One Last Trip to Get BFLs

Well ... I have decided that if I am going to 'do it' ... then I had better just 'do it'.

Soooo ... next Friday, I am scheduled to import two more Bluefaced (Hexham) Leicester ewes and another ram from Brenda Lelli's Beechtree Farm.
Above is Beechtree Hetherington, a yearling ewe, in full fleece. She produced, and raised two coloured lambs this year.
Above and below is Beechtree Platinum, a two year old ewe, also in full fleece.
The following series of pictures are all of my newest ram lamb ... an F1 CarryHouse, out of a coloured ewe. I like him ... a lot. His name is Beechtree Kale.

Tail-Gate Party ... Willow Garden Style ... :-)

Well ... we had the coolest 'Tail-gate Party' yesterday ... just not the usual kind ... :-) My neighbours (and friends), the Bosley's, came along to help.
Nick, my 200 pound LGD mats rather than sheds. This year I opted to have a professional animal hairdresser do him up right.
A little medication from the Vet helped ... ;-)
it was a slow process let me tell you! It took almost two hours from injection through to hair cut finished.
Nick didn't seem to mind. I may ask for some of what the Vet gave him ... for my own use ... hehehe
Nick looked beautiful once he was done. AND ... everyone used to say how Nick was all hair. NOT TRUE! The boy is down-rite FAT. Just don't tell him I said that ... as we are the same size ... LOL

More Exciting Than My New BFLs ...

Here are yesterday's ultrasound pictures of my not yet born, second grand child ... :-)Obviously related to me, when you notice the belly ... hehehe
Proud parents to be are my daughter, Kate ... and son-in-law, Tim.

Well done you two.

:-))

The Choices Are Narrowing ... ;-)

Well ... the choices for my Bluefaced Leicesters are almost made. Actually, I am leaving the decisions up to Brenda Lelli, who is the Queen of BFLs in North America ... IMHO.

Above is 85-Black, a white ewe scheduled to come to Willow Garden. Behind her is 71 - Black, a white ram making the journey.
This little girl is 80-Black, a coloured ewe hoping to make the trip.
And then, of course, there is 43-Yellow ... the guy who talked me into this in the first place ... hehehe.
Of the ewes pictured above and below ... 70-Black above, and 2-grey below ... only one will be chosen for the trip. I wish I could just bring in both ... but ... the paper work is filled in already for two rams and three ewes.

I am (not so) secretly hoping that I can bring in 70-Black. I'm not sure why ... but there is just this 'look' about her. I think that she just LOOKS Canadian, eh!

Shetland AI Lamb Fleeces ... Maturing

I am pretty happy with what I saw when I caught my AI lambs for their CDT shots today.
They are growing some very cool fleeces ... ;-)

BFLs Coming to Willow Garden?

Who woulda thought, eh? BUT ... I just love their wool, their dispostion ... and those ears ... :-)

These pictures were all taken at Brenda Lelli's Beechtree Blues Farm

So far ... I have the Canadian import permit done. Brenda's husband Mark is a Vet and he has mostly completed the US application. Now ... I wait patiently (NOT!) until Monday or Tuesday when the paperwork will all be with the USDA for approval. Import is scheduled for Monday, July 23rd, so we are working on a tight timeline. There is talk of changes in the US that might make the import of ewes even MORE difficult, so I decided not to wait any longer!
I am bringing in ... a coloured ram, a white ram, a coloured ewe, and two white ewes. I believe they will be the only BFLs in Canada, at the moment. I haven't yet seen the EXACT animals coming ... except for this dude above. I love this guy. He was a bottle baby and underneath that brown looking fleece ... he is a deep, rich, silver. Look at that face ... "Please Bill, take me to Canada, eh?". How could I say "No!" to anything that cute ... ;-)

BLUEFACED LEICESTERS

Well ... when I was in Michigan for a few days to bring back the second round of sheep from Willow Garden South ... I went to visit Brenda Lelli at Beechtree Blues Farm.

Now ... there are just two more sheep to come from Willow Garden South. AND I have my ewe flock down to 50 (more on that soon).

Soooooooooooo ... ;-)

I'm not going into a lot of details right now ... but trust me ... there may be some ground shattering news within the next few days.

But ... ssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ... don't tell anyone ... hehehe
These two ram lambs are my favourites ... ;-)