Good-Bye Bluff Country...

Good-bye Paco. You are still the most magnificent Shetland ram I have ever seen.

THE BOYS GOTTA GO....

I came home from work yesterday, to find my two adult rams had broken out of their breeding paddocks and were trying to kill each other in the 'no-man's-land' between the breeding groups. Fortunately, they didn't get INTO each other's breeding groups but were more interested in beating the crap out of each other than in stealing each other's girls. I was SO angry, I went right up to the battling boys, grabbed them by the horns and drug them back to their rightful paddocks. I then hurled a bucket of water on Bravo, to keep him from trying to go back through the fence to get at Paco and watched it freeze into a giant ice cube. (didn't even feel bad about it!) I spent the next hour fixing fences. It is VERY cold in Minnesota right now! Bravo had ripped a couple of wires off the electric on his paddock and it looks like Paco went through the gate of his. I was able to repair both, in a relatively short time but have decided that I do not want to keep rams if I'm going to be living alone. I don't like fencing!

So...FOR SALE:
"Windswept Bravo" NASSA # S19481
Bravo is a two-year old, black & white, HST (yuglet, sokket) ram with superb conformation and a dense, intermediate fleece. He sired some gorgeous lambs for me in 2006 and is bred to 4 of my girls for 2007 lambs. I kept Bravo's black/krunet ram lamb, "Bluff Country Black Diamond" ~ champion ram lamb and reserve champion ram at the 2006 Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival and have placed him with two ewe lambs for breeding this fall. Diamond will also be for sale, as I've decided to only keep ewes. Bravo is friendly but respectful (to people ~ he hates Paco!). He is halter trained and very easy to handle. His price is $600.00

ALSO FOR SALE: "BLUFF COUNTRY APOCALYPSE" (PACO) NASSA # S16941
Paco is a coming 3 year old, moorit & white, HST (smirslet/sokket> ram with outstanding conformation, gorgeous fleece and awesome horns. He has sired many exquisite lambs for me and has been breed to four of my girls for 2007 lambs. Paco was the first place yearling ram and Grand Champion Shetland Ram at the 2005 Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival. He is a very majestic, stunning animal and makes incredible babies...With people, Paco is a lover. He comes running for scratches and wags his tail when petted. He halters beautifully and is a gem to handle. Not real fond of Bravo though.... Paco's price is $600.00

LAST BUT NOT LEAST (for today, anyway!)
"BLUFF COUNTRY BLACK DIAMOND" NASSA # S22436 Diamond is a breathtakingly beautiful, black/krunet, son of Bravo and Flash Flood. He'll throw HST spotting genetics as well as his awesome conformation and dense, soft fleece. Diamond is in with Dream and Rosie for 2007 lambs. I can't wait to see his babies! He is a delightful ram lamb. Friendly but not obnoxious. Tends to stand back and watch me work with the other sheep. He is excellent on halter and handles easily. Diamond's price is $400.00

I hope to move all three of these boys quickly. I am looking forward to just having one group of sheep to care for. MY GIRLS!!! It remains to be seen if I will even be able to keep them, but for now, I'm still hoping!

Dream says....

..."Where ever Mom goes, I go....!"

'Tis the Season.....

For Testosterone levels to rise! Here is a series of photos that I took several weeks ago. (click on any photo to see larger image)















This was pretty much a mock battle. Even though the boys connected with enough force to lift Bravo's hind feet off the ground!

No one was hurt and the boys went back to grazing side-by-side.














Things are apparently getting a bit more serious. This is what I discovered when I went out to see my rams this morning.

Paco's got a pretty nasty gash over his left eye and a matching slash above his right. Bravo looks like most of the blood on him is from Paco. The only actual injury I could see on Bravo is a scrape on his nose.


I much prefer the relative calm and peace of the ewe pasture. Although, even the girls are doing a bit of head banging. It must be the cool nights.
I use animal crackers to move my girls from one paddock to another. I simply open their gate (with the bucket of cookies in my hand) and walk over to the new area I want them in and throw a few handfuls of cookies into the air. The girls rush into the new paddock and search for the elusive animal crackers. Works slick! ;-) I moved the girls farther away from the boys today, in hopes of minimizing the skirmishes but I suspect it's going to be a long fall....

Dream says....

..."I'm sure glad I don't live with those boys!"

P.S. I tried to post this earlier today but blogger wouldn't let me upload any photos. Maybe I'm using too many?

Keep your friends close (and your Enemies closer!)...

Paco and Bravo seem to have worked out an amicable relationship. It's cute to see how Paco has to rush over to break up any little squabble that takes place between the ram lambs. He takes his position as 'senior flock sire' very seriously.


And of course, my beautiful Dream is not the least bit happy with all the attention that Rosie's been getting lately. I did halter lessons with both girls (at the same time!) tonight. It's a contest to see who can be the closest to me...


I was going to get some T-shirts made up, but am still not feeling the greatest, so have pretty much just hung out with my girls tonight. This is my weekend to work, but I'm off tomorrow, so I'll try to get them done then. I do have a lady coming over, in the afternoon, who wants me to teach her how to spin. That should be interesting.

Dream says....

..."Mom's hoping that Rosie and I will become good friends. I wouldn't hold my breath..."

Struggling to catch up...

I'm definitely no "techie"! I've learned just enough about computers to manage to make my own blog and Web Site . I've also designed my "REAL sheep wear SHETLAND wool" T-shirts and Calendars. I came up with that "LOGO" when we were first forming the Midwest Shetlands Sheep Breeders Association (MSSBA). We were thinking about making a calendar for a fund raiser and that year a bunch of elderly women, out East, made a mint off a calendar in which they posed , scantily clad in home-made wool items or discretely hidden behind spinning wheels, knitting, etc. The name of the calendar was "WEARING WOOL". We had tossed around several ideas for a calendar for MSSBA and I suggested making one of Shetland sheep and calling it: Real Sheep Wear Shetland Wool. The idea never really took off, but I liked it and ended up making my OWN calendars and T-shirts.
I suppose I should check to see if I need to get a 'trade mark' or copy right or anything to protect the logo, but I'm not sure how any of that works... In the meantime, everyone pretty much knows that I'm the one who came up with the idea and I've sold a lot of Calendars and T-shirts. Unfortunately, I lost the software that I had the saved images on, when I bought my new computer. Now, I've got people ordering the T-shirts and couldn't remember how to make the transfer to put ON them! I think I finally have it figured out. I made a new template, using my "Ewes in the Mist" photo and also did a brand new one, using the close-up, head-shot of Paco that I like so much...

It took me all night to figure out how to get the text on the image so I haven't actually put one on a T-shirt yet. It's way past my bed-time but I'll do it tomorrow and post a picture of both the new styles tomorrow.

Dream says...

..."I think Mom should put ME on a T-shirt!!!"

LUCKY...

This is Mary Ellen. Mary Ellen is the president of MSSBA (the Midwest Shetland Sheep Breeders Association). Mary Ellen is lucky because she stepped on a copperhead snake and lived to tell about it.We had the 2006, summer MSSBA meeting in the Bluff Country this past weekend.

In conjunction with the MSSBA meeting, we also had Letty Klien and Annie Brown, co-authors of the book "THE SHEPHERD'S RUG" present a hands-on workshop, where we all learned how to make a braided rug out of Shetland roving! It was awesome .
In spite of the suffocating heat & humidity, we had a grand time!

Letty & Ann are wonderful teachers...very patient and helpful. It amazed me how difficult it was for me to learn to braid "with my HANDS"...not my fingers.

It was hellishly hot a bit on the warm and humid side, so by 10:30 in the morning, we decided that it was time to bring out the Brandy Slush. It's a PERFECT "breakfast" drink!! It's got orange juice and lemon juice and tea ! Nobody even noticed the pint of Brandy... ; -)



During a break we, of course, walked out and met the sheep. Letty & Ann were impressed by the beauty of the Bluff Country.
Paco and Bravo hung around like a couple of family pets until Paco noticed I had the camera. What a ham!


What a wonderful weekend with wonderful people! Thank you to Nancy Larson and Mary Ellen for preparing lunch and doing the dishes! I apologize for the nightmare, trying to find anything in my kitchen cupboards is. I works for me ~ ;-)

Want to see my 'rug in progress'?.....Isn't it beautiful??? I can't believe I'm doing it myself! OR how much roving it uses up!! ;-)

We had so much fun visiting and chatting and sharing stories about our families, friends and of course, our Shetland sheep. I feel like the luckiest person alive. I live in SUCH a beautiful area, and have so many truly great friends.

My friend Becky missed the meeting this weekend because she had a booth in a fiber event in Mora, MN. While she was away, the land she and her husband had recently purchased and built a brand new pole barn on, went up in flames. Along with the new barn and all the hay that was stored in it. Becky was lucky. She didn't have any animals over there. They were able to save some valuable equipment and nobody was hurt.

Thank you to all my MSSBA friends and to Letty and Annie for a great weekend. I hope every one got home, safely and has a relaxing day today! I hope we can all count our blessings and be grateful for all the good things (and people!) we have in our lives. I am so grateful for all the wonderful people I have met through my Shetland sheep.

Dream says........"I feel pretty LUCKY too!"

Changing of the Guard..........

Skittles isn't the only ram to leave the Bluff Country this past weekend. Sheepy Hollow Zorro has moved on to his new home in Iowa at the farm of "The Shepherd Chick". We've had Zorro since he was an adorable, little, ram-lamb and he's given me some splendid lambs. But most of my ewes are his daughters or granddaughters, so it was time for him to find a new home.

Lest you worry that we won't have any rams in the Bluff Country, here's a couple shots of the 'next generation' of flock sires....


This is "Windswept Bravo". Bravo will be our new, black & white, HST, flock sire. I selected Bravo to replace Zorro because he has excellent conformation, fleece, markings and great BIG HORNS. I like the wideswept horns that Paco and Skittles had and that was the one area that Zorro was lacking in. Zorro's horns are nice and widely spaced and wide-sweeping, but they're smaller in diameter. I happen to like the bigger "D" type horns. So, we'll cross Zorro's daughters and granddaughters on Bravo and should (knock on wood!) get what we're looking for. In the meantime, I'm betting that Rebecca will be getting some gorgeous lambs from Zorro in the coming years...



And of course, we have Skittles handsome son "Bluff Country Apocalypse" to carry on his father's legacy. Paco has already proven he can produce excellent quality, HST lambs. As hard as it is to say good-bye to the "Old Guard", I feel like we're moving in the right direction with our breeding program...

Dream says......



...."ME TOO!"

"Who's your Daddy?".....

My rams and ewes with lambs are currently sharing a fence line and I see the rams spending a lot of time, nose-to-nose with the lambs, through the fence. They are very curious about the little ones. I didn't get any new pictures today but am using some that I took previously. These are all pictures of lambs that we have raised, or are raising, with their sires...This is Sheepy Hollow Zorro with his son, "Bluff Country Zorba". I often see an apparent affinity for the rams to their own offspring. At least when they're still babies. ;-) Zorro used to even let Zorba chew on his horns! Zorro is a fine, single-coated, HST ram and produces lovely fleeces on his lambs. I have enough Zorro daughters in my flock that it is time that: ZORRO IS FOR SALE! Contact me via E-MAIL for more information regarding Zorro.

"Bluff Country Apocalypse" meets his twin daughters: "Make a Wish" and "Dream Come True".

This dynamic duo is "Apocalypse" (Paco) and his sire "Bluff Country Skittles". Skittles is sold and will be making his home in Arizona, later this summer. He sure produced nice babies for us!

I need to get some pictures of Bravo and his handsome son, Trinity. What a great looking pair they are! Nice size, huge, beuatifully shaped horns, lovely fleece, nice markings. I'll work on getting those photos, quick... ;-)

Dream says........"I think MY daddy is SO handsome!"