Monday, January 24, 2011

Today's Featured Ewe - Twin Springs Cotton Candy

Twin Springs Cotton Candy 
(Twin Springs Gideon X Twin Springs Gemma)
2006 single fawn ewe (maybe also Ag)

Well this is the flock matriarch and the one that started it all!  I didn't even know if I wanted sheep until I met this ewe as a lamb at the Finger Lakes Fiber Festival.  I walked away not knowing if "investing" in registered Shetlands was the way to go.  After coming home we decided yes, let's try sheep and brought home the Cheviot and Corrie cross from local farms but they just weren't Shetland.  When this ewe's breeder was coming back to NY to pick up a loom, I jumped at the chance for her meet us to bring us this ewe.  Yes, I have transferred sheep from one vehicle to another at Walmart, Burger King, gas stations....it is always funny to see the looks you get.
So my Shetland addiction began and every other sheep added since has been Shetland.  Cotton Candy loves me and she is the leader of the flock so it makes management easier.  She follows me...they follow her.  She is a fair minded leader, being gentle with the lambs and will never start anything...but if someone dares start with her they soon learn not to.   She has lambed three times for me.
 As a two year old she twined with ram lambs by High Bid Kermit:  Gusto above and Cooper below.  Gusto remains a flock sire at a local farm, Cooper was lost due to a horn incident with his father and the fence.   However he had a few lambs for me first:  Liberty Bell, S'More, Peep, and Zeus.
I repeated that breeding and in 2009 she had triplets but I was unfortunately was unable to get the ram lamb out before he drown in the sack...his ewe lamb sisters were breech.  I retained both:  Carmel Apple and Peanut Brittle pictured below.  Coming two year olds, both are expecting their first lambs.
In 2010, nature decided to cut Cotton Candy a little slack and she had a beautiful single ewe lamb by Minwawe Bahama.  Annick can be seen at MacKenzie Child's gracing their Aurora farm gardens, doing her best to promote the Shetland breed.
This year Cotton Candy is bred to Swiftriver Neville, as are her two year old daughters, and I just can't wait to see what they have in store for us!  Not to mention her great grand lambs from Peep also bred to Neville, as well as the great grand lambs from Zeus' whole breeding group.

3 comments:

  1. That last photo is such a beautiful portrait - the Shetland look I love.

    ReplyDelete
  2. She is very pretty kara!!(although i must admit im a bit bias because of her lines:) ) so is hester!! sorry for not commentin earlier was offline for a few days

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree Michelle...I love her head...especially her ear set and expressive eyes. It is a spring/summer photo so her cheek wool is absent but I still like that photo of her. She is hard to get a good photo of because she is usually front and center for scratches.

    Hi Mac,
    Being Buster's half sister and all, I guess that is a given! :)

    ReplyDelete