Da Boys!

 The five ram lambs above are to be wintered over for further evaluation.  If however you are in need of a ram, let me know!  I have an heir and obviously more than one spare!  And I have more Neville heirs on their way, the entire adult ewe flock was bred to Neville this fall. 

Burdock Magnets

 Who me?

 What?  Not me, those are thistles!  Oh like that is any better!

 It was the moorit ram lambs idea he said who ever had the most wins!

 Boys will be boys!

 Father and son...ram lamb is for sale.

 Katmoget ram lamb has just a few burdocks.

 Really I am totally innocent...hey I heard a rumor I might have a small group of ewes this fall.  Is that true?  Really?  I promise no more burdocks or thistles for me. 

 Me too.  I heard I might have a few too!

 Hmpf, the shepherd lady said I have to wait till next year. 

 This handsome fellow is looking for a flock of his own. 

 Neville gets the majority of the ewes this fall before he, Sprinkles, and Cotton Candy leave for their new flock.  Pearl is being retained after all and will be added to his group this fall.  See Pearl has a thing about dogs, and the home she was going to was planning to get a LGD, well Pearl would not have that! Therefore she will stay for the season.  Her ewe lamb, Opal's ewe lamb, and one other leave for their new home on Thursday.  Pearl's ram lamb finally made it to the Cape this weekend.  Thanks Veronica!

"Oh by the way I won the burdock game, I am just saying," says Neville

Shetland Rams: Sold and For Sale

 Pearl's ram lamb, Neville, and Storm are all spoken for...

Still for sale are katomget rams, HST F2 Heights Orions, and possibly willing to part with mysteriously marked half poll:

Ram Escapades...

Being a beautiful day I thought I would let the ram lambs out for a while to graze thinking I would be able to lure them or herd them back in the barn before dark...

 Well when the time came, no such luck.  They did not want to go back in the barn for any amount of grain or chasing.  So we had to catch them...one by one.   I did not put them back in the barn but out with the big boys...
 Who were completely unphased by the little ram additions to their pasture...

 All is peaceful and I love how mellow my mature rams are.  Went in to change their water today and out of 13 rams total, lambs and adult, not one even batted an eyelash in my direction.  Very respectful, calm, content, and wonderful boys one and all.  Not to worry, I keep an eye on them just in case, but grateful it has been a non issue with this particular group.  I have come to the conclusion that it is not horned or polled that is the biggest factor for me with a ram, but overall disposition.  With rams, some are unfriendly and turn nasty.  Some are overly friendly and do the same. Others like Neville is a calm cool and collected as they come.  The solution is to breed for the best temperament possible, have zero tolerance for bad ram behavior, respect their space and demand they do the same for you, never turn your back on them, and know sometimes that will even not be enough and make the hard decisions in the event that happens.  For now I am just happy I seem to have rams that fit my low conflict expectations.  I just have too many so let me know if you are in need of one.  Out of the 13, two are sold and waiting for pick up.  Many more beautiful rams to choose from however. 

Horns and Puppies

 This is Swiftriver Neville an F1 Heights Orion and the sire to many of the this years lamb crop.  So he is 50% UK and 50% old New England blood (Maple Ridge).  This ram makes me want to keep horns in my flock because simply he is magnificent.  He is also the calmest coolest ram ever at three years old, he doesn't have a mean bone in his body.  Now mind you he is the alpha ram but his presence alone seems to be enough to command the respect he needs to be in charge.  He also seems to respect that I am ultimately the REAL alpha of the place and as long as I bring him good things like food, water, fresh pasture, a few scratches, and ewes in the fall, he finds no need what so ever to ruin a good thing. His microns fall of his two year old year were 26.5 SD 4.8 and CV of 18.2 SF of 25.2 and a CRV (find that an interesting number to look at as it seems that the higher it is the more crimp) of 58.9.  He is for sale as I generally like to use a ram for a year or two and then have them move on.  He carries moorit and spots.  I am keeping his two sons pictured below for further evaluation.  Ideally I would let him have a breeding group here in the fall and then let him go to a new flock.  He is priced at $350 but there is a $50 discount if purchased with a ewe.  He also has two HST black and white ram lambs, also priced at $350 available for sale.  His musket HST son is sold and is going to Cape Cod!

 The last male puppy sold and will be leaving for his new home tomorrow.  The last female may also be sold to a good friend.  If they decide they are not ready for a dog at this time, we might keep her ourselves.  She has been here too long and we have gotten attached.  If our friends take her, we will still be able to see her often.

Good Rammies

The boys I have right now are such good boys to EVERYONE:

 Puppies

 Sons

 Sisters (Dessie above and twin Hope below)

 Sharing a pasture line.

Best of all they are good to their people, very polite respectful boys.

2010 Flock Sires

These are the rams I am planning to use this fall.  Mapleton Zeus a yearling fawn katmoget on the left.  Harvest Thyme Champ a yearling mioget half poll in the center.  And the new ram at the farm...a two year old, Swiftriver Neville, who is a F1 Heights Orion son (in layman terms it means he is the product of imported "straw" from an UK sire and his mother was artificially inseminated).  His registered color is black but he almost looks like a really dark brown or Shetland black.  The rammie lambies are sitting out this round unless I decide to breed  my two largest ewe lambs, then I will give one to each of them:  Mapleton Storm a moorit HST and Spring Hills Patches a grey maybe even emsket smirslet katmoget.  Can you believe it is almost that time of year already!?