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Is anyone interested in seeing our lambs?


Digital_photog

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4 minutes ago, sheep_herder said:

I see you are learning about shearing Icelandics. Most ewes will have an adequate fever near lambing that can cause a break in the wool, something you would have near the end of the fiber and not in the middle. 

Some Shetland sheep will naturally roo their fleece and you can just pluck it instead of shearing.

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3 minutes ago, Dirtyhip said:

Awww.  When do we get to eat them?

These are the start of our breeding flock. Won't be eaten soon.  But to face the facts.  Farm animals do get eaten. They aren't just raised as pets.  These sheep are small and won't make much meat.  They are mainly raised for their high quality fleece.  Also they are hardy and easy to raise in the cold climate like the Shetland Islands.  They don't require as much or as high quality feed that many of the warm climate breeds do. Easy lambing with few delivery problems is another benefit. Yes, it is a fact, many of them will eventually end on the table for food.

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8 hours ago, Digital_photog said:

These are the start of our breeding flock. Won't be eaten soon.  But to face the facts.  Farm animals do get eaten. They aren't just raised as pets.  These sheep are small and won't make much meat.  They are mainly raised for their high quality fleece.  Also they are hardy and easy to raise in the cold climate like the Shetland Islands.  They don't require as much or as high quality feed that many of the warm climate breeds do. Easy lambing with few delivery problems is another benefit. Yes, it is a fact, many of them will eventually end on the table for food.

I must have been mistaken, and thought you had purchased some Icelandic Sheep, but you continue mentioning Shetland Sheep and the Shetland Islands.  Folks have raised both breeds in this area, but the one large breeder that moved to Missouri, and later passed away raised Icelandic sheep.  She was very progressive, with AI, etc.

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9 hours ago, sheep_herder said:

I must have been mistaken, and thought you had purchased some Icelandic Sheep, but you continue mentioning Shetland Sheep and the Shetland Islands.  Folks have raised both breeds in this area, but the one large breeder that moved to Missouri, and later passed away raised Icelandic sheep.  She was very progressive, with AI, etc.

Our sheep are Shetland.  Icelandic sheep do have many similar traits. Our flock is listed in the North American Shetland Sheep Breeders Association and the Fine Fleece Shetland Sheep Association.

 

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8 hours ago, sheep_herder said:

Interesting to see the shearer is using a jointed shaft on their machine.  Many of the folks around here have gone to flex shafts. All of our machines had jointed shafts.

Around here you only see the largest shearers using jointed or flex shaft.  Most are shearing with electric shearers.  I have 2 older Sunbeam Shearmaster shearers. Maybe not the greatest tools but good enough for the 10 to 15 llamas and alpacas I shear a  year.

 

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