FALL & FENCING

The old garden fence which keeps our UP deer somewhat honest and away from our groceries was listing badly after 17 years of winter, so it had to go. But it is the only barrier between the sheep pastures and our front yard, so care was taken to run the new lines (whenever possible)prior to removing the old posts and welded wire. It is always nice to have help and the first 50 feet I managed to find two stalwart young lads to assist. But it is hunting season, so Meghan and I are now working on this immense project by ourselves. Fortunately the weather has been perfect and things are progressing nicely.

Our flock grazing after being let out after one of our work sessions.

MOORIT BASED EWES--OCTOBER 2010

Wintertime Maple Sugar(Wintertime Red Velvet X Wintertime Chiffon)--Yearling ewe lamb that was held over last winter. Her first fleece tested 20.9 AFD/4.5 SD/21.7 CV/8.2 CEM. She will be bred to Sommarang Hansel for a linebreeding on Roban Dillon with the chance for modified/polled lambs.

V Creek Princess Buttercup(Underhill Bartok X V Creek Satin)--Six and a half year old ewe who is the dam of Grasshopper. Her last fleece tested 28.4 AFD/4.4 SD/15.6 CV/6.5 CEM. She will be bred to Wintertime Black Forrest this fall.

Wintertime Chiffon(Firthoffifth Aman X Glenmore Crisp)Moorit twin two year old ewe that wasn't bred last winter, so she could grow out. She went through a really ugly phase but seems to have come into her own now. Her second fleece tested 22.1 AFD/4.6 SD/20.9 CV/9.2 CEM. Service sire not selected yet.

Wintertime Lizzie(Firthoffifth Thayu X Whistlestop 0427)--Twin modified(fawn?)coming two year old ewe that was kept open last winter. Her first fleece tested 20.7 AFD/4.8 SD/23.3 CV/9.1 CEM. She will be bred to Sommarang Hansel to increase fleece length and possibly produce something highly modified and polled.

Wintertime Ruby(Winter Sky Sandstone X Whistlestop 0427)Twin four year old ewe that has produced some outstanding lambs including Barqs and Red Velvet and Fudge(in S. Rouse's flock). Ruby's fourth fleece tested 23.7 AFD/5 SD/20.9 CV/9.2 CEM. She will be crossed one more time with Wintertime Forrest in the hopes of getting a gulmoget ewe lamb(on Meg's wish list). Her fleece has changed dramatically in color but is still buttery soft and finely crimped. We see these changes often in the Sandstone ewes.

Winter Sky Vogue(NCWGA)(Winter Sky Tennyson X Winter Sky Foxtrot)...my final ewe lamb sired by Tennyson and a surprise when we removed her coat. She's the most like her sire in fleece type of any of the lambs he produced. Well worth the wait for me. May expose her to my Forrest son this fall to see if she settles. If all goes well I'll be showing her fleece next year at the fiber events.

Winter Sky Kir Royale(Wintertime Black Forrest X Winter Sky Kristol)--Fawn katmoget/gulmoget ewe with beautiful structure and type. She always produces a ewe lamb for me but so far I haven't retained any. She'll be bred to my Forrest son. Her third fleece tested 26.8 AFD/6.1 SD/22.8 CV/12.7 CEM.

River Oaks Simone(River Oaks Greyson X River Oaks Hattie)--Polled lines and a very dense, short, crimpy fleece with lovely color on this ewe lamb. We will be micron testing her later this winter with the flock. Will probably be crossed with Grasshopper.

BLACK & GREY EWES

Wintertime Alanis(Wintertime Fudge X Winter Sky Alafair)--Triplet black ewe lamb whose moorit horned brother(with an even better fleece) will be further evaluated and retained for next year. Very friendly. May be bred to Waterbug this fall.

Winter Sky Marrakech(Wintertime Black Forrest X Winter Sky Calypso--NCWGA)Two year old spotted grey ewe whose first fleece tested 19.0 AFD/3.7 SD/19.5 CV and 6.8 CEM. Will be bred to a polled Forrest son this fall.

Wintertime Ladybug(Sheltrgpines Bug X Sheltrgpines Mustang Sally)--Single black ewe lamb with a few traces of grey in main fleece. She'll be bred to a Bug son this fall.

Owl Hill Lady Grey--Twin possibly homozygous Ag yearling ewe whose first fleece tested 23.2 AFD/5.0 SD/21.4 CV/9.1 CEM. Her second fleece in fall tested 31 microns with 50% greater than 30 so she has been sent to a pet home. We won't breed with animals that have coarse fleece even if they have illustrious parentage or a high percentage of UK lines.

Fairview Farm Sweet Tart(Bono Creek Caper X Sheltrgpines Licorice)--Sweetie's dam is a shaela ewe and her sire is a ram my mom owned but never got the chance to use. Her fleece tests 24.1 AFD/5.2 SD/21.6 CV/11 CEM. She'll be bred to Grasshopper this fall.

V Creek Angel--Seven year old ewe that is listed as white but is actually grey. Her 2010 fall test was a respectable 26.3 AFD with a 4.7 SD and 17.9 CV. She is in with Wintertime Black Forrest this fall.

River Oaks Ebony(River Oaks Greyson X River Oaks Lana)--Black twin ewe lamb who is a bit on the wild side but very nicely put together and from extensive polled lines. Her fleece tested this fall in the more intermediate range(24.1 AFD/5.7 SD/23.7 CV), so she'll be bred to Waterbug.

RAM LAMBS--FALL 2010

Wintertime Grasshopper(Sheltrgpines Bug X V Creek Princess Buttercup)--Twin spotted fawn katmoget.

Fall Texas A & M micron test 20.7 AFD/4.3 SD/21.0 CV/7.7 CEM.

From the back.

Headshot. He had potato chip thin scurs which have broken off.

Headshot of Sommarang Hansel(Undertheson Red Lion X Sommarang Elise).

Tail shot of Hansel.

Yocom-McColl fall micron test of 23.9 AFD/4.8 SD/20.2 CV with 8.5% fibers greater than 30.

Sideview of Hansel who appears to be a modified grey gulmoget. He'll be heading to Becky Utecht's farm after he is used on a couple modified/poll carrying ewes this fall.

Headshot of Wintertime Barqs(Wintertime Black Forrest X Wintertime Ruby).

His hindend and very correct tail.

Sideview of Barqs. Polled moorit gulmoget with some frosting and a more intermediate fleece style with nice length.

Texas A & M fall micron test of 23.1 AFD/6.0 SD/26.1 CV/10.9 CEM.

Wintertime Waterbug(Sheltrgpines Bug X Owl Hill Lady Grey)--Ag single ram lamb with numerous Greyling lines.

Texas A & M fall micron test was 21.5 AFD/4.5 SD/20.8 CV/7.5 CEM.

Waterbug from the back.

WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE?

Had fleeces shown at WI Sheep & Wool Festival. Our two Cormo X fleeces were first in both their classes(Jr. & Open Show)for natural colored fine-wools. Then Raggedy's fleece was GCH for natural colored Division in the Jr. Show. Gryffindor's fleece was RGCH for natural colored Division in the Open Show. Raggedy was third for overall fleece amongst the GCH winners in both shows. We look forward to next year when we will have some even nicer fleeces to show in more color variation.

Drove 1200 miles in 60 hours through the beauty that is northern Minnesota and met some very nice Nigerian Dwarf and Shetland breeders. Brought home a heavily moonspotted buck for Meghan along with a Cou Clair doe for my milker for next season. And two ram lambs for Meg's flock along with two lovely ewe lambs--all polled lines or carrying polled lines.

Pretty exhausted from the trip but did manage yesterday to spend seven hours ripping out 50 feet of old garden fence and front gate and replacing it with new posts and fencing to keep the deer out. New fence looks lovely in comparison and now I just have another 150 feet to redo.

Next roadtrip will be into WI on Sunday to deliver Bailleys to his new owner. Then I can get into the garden and start getting it ready for winter. Our firewood is in for the most part and the grass is still green so the sheep are happy and the Shetlands are getting ready for breeding season. The Cormo X's are already in with Gryffindor and Aly is already bred. Will have photos by the end of next week as we are going to pull coats, do feet and check out fleeces.

Speaking of which we got our fall test results back on Meghan's ram lambs and they did very well. I believe our average is 20-21 at last rib. Will be able to post the actual results when I remember to bring them into town with me.

MICHIGAN FIBER FESTIVAL 2010

Friday was an uneventful day of shopping and settling in some Shetlands we decided to sell on Thursday.

Then Saturday morning after little sleep things got a bit more interesting. First the fiber mill failed to bring my Cormo top order and for a little bit I was wondering if it was lost in the ether forever. But fortunately they do know where it is and will ship it up to me as soon as they return to their homebase.

Then on to the fleece show where I entered two Cormo X fleeces and one Shetland fleece(Bailleys)for Meghan. Because there was only one colored fine fleece in purebred the judge opted to put Gryffindor(who is a high percentage Cormo X)in that class, so he wasn't competing against Raggedy Ann's fleece(at first). They both won their respective classes for colored fine wools and Bailleys came in second in his larger class despite a soft spot(would have won if he'd had better hay in the fall).

Then the judge went on to judge various GCH and RGCH classes and all of a sudden he was doing BIS...but the fine fleeces were nowhere in site. Since I had been popping in and out of the show all morning I believed they had already been judged and deemed not good enough for BIS. But I decided to ask when the judge finished up and asked if there were any questions. OOPS!

Turns out they had just been going so fast they had failed to find all the winners for BIS and Raggedy and Gryffindor were pulled out and the class was rejudged. Gryffindor came out as the winner and won me a lovely chair which I sorely needed after all the morning footwork. Thanks Gryff. Looking forward to crossing you with Raggedy and Aly and seeing what I can produce next spring. Also bought myself a little present that won't be arriving until November but that is another story to be saved for the Cormocrossing blog.

So one more day and hopefully some of the lovely people I've met will return to purchase lambs. I've got one more fiber booth to finish up at as well. Just hope it all fits in the truck on the drive north.