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Rosie is bred: German Shorthaired Pointer Puppies Expected

Not only are we expecting 30 or so lambs and  2 goat kids, and my barn kitty that is looking suspiciously fat, my German Short Haired Pointer Rosie is showing signs she is bred.  She is AKC  registered.  Rosie was bred in January to "Spud" at www.davesgundogtraining.com. Spud is a AKC Master Hunter, Prize #1 Utility NAVHDA dog, and OFA Excellent and Cerf. clear.  Rosie is not formally trained for hunting but is a great family dog and very intelligent.  She will even herd chickens and sheep for me and is very good listener and willing to please, and is in excellent health.  She is my trail riding companion so she flushes all sorts of animals and birds out of my way on my rides, so I am sure she would have been an excellent gun dog had we ever put the time into training her.  We are planning to keep one puppy and do just that, either putting the time in ourselves or more likely sending her down to Dave's for training.  So if you know of anyone looking for a GSP, pass the word.  Pictures of puppies will be posted here when they arrive mid March.

Snowing like mad here at the moment.  Too blustery for pictures today so these summer pictures will have to do.

Zeus

 Not the best photos but I took them on the other side of the fence.  I love his fleece.  His spring micron was 22.9.  Rams are NOT pets but if things don't work out for Zeus as a breeding ram here for the long haul...he will be wethered and kept as one and for his fiber.  He is a very nice boy and I just don't think I could part with him.

Last of the Meet the Flock Series: 2010 Retained Ewes

Well this series is getting long.  Maybe I have too many sheep!  I am grouping the four ewe lambs, coming yearlings together, as you have met many of their relatives already.  It is WAY too cold for a photo shoot so as you may have realized I have been recycling photos.  Here is a relatively recent one of Mapleton Hope.  She is a Dessie full sister and is black and white HST twin ewe.  Her twin is Storm.  Dad Minwawe Bahama and mom Minwawe Serendippity.  She had a one day with emsket katmoget ram lamb Spring Hill Patches so we will see if she settled.  She is more reserved than her older sister Dessie but I think she has been hanging out will Sky too much!  Her lamb fleece is longer stapled but finely crimped when parted with a nice soft hand.


Another ewe lamb retained was Minwawe Sprinkles' daughter Mapleton Cupcake.  She is her mother's mini me with a more outgoing personality.  She is a twin and also sired by Bahama.  She was not in a breeding group this year.

 Okay group shot but see the little sweetie running toward me, front and center?  That is Mapleton Bella.  Very sweet, lovely fleece.  Very tiny.  Not bred this year.  Her mom Minwawe Cha Cha is a petite ewe so I am hoping she is a late bloomer and will grow well this summer to at least her mother's statue.  She is also a Bahama daughter.

 AGAIN LAST BUT NOT LEAST:  MAPLETON SILVERMIST

(Mapleton Zeus X High Bid Hester)

2010 grey katmoget twin ewe

Not bred this year.  She is so sweet, so correct, so soft , and a cool color and pattern to boot.  She is Violet's half sister and the only Zeus lamb retained to date.  I am really looking forward to seeing his lamb crop this year.  If this ewe lamb is any indication of what he can produce, it will be a good one!

Well that is a wrap and I will leave you with some assorted pictures of the ewes featured above.  Now all there is to do is WAIT!!!!!!!  Shearing is usually beginning of March and lambs start arriving third week of March  with the Cheviot...oh how could I forget my non shetlands to feature?  I guess I will do that as their lambs arrive.  All lambs will be posted here.  If you see any fleece or lambs that interest you be sure to give me a shout!

Today's Featured Ewes - Crossing the Lines Mapleton Peep and Mapleton Opal

What do you get when you cross the katmoget lines with the spotted lines in my flock? 

 Mapleton Peep (Mapleton Cooper X Minwawe Marshmello)

2009 twin musket yuglet sokket ewe

Bred to Swiftriver Neville for 2011 lambs

2010 single ram lamb by Mapleton Rip Tide pictured below:

 Okay he was my very favorite ram lamb this year.  He too went to Utopia Farms because he was just too related to the rest of my flock.  I love how the Kermit/Cooper/Zeus line crosses with the spotties.  Just produces very correct lambs.

And last of the two year olds but certainly not least...as she is my personal favorite:  Mapleton Opal

Opal is by High Bid Kermit and out of Minwawe Pearl

2009 fawn katmoget single ewe

Opal is expecting her first lambs.  She was in HarvestThyme Champ's breeding group and the only one I saw him take any interest in.  Her back ram was Zeus.  These two have the longest fleeces in my flock.  I love the luster and it spins like a dream.  It has very soft handle and I know the rams used this year will improve the microns on the lambs.   I love how elegant these ewes are, they really have a look at me quality about them.

Today's Featured Ewes - Seeing in B&W: Mapleton Destiny and Mapleton Violet

 These two Minwawe Bahama daughters are personality plus!

 Both coming two year olds.  Both black and white spotted and carry moorit.  Mapleton Destiny "Dessie" has a longer more double coat and is flecket.  Mapleton Violet "Vi Vi" has shorter crimpier single coat and has HST markings.

 Dessie is a Minwawe Serendippity daughter.  I also retained her twin siblings from this past year:  Storm and Hope.  Her twin brother Mapleton Rip Tide is sire to Peep's son Mapleton Buster Brown who is at Utopia Farms, and Rip Tide is flock sire to a Shetland farm in CT.  Serendippity is in PA at Spring Hill Farm with Bahama and her half sister Silver Bell.  Dessie is bred to Zeus for her first lambs...I really hope if anyone can bring spots out of him, it will be her.

 Mapleton Violet is a Hid Bid Hester daughter.  Also bred to Zeus.  A second year in a row for her.  I loved the ram lamb she produced with him.  I put a few photos of him at the end.  He is now a wether at McKenzie Child's with C.C.'s daughter Annick and Mapleton Liberty Bell.  Violet  is an exceptional mother just like her mom.  She has retained her true black color, with no sign of iset or age greying.

  I need to get a good full body photo of Vi, she is so friendly she almost always has her nose in the camera lens so I literally have to run away from her to get a good shot.  She is great on the halter and was one of our "PR" girls this year, going to McKenzie Child's in Aurora with her lamb in the spring until he was weaned and making an appearance at the Farmer Heritage Day at the Mike Weaver Drain Tile Museum this summer.

 

I wish you could feel this lamb!  I think maybe the softest of  that lamb crop and so consistent from front to back.  Perfect little tail and very square, although it is hard to tell from this photo since he is standing on slight slope.  And you got to love those fuzzy cheeks!  He was very friendly so we decided to wether him.  I thought despite his wonderful qualities indicating  he could be a breeding ram, using those qualities to represent the farm and Shetland Sheep as part of the "garden tour" at McKenzie Child's was the perfect alternative for him.  Now if Vi and Zeus can give me a repeat in ewe form...she might just be staying!

Today's Featured Ewes - Mapleton Carmel Apple and Mapleton Peanut Brittle

 

 Mapleton Carmel Apple

(High Bid Kermit X Twin Springs Cotton Candy)

2009 fawn katmoget triplet ewe

Bred to Swiftriver Neville AI

First lambing

  Triplet sister below:

Mapleton Peanut Brittle

Moorit ewe

All other info same as Carmel above

 Both bred to Neville...I am very excited to see their first lambs.  I like these two ewes so much I don't even know were to start, so I will just let the pictures speak for themselves.  I do have a limit to how many solid moorits I will keep however, so depending what lambs I keep, I might part with Peanut as I have her sister, 1/2 sister, mom, and she is full sister to Cooper so aunt to Zeus and Peep, and grandaunt to Silvermist.  That is ONLY if I get something from the lamb crop that is as beautiful and as soft as her!

Today's Featured Ewe - Minwawe Pearl

Minwawe Pearl

registration # S24953 if you want to look her up...there are two sheep named Pearl from Meadowwoods

(Minwawe Hopalong X Minwawe Buttons)

2007 grey flecket yuglet twin ewe

 I like this picture of her and Hester's daughter Violet, because it shows the range in fleece lengths in my flock.  Pearl has one of the  longest staple lengths and Violet one of the shortest.  The fleece lengths in my flock range from 3 to just over 6 inches.  From looking at Pearl I would have put money on hers being longer, but it is not.

Pearl has a double coated fleece, very correct conformation,  and is a very attentive mother.  Part of the original  Missouri 8, she is one of the remaining three.  I think she is so pretty.  She tolerates me, and secretly I think she likes me, but she is not one that likes to be handled too much.  She has had my least favorite and most favorite lambs to date.  The ram lambs below didn't amount to much as they matured and ended up as freezer lambs.  The first time here for a 100% Shetland, usually only my cross breeds are meat lambs but what is one to do with extra ram lambs...

 Her ewe lamb from the year before, Mapleton Opal, however I LOVE,  LOVE, LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!  You will meet her soon, but here are a few of her lamb photos:

,

 Yes, I would say Pearl is a helicopter mom.  :) 

Pearl is bred to Swiftriver Neville.  I am really hoping for a beautiful grey ewe lamb or two from this pairing.  I think Neville's strengths will complement her well and improve her lambs.  Both parents carry brown and she has not given me an Ag  or a B lamb yet.  She could have moorit, black, grey, or musket lambs.

Well that is all the ewes that I have brought in from other farms.   Ewes from the States of PA, NY, MO, NH, OH, and a rams from PA and MA.  They represent 8 different farms within those states.  The rest of the Shetland  flock was born and raised here at Mapleton Farm and are sons/daughters of the previous featured ewes or retained from other ewes I have owned.  In a few cases I sold their dams to make room for the replacement lambs to stay.  I will feature the coming two year olds next, followed by the yearlings.

Today's Featured Ewe - Can Too Sky

Can Too Sky

(Can Too Cherokee X Can Too Dehliala)

2010 moorit twin ewe

Sky came to Mapleton Farm from PA. this summer, from Judi Lehrhaupt's Ewe Can Do It Sheep Farm.  Her brother was supposed to be brought in as a potential flock sire but he broke a horn to the base so I opted to buy the twin ewe lamb instead.  Her mom is mioget so I was hoping she would be as well, but not looking like it as of now.  One of these days I will get a true mioget!  If she gives me one, bred to Storm below that I think may carry the modifier, I will be VERY excited.  I wasn't going to bred any ewe lambs this year but decided to give the ram lambs one ewe each for a short time and see what happens.  She was well over 50 pounds this fall and has good width to her hips so if she took, I don't expect her to have any trouble.

She is very beautiful but the least friendly of my flock.  Currently the only one I can't get a hand on daily.  Hopefully once she has a lamb and we can spend some time becoming friends with the new family in the jug, she will come around.  I can't wait to spin her fleece!  Her grand sire is Mac's new ram at Spring Hill Farm, Maple Ridge Colin.  Her great grand mother is Nancy's Alice!

Depending on what I get in terms of  moorit ewe lambs...Sky, Bella, or Peanut might be offered for sale this summer.