Tuesday morning I changed Bramble's coat; she's finally in a size D! As always, coat changing time is fleece touchy-feely time, and Bramble's was a delightful experience. It is extremely dense, making it difficult to part for a photo; it has a wonderfully soft handle and is very crimpy, although not an organized, defined crimp. As I was picking off the stray bit of debris, I realized just how long her fiber is!
The coat has compressed it, but there is a lot of fleece there.Bramble and her half-sister Bronwen are both quite dilute in color. If I didn't know better, I'd say they are both musket gulmogets - but none of their parents carry Ag. So I've had to assume that both are modified, and get those genetics from their sire Everranch Franjean. This makes for an exciting possibility of my first shaela or emsket next year IF I use a new BB/BB ram (as yet to be announced) and IF Bramble is fertile (she is the one who had vaginitis). Bodhran sure thinks she smells fine; he was ready to test her fertility while I was changing her coat!
Speaking of half-sisters, Bronwen's two-year-old half-sister Blanche (Valiant Braveheart x WSR Dinah), who moved to Alaska as a lamb, now has a lamb of her own. And what a lamb!
This spotted beauty is NOT Ag, but will keep that variation in her fleece for life. Congratulations to Suzanne, Blanche and Topple!This morning I got an unexpected "mommy break" when Brian took off with Rick to watch Dad castrate pigs, so I sat in the fold and snoggled sheep. Photos from that tomorrow, if nothing more exciting shows up (I'm not holding my breath).
That's it for now at . . .
7 comments:
Is snoggling a sheep a mix of hugging and kissing? hee hee
I'd love a chance to snoggle sheep!! They look so lovely...
Nancy in Iowa
Of course, Isobelle!
Mom L., fly on out and snoggle some! ;-)
Your lamb looks like Mim's - adorable! She was over today and said the buzz on the Shetland group is for short fiber staple length and small carcass to be authentic. I say buzz on, but take it outside. Not interested.
I wouldn't MIND if that was my lamb, but unfortunately she lives in Alaska!
I'm not sure what buzz Mim is hearing; what I'm hearing is that anything OVER 7" (which is approaching long-wool staple length) isn't likely to be the ideal representative of historic Shetland fleece type. Personally, I like my staples at 4-6", which is well within the target range. To me, "short" is less than 3". But hey, people can breed for whatever they like; the Shetland registry doesn't inspect sheep before registering them like the warmblood horse associations do!
Cute lamb!
I love reading your blog. I learn so much. And I have to admit, I love thos spotted sheep and lambs the best. They are so pretty!!!
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