TOO MANY SHEEP - Ewes For Sale With Lambs at Their Side

Well ... with 27 ewes yet to lamb ... I am at 74 lambs on the ground and running! I intend to keep over all 20 AI ewe lambs, and likely 15 other ewe lambs.

I NEED TO SELL SHEEP and these prices reflect that fact. I have sold quite a few already and will update my campaign to save babies in Africa later. In the mean time ... my goal is to have WAY fewer sheep when I turn the flock out to pasture in mid May.

Volume discounts will be offered. Transportation, within a four hour drive can be arranged.

Come for a visit. My sheep sell themselves ... :-)

WillowGarden Rapini, a black ewe out of Dailley Thalia and Whistle Stop Lerwick, bred to Gus, produced a nice black ram lamb with a small krunet. This pair is priced at $450.

WillowGarden Tracy Chapman, out of SheltrgPines Palmyra & Claystone Solomon Grundy, when bred to WillowGarden Lima, produced this perfect smirslet katmoget ewe lamb. I love this pair! $500 for both.

WillowGarden Ethyl Hertz, a moorit iset ewe out of SheltrgPines Palmyra and WillowGarden Peiter Peter, when bred to Harcourt (described previously), produced ... a stunning white ram lamb and a beautiful fawn katmoget ewe lamb. The trio is priced at $600.

SheltrgPines Hebe, bred to Wind Water Asparagsu (Gus), produced a mioget yuglet katmoget ewe lamb, and a mioget smirslet ram lamb (pictured below). This trio is bargain priced at $600.

WillowGarden Joan Crawford, a Great Plains Tisket daughter, bred to Dailley Ray Charles (emsket), produced a moorit ewe lamb and a moorit gulmoget ram lamb. A great opportunity to add gulmoget genetics to your flock! ... $600 for the trio.

WillowGarden Joni Mitchell, a dark brown, smaller ewe, is available for sale with a ewe lamb out of Woolly Shadow and WillowGarden Lima (spotted katmoget). This case of switched at birth is a long story ... but ... The lamb has a lovely fleece and is from non-fading lines. ... $500 for the pair.

WillowGarden Apricot, a white yearling ewe out of Great Plains Juliet and Whistle Stop Lerwick, produced this striking dark, grey katmoget krunet lamb, when bred to Wind Water Asparagus (mioget yuglet katmoget). Both ewe and ram lamb would be keepers if I had the space! Spotting, UK genetics, modified colour genetics and great fleeces ... $500 for the pair.

DWR Astrild, a spotted moorit out of Dailley Erato and Dailley Kismet, produced this cute dark moorit smirslet (near yuglet) sokket ewe lamb, when bred to Gus (the ram described previously - Asparagus). Besides spots, this lamb carries modified colour genetics. This flashy pair ... $500.

WillowGarden Bonnie Best, a moorit ewe lamb out of WillowGarden Little Eva and Whistle Stop Lerwick (F1 Drum Jings) produced this beautifully built dark, moorit katmoget ram, when bred to WillowGarden Harcourt (F2 Minder / F2 Drum Jings). Can't loose with this pair at $500 for both.

WillowGarden Chick Pea, a grey yearling ewe out of WillowGarden Sophia Lauren and Great Plains William, had a ram lamb when bred to WillowGarden Lima. The lamb will likely have a very nice fleece, but is not of breeding quality and will be sold wethered. This pair is $300.

Dailley Dee Dee Bridgewater, bred to Wind Water Asparagus (Gus) produced a musket yuglet flecket ewe lamb and a fawn krunet katmoget ram. A truly striking trio ... $600 ... SALE PENDING.

WillowGarden South Lambs

SheltrgPines Agnes of Rome, produced a black gulmoget ewe (above) and a grey ram (below with the ewe), when bred to SheltrgPines Justinian, an F1 Dillan gulmoget. They are beautiful!
FirthofFirth Masala Chai had a lovely black ewe lamb when bred to to same ram.
I will get a call from senior Canadian Government officials, apparently on Monday, to tell me that the border is open for importing sheep. Then they will follow me through the process and expidite things ... or so they say.

My goal is to bring the sheep home next Friday, April 27.

This importation, which represents the genetics from every Shetland ram used for AI in the US, except for Jericho, has been a long time in the collecting ... and is a dream come true! I have worked on this ... and believed in my governement for so long ... that now that it is about to happen ... I get emotional thinking about it.

Thank you to the Canadian Government officials who FINALLY listened to me and my pleas. OK ... so maybe I wasn't the ONLY one ... but ... thank you anyway ... ;-)

And a special thank you to my friend Stephen Rouse, who has housed Willow Garden South for a LONG time ... :-)

The Last Few Days

WillowGarden Joni Mitchell's mioget smirslet ewe lamb ... being raised by Woolly Shadow ... don't ask ... hehehe
WillowGarden Khani Cole with her 'triplets'. The biggest one, she stole from Billie Holiday. The other two are hers ... really ... WHAT A YEAR ... LOL
Woolly Shadows ewe lamb, being raised by Joni Mitchell. It just seemed easier ... :-)
Bluff Country Mikaela's boys. The one at the back is a spotted katmoget.
Dailley Dianah Shore's little boy.
Dinah Shore's little girl ... and BOTH being raised by the right mother ... hehehe
SheltrgPine's Hebe's mioget boy above, and her mioget spotted katmoget ewe below..

Who'd Have Thought!??!

Well ... twice a year I am overcome with 'the urge' ... and I get a call saying ... 'they are here and ready' ... and off I go ... to pick up chicks!

You'd think at MY age that I'd be through with that ... but no ... twice a year ... the urge overtakes ... and I clean up the 'Chick-Mobile' ... and off I go!

The picture above is taken into the interior of the 'Chick-Mobile'.

Recent Lambs - Lots More Coming

Above and below is WillowGarden Tanganyka, a moorit yuglet sokket gulmoget ewe lamb, out of Khani Cole. She is not currently for sale.
Below is WillowGarden Principe, a fawn katmoget smirslet ram lamb ... out of Dailley Dee Dee Bridgewater and Wind Water Asparagus. This means that Gus, with just two mioget eye flashes to guess by, was indeed katmoget. This little guy will be for sale pending his development. He is carrying spots big time ... :-)
This is WillowGarden Sao Tome, twin to Principe. She is a moorit yuglet flecket sokket and is for sale.
The two below, WillowGarden Bossa & Cabora are both out of WillowGarden Ethyl Hertz and WillowGarden Harcourt. Harcourt is a white ram that carries katmoget. He is a double F2 (Minder/Drum Jings). He is for sale. Both lambs below are also fo sale ... the white, Bossa, is a ram ... the moorit katmoget, Cabora, is a ewe.
This is WillowGarden Chad. He is a mioget yuglet katmoget ram lamb, out of WillowGarden Grace Kelly and Wind Water Asparagus. He will be for sale pending development.
Below is DWR Astrild, a smirslet sokket ewe ... and her smirslet sokket ewe lamb ... WillowGarden Ghana. Both are for sale and would make a great pair to purchase now (at a reduced rate).
WillowGarden Billie Holiday is likely the first smirslet gulmoget in North America. She is shown below with her daughter, WillowGarden Kivu, a mioget/fawn gulmoget. Neither are for sale at this time.
Here is a fuzzy picture of WillowGarden Carmen McRae's black katmoget (with a minor krunet) ram lamb ... WillowGarden Leone. He is sired by Dailley Ray Charles. At the moment, he is the only black Tisket gulmoget ram that I have, so he is not for sale.
Below is his twin, WillowGarden Siearra, a mioget smirslet flecket gulmoget ewe lamb. She is not for sale ... BUT ... her dam, who is also mioget smirslet sokket flecket is.
Carmen Miranda had twin Katmogets out of WillowGarden Lima. The ram lamb, WillowGarden Fitri is a smirslet and VERY fine and crimpy (an exceptional lamb). The ewe lamb, WillowGarden Fianga, is also pretty nice! Dam, and both lambs are for sale.

Heartbroken!

Well ... it has happened again. I have been rejected.

Above is a picture of Albert ... taking a drink from his MOTHER!!

When I went out this morning ... Albert got up and went to HER for a drink and had NO interest in either ME or the BOTTLE that I had so carefully heated for him.

This afternoon, he did come running over to say 'Hi' and pawed my leg ... but I ignored the little turn-coat.

Actually ... I am thrilled with this turn of events. As a ram, Albert should NOT be hand raised ... and since he is an F1 ... I had no desire to wether him.

So ... good for Albert ... and this silly old shepherd will soon get over the rejection ... hehehe

Saving Babies in Africa

Well ... I had the most pleasant surprise this morning. I got this message via email. A lovely young couple from Vermont, who I met when they drove to Ontario for the 2005 AGM, just donated the money to the Mother to Child HIV Prevention Program in my honour, to pay for ... Cameroon ... life expectancy at birth - 51.16 yrs ... people living with HIV/AIDs - 560,000 ... prevalence of HIV/AIDs in the population - 6.9%.

These wonderful people are Jen and Tim Cary of Windsor, Vermont. They have a flock of Shetland sheep (NASSA floock # 1221).

THANK YOU JEN & TIM!!!

I hope that readers of this blog remember that this year ... $25 from each sheep sold, will be donated to World Vision's Mother to Child HIV Prevention Program. And Carol Arthur and Carol Brough will match my donation ... so ... for each sheep sold, the $75CA needed to save a baby ... will be donated.

Jen and Tim, have moved my quest along to seven babies saved. My goal is to save one baby for each of the 55 countries in Africa. It isn't much ... but it is something ... and it will be REALLY something for those 55 babies and their families.
Tomorrow, someone is coming ... with a BIG truck I hope ... to buy sheep. I am thinking that even more countries will get crossed off after their visit ... ;-)

THAT'S My Boy

Well, Albert has made the adjustment back to being a sheep ... and he has done it really nicely. Above he is nestled up against Elsie Marley.

Below is the stretch I look for any time a lamb wakes up. It is the stretch of a healthy lamb ... :-)
Below, he is talking to 'Dad' and wondering if I brought him any food.
And here he is ... my boy, Albert. He still has a lot of weight to put back on, but it is so nice to see him bouncing around in the mixing paddock! It is hard to believe that two days ago I had almost given him up for dead.

Life is so very good!

What's Wrong With This Picture?

This is Albert. Albert is eight days old, but still ended up being a bottle baby. Turns out that he was constipated and 'went off his feed'. No matter how hard I tried, I could NOT get him to take a bottle! Thursday morning, I found him lying in the mud ... motionless ... unable to left his head ... but still breathing. I brought him in, tube fed him a couple of times and heated him up in front of the woodstove.

As these pictures show, Albert enjoyed his stay in front of the Fire.

Friday, Albert went to school with me and was a pretty popular guy.

This morning, Saturday, for the first time, he latched right on to the bottle and drank his fill! He is now outside with the flock, stealing drinks where he can. His Mom wants nothing to do with him, but he has made LOTS of friends and I'll bottle feed him out there. He sure smells better out there ... hehehe

What Could Be Better Than New Lambs???

... a first Grand-baby, of course!!

My son, Chris, and daughter-in-law, Kerri ... shared the wonderful news with me on Easter weekend. Then they sent this ultrasound picture. I KNOW this baby is going to look JUST like me ... we have the same tummy ... hehehe

I am soooo happy ... and thrilled for this young couple. They will be wonderful parents!

AI Update

Well ... the AI babies are all here. It was one heck of a roller coaster ride, but well worth it ... or so I am thinking.

19 ewe lambs and 17 rams ... MANY are stunning!

Above is Willowgarden Sahara ... out of WillowGarden Janis Joplin and Todhill Glayva.

This is WillowGarden Faso looking in on his uncle ... and half brother ... WillowGarden Kilimanjaro.

Kilimanjaro ... above and below ... and below again. This guy is VERY cool.

Look at how wide he is ... and the even-ness of his fleece!
Here is WillowGarden Atlas ... out of Neir Lakes Voe and Todhill Hornblower. He is awesome!
Great Plains Cherry had twins ... a grey katmoget ram (WillowGarden Nelson) and a white (or spotted) ewe (WillowGarden Mandella). Cherry is also helping to raise my bottle baby, WillowGarden Liberia.
Dorethy Lamour's triplets (above and below) ... WillowGarden Equitoria, WillowGarden Burkina, and WillowGarden Faso. All are either spotted or carrying spots. These fleeces are really even!
Below is WillowGarden Kalahari, brother to Sahara.
I have been REALLY busy making sure that at least one out of each set of twins and two out of each set of triplets are 'trained' to the bottle. I have purchased a 'baby bucket' that can feed five lambs at a time. Right now, I am feeding individually by bottle, but I hope to be able to supplement with the five nipple bucket starting on Thursday. THAT will give me more time to get ready for 'round two' ... which is due to start next weekend ... with about 30 ewes due to lamb within 3 weeks.