrett that our display and demos were getting a lot of buzz and some very positive comments about how interesting there were to watch.  The response exceeded our expectations, and despite it being a lot of work, we had a blast.  We were given permission to sell the raw fleeces we roo'd as long as the proceeds were going to our organization and we sold 2 fleeces right off the sheep.  We have been invited back for next year's event, and maybe we can use a few of the things we saw and heard at this year's festival to make changes for next year.

Some of the comments that were made were.... "I had no idea that Shetland sheep did that". The best part was that so many people said "This is Shetland? I didn't know Shetland was this nice". And that's why we are working so hard to educate and give the fiber community the chance to see how wonderful Shetland fleece can be.  We also had a range of finished garments that illustrated how to utilize the fleece from various areas of the sheep, as well as a handout that indicated how each fleece type could be used in a finished item.   And once again, Eek, the felted mouse sculpture created by Sabrina was a big hit.

A huge Thank you to Kim Nikolai for letting me stay with her this weekend, plus a giant Thank you to Bob for grilling those perfect steaks on the grill Friday night.  I can't forget to thank Garrett and Tylor for all their help too.  None of of could have done this alone, so I'm grateful for the time and money spent to make this whole thing a reality.

Shepherd's Harvest....here I come

That's right folks, I'm on the road again.  My over worked hubby is stuck, once again, doing the chores at home while I trot around the country side immersing myself in sheepy activities.  (yes, I'm aware that sheepy is not a word)  
We will be in the animal barn area and there will be a Shetland sheep there as victims models for our demonstrations on how to roo and hand shear a Shetland sheep.  So get your hinders over to the festival and look us up.  You can never talk to much about Shetland sheep, knitting, spinning, weaving......well, you get the idea.   
Click to visit Shepherd's Harvest

Toodles for now (hand waving furiously)

Something new

My good friend, Kristi, from the Argyle Fiber Mill was kind enough to lend me her triangular loom to see if it would be something I enjoyed before I took the plunge and bought one.  I watched the video that came with the loom, rounded up my supplies and got started.  The first day I worked on the shawl for 5 hours........and I was hooked.  I used a  light musket  and gray yarn that I hand spun, the black and moorit yarn is mill spun.  I can't wait to get started on another one, but the since I had to return the loom, I needed to either cough up the funds for a loom or make one.  Luckily, there's yahoo group that is for Tri-loom junkies and they have some great instructions for make a tri-loom in the files section.  

My first weaving attempt..100% OK Acres Shetland wool

Saturday I loaded up my 1" x 3" x 8' boards and headed to my mom and dad's house where a fully equipped wood shop resides in my parents garage.  My dad and I spent the better part of that day building the tri-loom that you see in the picture below.  The only change I made was to add nails every 1/4" so that I could weave with DK weight yarn as well as the bulky yarn.  

Triangular loom that my dad and I made this past weekend

A very simple felted mouse and my first felting experience.  LOVED IT!!!
Body is made from 50/50 blend of Shetland and Alpaca

This little fella was created while I was is in Waukesha at the WI Spin In.  My mouse in nowhere near as spectacular as Sabrina's that she lent to FFSSA for the display booth.  Mine is kind of like what a 1st grader would create and Sabrina's is what a college aged art major would make.  :)

One more ewe

I can't say enough good things about the 2 ram lambs I got from Velma this year, she never disappoints me, always gives me top notch lambs no matter what ram I use.  I have to see how these guys mature, but if they look close to how nice they are now, I don't know how I will decide who goes and who stays.  Lambing is bittersweet for me, it means I have to make hard decisions.  But I can certainly put those off for a bit yet.

Elvis
Velma x Thor ram
divets instead of horns, great structure and very promising fleece.
As Corinne would say, Crimpy Purse too!!!  

Let me introduce you to a few of our new flock members.

Bing Crosby
Challis x Bug ram
being retained for further evaluation

Everything Bing does seems to scream........"Look at me"
I'm almost done lambing.....27 lambs to date, Purebred Shetland count is: 9 ewes and 13 rams. Crossbred lamb count is: 2 ewes and 3 rams.
I purchased Bee Sting late in the fall and while at Lil Country Acres, Juliann exposed Bee to Bug, she leased him for a month after I pulled my rams from their breeding groups.  This puts little Bee about one month later than the rest.  She's round and has an udder, so I'm thinking she won't be too much longer now.

Celine
Challis x Bug ewe
Being retained

Last night I sat on the hill and got a good ole dose of cuteness from the lambs, and coincidentally, I had my camera, so here are some of the lambs with a few weeks under their belts.  Let me know when you are sick of looking at lamb pictures, it won't stop me, but you can tell me.  :)

Buddy Holly
Dot x Bug ram
Can't let this guy go yet. 

Daughtry
Catherine x Thor ram (for sale)

Elton John
Salicional x Bug ram
Love this ram.......will consider selling, but reluctantly after evalutation 

John Lennon
Garnet x Bug ram
(retaining for evaluation)

Madonna
Meadow x Thor ewe
(I have two of these ewes, one is sold)

Axl Rose
Catherine x Thor ram
horned-will be offered for sale after evaluation

Mick Jagger
Hermoine x Thor ram
horned-will be offered for sale after evaluation

Olivia
Salicional x Bug ewe
Being retained

Ozzy Osborne
Hermoine x Thor ram
for sale after evaluations

Reba
Farrah x Camden ewe
Being retained

Ringo Starr
Velma x Thor ram
Being held for evaluation

Shania
Bailey x Bug ewe
Love this ewe, but I have several fawn kat so may be for sale

Tina Turner
Dot x Bug ewe
Being retained

Whitney
Catherine x Thor ewe
Being held for evaluation