2014 Lambs

This year was a great year for lambs! We bred with two different rams. Ram number one belongs to our dear friends (who also show with us) the Towers of Olive Branch Shetlands and Freddy's Farm shetlands. Mocha is a beautiful aged ram with a stellar body and an even more beautiful fleece. The second ram we bred with was Leo, my champion ram from last year.

The first pair to arrive was out of Melody and Mocha. She gave us two beautiful boys, Wildair Seymour and Wildair Dempsey.

Seymour who has turned out to be a beautiful fawn collor



Dempsey has the sweetest face :) he is a moorit gulmoget

 

The next ewe to lamb was Eloise! She was also bred to Mocha. Wildair Remy and Wildair Rosie were the two treasures I received from her. Remy has a stunning fawn fleece and Rosie has a very Eloise-like shaela gulmoget fleece.  Rosie managed to retain her mother's personality as has consistently proved herself to be a minx :)

Remy

Rosie

 Izzy lambed next, she was also bred with Mocha, and her lambs came out flashy as always! Wildair Pascal is the handsome gray bergesset ram who seems to be growing up much like Leo. Faye is the ewe or this batch and has a lovely gray fleece under those black tips.

Faye in front and Pascal in the back

Pascal

 Finally... Minnie lambed! Almost a month after everyone else, in fact. She was bred to Leo and produced two adorable sweet babies. Poe is the boy with the pretty markings on his face, and a nice gray fleece underneath. Paisley is my stunning black gulmoget ewe. Her fleece takes after mothers but is a bit looser from her fathers side. Together they make an excellent end to the lambing season.

Poe on the left and Paisley on the right

Paisley grazing and Poe's but

 

Paisley being a mischief girl
 

 That's a total of eight lambs! Three girls and five boys, which is much better than last years 6 rams and one accident ewe haha. Overall its going to be a great year with these lambs!


2013 Show Season

So this past year has been a whirl and a half! Time has flown by between shows and my freshman year at BU. I know its a little late to be doing a show run over, but late is better than never. The two big shows this fall were The Big E, and Topsfield Fair. The Big E was a wonderful time, filled with good food, the best friends, and some great sheep.

 This was Eloise's year to shine (even brighter than last year!). She placed first in her class of yearling ewes and then found herself a spot as Champion Shetland Ewe.

 

 

Eloise and her half sister Melody did pretty well in the group classes and placed first for pair of yearling ewes! Melody herself did very well in the yearling class with fourth out of a large class.

The Big E was full of so many beautiful sheep in different colors, with different markings, and from fabulous breeders! I feel fortunate to be able to experience it and highly recommend it to other Shetland lovers! 

Leo, Eloise's full brother, did outstanding for his first year in shows. He was first place in his ram lamb class (a huge class!) and in the champion round was picked as Reserve Champion Ram out of a group of 8 other 1st and 2nd place animals!

It was a great fair! Come check out our farm there this year  :)

 

Topsfield Fair was our next big fair of the year and was the perfect end to an already amazing year.

 

Eloise placed first out of a beautiful bunch of yearling ewes, and Melody took third!

 

Leo followed suite with first place in another large ram lamb class!

And the two of them got to stand side by side in the best of breed class after both won Champion Ewe and Champion Ram

Of course Eloise won, this spunky ewe wasn't about to let her little brother take her glory away! I can't believe she is too old to show now, and I will greatly miss our unique bond on my showing adventures!

More lambs! And Sales for the season!

Its been a long few weeks! AP tests and senior year activities have filled up the last few weeks, yet there is a lot to tell. Five days after Minnie had her lambs, Izzy had hers! She actually had them the night I got back from a New York trip, I was really happy that she waited until I was at home once again. Keeping with the theme of gender unity that I have had for the last two years, Izzy, like the other two, had a set of ram lambs. Leo and Vincent are a gorgeous duo, and Leo has quickly found a place in all of our hearts! He has the cutest personality, and Vincent is quite playful as well.

All of the lambs are doing great and growing super fast. It turns out that I am going to have to hold off on buying a breeding ram for the fall (because of college) so I will be breading my ram lambs to the ewes in the flock that they are unrelated to. Or at least that is the plan anyway.

FOR SALE
All of my rams this year are for sale! Please contact me with any questions or interest! My email is Montana@Airey.us, and I will respond as quickly as possible. 

Elmer: Black HST: He is a beautiful sweet boy, a very pretty soft fleece, a nice tail, and great conformation. I am amazed that this pattern came out of Minnie! He has gulmoget parents from both sides

Calvin: Morrit Gulmoget: His fleece is super soft and it looks like he has some great crimp coming in! He has a fantastic personality and the sweetest face, also a good tail and conformation! He is Elmer's twin and has two gulmoget parents

Teddy: Gray Gulmoget: He is very sweet, his fleece is soft but seems to be more wavy than crimpy, and has a nice gray color. His sire is a gulmoget and his tail and conformation are lovely.

Oscar: Gray Flecket Gulmoget: Very pretty markings on this lamb, he is perhaps the most lovey of all the lambs and would be content to spend all day in a persons lap, he has a soft grayish fleece with some crimp, but more of a wavy fleece like his brother.

 

Leo: Flecket: He is one of my top picks of the bunch, and he is a full sister to Eloise (so I hope he will carry in her footsteps, she even got best of show once last year) so I have high hopes for this boy. His fleece looks gorgeous, that long crimpy type, with curly cues already forming on his back. His fleece is gray and has a beautiful luster. Great conformation and tail

Vincent: Black: He is the first solid I have had and he is the full brother to Leo so I have high hopes for him as well, his fleece is very soft and the crimp is looser but it looks like it will be more like his mothers fleece (who has one of my favorite fleeces). I am very excited to see him grow up! He is a lot like Leo in many ways. He also has good conformation and tail length!

The whole bunch of them! They are so adorable :)

Lambs Chicks and Crocus Flowers

I have had quite the eventful week! The first thing of notice is that the crocus flowers have finally bloomed, bringing a splash of color into the drab landscape. Its nice to see the weather finally getting warmer and signs of permanent spring arrive.

Our chicks also arrive this Monday! They are a lively group of birds of all different sizes and kinds. We got around 17, including two standards (who tower above the bantams), and a new breed that I am very excited to watch grow.

Black Tailed buff Japanese Bantam 

Blue Silkie

Golden Laced Polish

Today, Minnie finally lambed! She had two beautiful ram lambs, one of which is a gulmoget and the other looks to be a black and white HST. I got to watch the birth again and it was magical. Although I was hoping for at least one ewe lamb out of Minnie, I am still waiting for Izzy to lamb.  

Elmer trying to get up!

Elmer is on the left and Calvin is on the right


In other news, Bea's ram lambs are doing wonderful! They are growing like crazy and enjoying being part of the whole flock :)

 

 

 

Lambing Season and Signs of Spring!

After a long winter and lots of snow, lambs are finally here along with warmer weather! Ground can actually be viewed beneath the snow and this morning I had to take off my winter gear. However, the lambs are the most exciting part of all! Bea had two ram lambs, both are healthy and beautiful.

Oscar has eye catching markings!

And he is pretty photogenic too!

Oscar is the troublemaker on mom, and Theodore is hiding in the back

Teddy is using mom as a head rest!



They are an adorable pair :)


 

I couldn't be happier with Bea, and I can't wait to watch these little guys grow up. Both have their father's gulmoget markings, and they should both turn out to be a gray. They are also full of personality and spunk! Hopefully this upcoming week they will be able to venture out of the lambing pen and into the great outdoors.

As for my other ewes, I believe that  they should be lambing in the next few weeks. Minnie looks as if she almost ready but Izzy still has some time until her udder is ready.

Winter Snowflakes

Spring was almost here! However, it seems that another snow storm has taken away that hope. At least mud season has ended temporarily. In the past few weeks we have kept ourselves busy on the farm.
I have acquired my own pair of electric shears, and have endeavored to shear my own animals. Three out of the six have been sheared for the spring, and they look absolutely adorable!

I am thrilled with the fleeces! Eloise has this beautiful bluish tint in all the lighter areas of her body. Melody is still on the smaller side, but her fleece was quite lovely as well. I am excited to see how their yearling fleeces grow in!  I still have three ewes left to shear, and they will get done the next sunny snow free day.

In more sad news, our ram Vaughan, is now in our freezer. He was a beautiful boy, and a wonderful ram. However, we have a new ram coming into the flock for this breeding season. We sheared Vaughan and let him have one day in the paddock.

 

Eloise posing for the camera

Poppy is an adorable little girl!

The snow filled up the run!

Wrong side of the fence Indy!

The snow is a little deep for the dogs

We also have lambs coming in the next few weeks, Bea looks as if she should be any time now! And the flock is doing wonderful, and enjoying the snow!