Psalm23Farm: May 2010

Monday, May 24, 2010

2010 Shetland lambs and some Angora kids

PS23 Emrald's grey gulmoget/katmoget ewe lamb out of SheltringPines Justinian (F1 Dillon). Very soft fleece. A keeper

Emrald's black gulmoget out of SheltringPines Justinian (F1 Dillon). Nice silky soft fleece. May be a keeper.

Sabbath Farm Swan x PS23 Fife (F1 Orion) musket ewe. A keeper! Very fine, crimpy and soft!

Swan's other lamb- a dark musket ewe. May be for sale. Long silky fleece.

PS23 Daysong and PS23 Fairlight (F1 Jings) ewe lamb-a keeper. Nice fleece. Love her build. (No she doesn't hock in-just standing weird.)

Daysong's other ewe also a keeper!

Longshadow Amber's lambs out of PS23 Fandango (F2 Greyling). Musket is a keeper and has a long silky soft fleece. (Black may go to market as her fleece is harsh right now.)

Sheepy Hollow Sienna's musket ewe lambs out of PS23 Drummond (F1 Brent) one is a keeper and one for sale. Both have long silky and soft fleeces.

PS23 Easterlilly's grey gulmoget out of ShetlringPines Justinian(F1 Dillon). Longer silky fleece. A keeper.

Easterlilly's ram. (AG) grey (carries solid) May be polled. Fleece is softer and finer than his twins. May be for sale.

Fonteyn's ram musket katmoget ram lamb . For sale

Fonteyn's second musket Katmoget ram lamb. May be for sale.

Musket (carries solid moorit) ram out of Sabbath Farm Fonteyn and PS23 Drummond (F1 Brent). For sale.

Fleece shot of one of the triplets-their fleeces are very similar. All three have long silky fine fleeces. The musket is a bit denser than the other two.

Grey gulmoget/katmget (also carries brown) ram out of PS23 Edelweiss and SheltringPines Justinian(F1 Dillon). Long silky, fine fleece. For sale.

Both are Windswept Lime's ewes out of PS23 Fandango (F2 Greyling). Both have very soft crimpy, fleeces. One is a defiantly a keeper and I may sell one.

Sabbath Farm Silvia's twins out of PS23 Fairlight (F1 Jings) Ewe- a keeper and left and ram to the right-for sale. Very fine crimpy fleeces on both.

Nice hindies on these two. (Above lambs)

AAGBA pure white doe kid out of Eden my TX doe and the TX buck. Very, very nice! A keeper of course.

CAGBA faded red doe kids out of Pearl a faded red doe and the TX buck. Nice. Both keepers.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Few Updates

The red clover I planted is up and has the third leaf already (there are two seed leaves and then a single leaf.) YES!

I dewormed lambs/kids last Sat. so got to see them "up close and personal." The Coopworth cross lambs are really nice. They looked lighter than they were and there were quite a few twins that I thought were singles (because of their size) until I looked up who's lamb they were. So far the most of the fleeces are very soft and lustrous. (There are a few lambs out of double coated ewes who are not as soft.) They are silkier than the Shetland/BFL lambs were at that age. It will be interesting to see how they finish out and what their adult fleeces will be like.

Here is PS23 Elm with her Coopworth cross wether. She is feeding 1 1/2 lambs as another ewe had twins at the same time as her and one of those lambs drinks (she thinks it's hers) from both her and it's dam.

Yearling Shetland ewe Flourance (left open) on left and Coopworth cross lamb on right.

PS23 Cinderella with one of her Coopworth cross lambs.

I only had two sets of Corriedale cross lambs out of Shetland ewes and both were first time lambers. Both sets of lambs were lighter than the Coopworth cross lambs and both set have harsh feeling fleeces (could be from the dam side as both ewes are more double coated.) There is also a Corriedale X Shetland/BFL ewe lamb with a very nice fleece!
I am not making a judgment based on two or three sets of lambs as that really is not enough for comparison.

PS23 Early Spring with twin Corriedale cross lambs.

One of PS23 Evening Primrose's Corriedale cross lambs.

Eco a Shetland/BFL had a huge single "English blue" Corriedale cross ewe lamb. This one has a nice fleece so far.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Sheep for sale

PS23 Drummond, a 3 year old musket (carries solid moorit), F1 Brent is available for $150. I have several of his daughters (as well as some grand daughters) that I am retaining. Drummond has a long silky type fleece. (See below-His dam's adult fleece very similar to his won reserved Champion at two shows under two different judges.)

Drummond is not aggressive and respects people, however he does not respect fences during breeding time. That problem is solved by putting a ram shield on. (I do have extra ram shields and can can throw one in.) He does respect electric fences.

PS23 Campbell, a 4 year old fawn katmoget F1 Jericho will be available in mid Nov. (after I use him one more time) for $200. I do have several of his daughters that I am keeping as well as some future lambs! Campbell is a very respectful ram. Campbell is a small framed ram-probably 85#.

Campbell's fleece (see below) is very fine and very crimpy. His fleece is silky and is 4 1/2-5 in. long.

Campbell's back legs hock in very slightly, but most of his lambs have great conformation. (One of his ram lambs won second place at Michigan Fiber Fest.)

"Cheviot" the Reg. North Country Cheviot ram is for sale $150. He is a great crossing sire for small breeds (Shetland, Finn, Icelandic, Jacob etc.) His lambs are thrifty at birth and grew well.

Shetland ram lambs that will be for sale pending on how their fleeces, horns, etc turn out are:

White with a black front leg(Sabbath Farm Silvia X PS23 Fairlight) F2 Jings, F4 Holly/Greyling. This ram is the best looking ram lamb this year-He has and absolutely perfect tail, great conformation and a very soft, crimpy fleece.

Grey gulmoget/katmoget (PS23 Edelwiess x SheltringPines Justinian) F2 Dillon, F3 Brent, F4 Jericho/Skeld. This ram lamb also carries brown. His fleeces looks like it will be long, fine and silky.

Triplet rams-2 Katmoget (1 grey and 1 fawn) and 1 musket- (Sabbath Farm Fonteyn x PS23 Drummond) F2 Brent, F3 Holly/Greyling. All three have long and silky fleeces so far. (Two will be for sale and I will probably keep one.)

Grey probably carries solid black (PS23 Easterllily x SheltringPines Justinian) F2 Bent, F3 Skeld. Will probably be a half poll (could be a full poll based on genetics.) His fleece will be either long, fine and silky or crimpy and fine.

All ram lambs are sold with horn insurance and a fertility guarantee.

I will also have a few Shetland ewe lambs for sale, but haven't even really looked at the ewe lambs yet so don't know which ones (as I have been busy.)

Monday, May 3, 2010

Running and leaping

The sheep are racing to a new rotation of pasture. " RUN run you might get left behind!"

In the new grass. "Hey why are we still running?"

I took a couple videos of the lamb running. The rams (who live with the ewes in the summer) joined in on the races as well as a few adult ewes. One video has a yearling Shetland and the Corriedale head butt-just for fun. (Sorry that the videos are not the best quality.)

Lambs playing in the dirt.

Welcome to Psalm 23 Farm

I'm breeding my NASSA registered Shetland sheep for fine and med. fine lustrous single coated fleeces in both the crimpy and the locky, wavy fleece styles. I have a wide range of colors and makings as well as the bright pure whites. I'm emphasizing on production, mothering ability and sound conformation. I have both horned and naturally polled Shetland rams and a few horned Shetland ewes.

I also produce fast growing grass-fed market lambs and commercial ewes with excellent fleece. (Shetland x Coopworth and Shetland x Australian Corriedale.) These F1 (first generation cross) ewes are great maternal ewes to put under a terminal sire for the ultimate grass fed market lamb.

Angora goats are my other love. I'm selecting for fine yearling grade mohair in adult animals. All of my goats are CAGBA (colored) or AAGBA (white) registered. I'm also selecting for sound healthy goats.

Posts will be about the Shetlands and Angoras with an occasional post about the other animals on the farm. Posts will also be about wool, spinning and a variety of other topics.

Psalm 23 Farm sells raw "jacketed" wool and mohair fleeces, mohair locks, dyed and natural Shetland and Shetland/mohair roving. Also sheepskins, quilt batts, handspun yarn, mohair lock yarn, and mill spun yarn.

From the Shetland Sheep Society

"Shetland sheep have for generations been noted for their very soft and well crimped fleece. The wool is the finest of all native breeds and shows an amazing variety of colours and patterns. There are 11 main whole colours and 30 recognized markings.

By selecting from coloured fleeces a range of naturally coloured yarn can be produced. This eliminates the need for dyeing and therefore retains the soft feel of the natural fibre and is favoured by those who prefer a totally natural approach.

Shetland wool fibres are of a simple construction witha central cortex covered by a thin scaly cuticle, and have an average diameter of about 23 microns. However there is a range from 10-20 microns for neck and shoulder wool to 25 to 35 microns for britch wool. the average staple length is 3.5 inches. The amount of crimp varies, and is most important in providing the 'bounce' required for knitwear. There is a positive correlation between fineness and crimp, with wool of the finest quality being crimped at between 8 and 12 to the inch. Wool from Shetland sheep is used to produce gossamer lace, the famous 'Fair Isle' knitwear, and fine tweeds. Pure bred Shetland sheep tend to shed their fleece in spring. The growth of new fleece can cause a rise or weak point and where this is present the fleece can sometimes be plucked or 'rooed' by hand. The timing of this can be different in each sheep, however, it is worth taking the care to get it right as rooed fleece can be amongst the softest because the fibers have no harsh cut ends as occurs with a sheared fleece.

Shetland fleece can be handspun straight from the fleece or made into rolags and then woollen spun. It can also be worsted spun by hand, used on a peg loom or handwoven. It also felts well using either dry or wet methods. When processed commercially the wool can be made into the finest lightweight worsted cloth or heavier weight, harder wearing fabrics and tweeds."

Psalm23Farm

Pages