Mission Accomplished

I'm having fun looking at the spots that have emerged on the freshly shorn sheep, so I thought I would share some photos. First there are two shots of SheltrgPines Jerome, the moorit flecket who will be sire to half of this year's lambs. I love his color and pattern. Next, the moorit smirslet ram is Minwawe Tornado, another ram I used last fall. Tornado sired many of last year's spotted lambs.

I always feel a sense of accomplishment once shearing is finished. Today was shearing day here at Locksley Fields. The entire flock was also wormed with ivomec sheep drench and I gave everyone their yearly CD/T booster. Finished trimming hooves for all the ewes, but the rams will have to wait to get their "pedicures"- this shepherdess is too tired out. Out of 29 fleeces, 28 are still in the barn and will likely be napping places for cats overnight. I'm planning to get them all into the garage tommorow- I don't think the kitties can do much harm in one day.

To the right is Montague (also known around here as "Monty"). He is a Tornado son. He might be moiget as it seems to run in is family. Monty has a nice set of horns and will probably be a breeding ram in fall 2007.

The ewe below is Monty's twin sister Morgance. She has a unique spot pattern of an incomplete white band around her middle.

To the right is Evangeline, another one of Tornado's daughters. She was a very flashy lamb but genetically AgAa, so I knew she woud fade to grey. To my surprise, she did not completely loose her spots; they are now medium grey and still visible.

Last but absolutely not least, is my dear Pandora. She is perhaps the most perfect spotted shetland I've seen.. By perfect I mean great conformation and tail, nice fiber, and fun-loving personality. She can be a little troublemaker though, as you can see in the last photo. In the afternoon I was headed out the barn door to feed the ewes and Pandora slipped right past me, into the barn. She nosed around and examined all of the freshly shorn wool. I had my camera and snapped a shot while she looked at me as if to say "what's so funny?" Once her curiousity was satisfied, she decided she would join the other ewes.