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Saturday, August 29, 2009

Headed To Atlantic Canada to Deliver Sheep ... :-)

My sheep sales are going quite well. Of course, I have personally contacted just about every Shetland Addict I know ... hehehe! I am also selling sheep at great prices, since I'd much rather sell them alive, than eat them ... :-)

Cathy Gallivan was interested in black ... and polled genetics. I have this awesome guy coming in from Juliann Budde's breeding. After I have used him early this Fall, I am delivering him and three bred black ewes to Cathy.

I can take the four animals in the back of my truck ... OR ... I can take my trailer. If I take the trailer, then I'll have room for 3 or 4 more rams in the truck ... and 6 to 8 more ewes in the trailer.

I am hoping that folks east of me in Canada will contact me and see about adding new genetics to their flocks by purchasing a ram ... or some bred ewes.

Also, I will be making another trip to Eastern Ontario and Ottawa. At the moment, I have 9 sheep in the load ... but room for about 5 more. Get back to me, folks in Eastern Ontario and the Ottawa area!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Gotta Reduce The Flock!

I am SOOO concerned with keeping my flock safe! Daily almost, I get to see a guy who looks like this wander casually through my pastures ... in the middle of the day! He is beautiful ... but ... he has carried off NINE of my lambs and killed one MATURE ram!

I am having him hunted, but he is nowhere to be seen when the guns are around. My dogs , are puppies and won't be a match for this dude and his family until they are at LEAST two years old.
As a shepherd, one of my main roles is to KEEP MY FLOCK SAFE! In order to do that over the coming winter ... I need to get rid of a LOT of sheep. The plan is to keep a maximum of 36 ewes/ewe lambs and to breed fewer than 30. I also hope to get my ram flock down from14 mature rams and the six ram lambs (out of 49) that I planned to keep this winter. I hope to keep only six to eight in total.

This is an opportunity for folks in Canada. I'll sell any ewe or ewe lamb for $225 (with a $25 per animal discount for purchases of 3 or more) and I'll breed the ewe to the ram of your choice from this list.
  • WillowGarden Garnish
  • FirthofFifth Lassig
  • FirthofFirth Aman
  • Lil' Country Greyson
  • North Wind Holiday
  • V Creek Leo
  • Columb (linebred on Underhill Thelonius Monk)
  • or one of my ram lambs

What is left on the sale list as of mid-November will be sold for slaughter. I would rather have them die a humane death than be ripped apart by a coy/wolf!

I also have a LOT of quality rams that I'll part with. Email me to ask who is for sale.

I'll try to update my website Sale sections, but I'm really busy emptying Gene's house as it is sold for Sep 1.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Rams For Sale at Willow Garden

Here are the rams currently available at Willow Garden. All are proven. All are suitable to be flock sires.

There is a $25 per animal discount if three or more sheep are purchased, or have been purchased over recent years.
UndertheSon Two Bars … a 2008 mioget ram lamb out of UnderTheSon Torvus AI and UnderTheSon Ellie. This ram is awesome and threw some great lambs. … AFD – 22.8 … SD – 5.2 … CV – 23.1. … $325 ... This guy is a real treasure with seldom seen in Canada genetics!
WillowGarden Juice … a 2008 grey ram out of WillowGarden Chick Pea and Lugthart Starry Champion. This guy is NICE! … AFD – 24.8 … SD – 6.1 … CV – 24.5. … $275 ... This one has high percentage Enfield Greyling genetics (Greyling is my favourites of all of the imports)!
WillowGarden Crush … a 2008 black yuget flecket katmoget ram out of WillowGarden Cameroon and Underhill Thelonius Monk. The guy is AWESOME in every way and has thrown some wonderful lambs. He is a larger boy. … AFD – 22.4 … SD – 5.6 … CV – 25. … $325 ... This boy is one that stands out in a crowd, and his lambs do as well!
WillowGarden Chill … a 2008 moorit ram out of WillowGarden Kasia and WillowGarden Nelson AI. This guy would make an awesome flock sire! … AFD – 24.8 … SD – 5.2 … CV – 20.8. … $300 ... A spectacular ram with 'all the right stuff'!

Ewe Lambs For Sale at WillowGarden

These are the ewe lambs currently for sale at Willow Garden.

There is a $25 per animal discount if three or more are purchased, or have been purchased over recent years.
Tulip’s grey ewe lamb … out of Great Plains Tulip (F2 Greyling, F2 Jamie) and WillowGarden Juice (F2, F3 Greyling). This is a great lamb with lots of Enfield Greyling genetics. … $325
Tulips black ewe lamb … a rich, black out of Great Plains Tulip (F2 Greyling, F2 Jamie) and WillowGarden Juice (F2, F3 Greyling). A GREAT ewe lamb with awesome genetics behind her. … $350
Rwanda’s black ewe lamb … a black ewe lamb with a minor krunet, out of WillowGarden Rwanda and WillowGarden Juice (F2, F3 Greyling). A nice, solid ewe lamb, just not spectacular. … $325 ... SOLD
Papaya’s ewe lamb … a moorit ewe lamb out of WillowGarden Papaya and WillowGarden Juice (F2, F3 Greyling). This ewe lamb VERY (as in TOO) small. She an awesome, soft, even fleece. She was bottle fed, so is 'dog tame'. For sale for pet stock only with a non-breeding contract … $50
Olive’s fawn katmoget ewe lamb … out of WillowGarden Olive and FirthofFifth Aman AI (F1 Orian). This ewe lamb is also perfect except that her tail is a bit longer, but still quite acceptable. … $375 ... SOLD
Linyanti’s black katmoget ewe lamb … out of WillowGarden Linyanti AI and WillowGarden Shake (F2, F3 Greyling). This ewe lamb is perfect in every way! … $400 ... SOLD
Chick Pea’s black ewe lamb … a black ewe lamb out of WillowGarden Chick Pea (F2 Greyling) and WillowGarden Juice (F2, F3 Greyling). This was an accidental inbreeding, but the resulting ewe lamb is fine in every way. … $325
Cherry’s grey ewe lamb … a grey ewe lamb out of Great Plains Cherry (F2, F2 Timothy). This girl has an awesome, even and crimpy fleece. Her tail is at the upper end of acceptable limits. … $300

Ewes For Sale at Willow Garden

Here are most of the ewes that I have for sale. Many of these might have been retained for breeding with my finer rams imported from the US, but ... due to predator issues, and the fact that my dogs need time to grown up before I can rely fully on them ... I am reducing my flock to 35 breeding ewes. I know, that likely means 40, but that is still way down for me.

There is a $25 per animal discount if three or more are purchased, or have been purchased over recent years. OR ... in lieu of the discount, you could choose to have the ewes synchronized and exposed to one of my rams in November. Contact me for a list of rams available for this.

Windwater Therese … a 2008 musket ewe out of Windwater Rogue and Veliraf Streak. This ewe has a primitive, wavey fleece and likely carries spotting genetics. AFD – 29.4 … SD – 8 … CV – 27.1. … $275

WillowGarden Smirnoff … a 2008 moorit smirslet gulmoget ewe out of WillowGarden Billie Holiday and Bramble Nick. This is a nice ewe. … AFD – 24.6 … SD – 6.6 … CV – 27. … $325 ... SOLD

Windwater Petunia … a 2006 yuglet flecket katmoget ewe out of WillowGarden Jenny Wren and Windwater Sean O’Sullivan. This ewe is flashy and has a decent and even fleece. … AFD – 29.2 … SD – 7.1 … CV – 24.3. … $275

WillowGarden Olive … a 2008 black katmoget ewe out of Great Plains Joanne and WillowGarden Kilimanjaro AI. This ewe is awesome … even, crimpy and fine … and a spot carrier. AFD – 24.7 … SD – 6.1 … CV – 24.8. … $325 ... SOLD

Harmony Marsh Lady … a black ewe out of Dailley Clio and WillowGarden Bassa. This ewe has a decent fleece that is staying black. … AFD – 28 … SD – 7.2 … CV – 25.7. … $275 ... SOLD

WillowGarden Fuji … a 2007 light grey blettet ewe out of Great Plains Kilda (F1 Lightning) and WillowGarden Duke Ellington. This ewe has a decent fleece and carries both spots and modified colour genetics. … AFD – 29.3 … SD – 8.6 … CV – 29.2. … $275
WillowGarden Tabasco … a 2008 moorit yuglet flecket ewe lamb out of FirthofFifth Masala Chai and WillowGarden Kilimanjaro AI. This is a nice, flashy ewe. … AFD – 28.9 … SD – 8.1 … SD - 28. … $275 ... SOLD
WillowGarden Cherry Bomb … a 2008 black ewe lamb out of Great Plains Cherry and WillowGarden Kilimanjaro AI. She has a dense, crimpy fleece and carries spots. … AFD – 27 … SD – 7.4 … CV - 27.5. … $275 ... SOLD

HarmonyMarsh Anastasia … a 2007 moorit ewe out of WillowGarden Hattie McDaniel and WillowGarden Abraham Lincoln. This very correct ewe has a decent fleece, great conformation, and carries both spots and modified colour genetics. … AFD – 29.8 … SD – 9.6 … CV – 32.1. … $275WillowGarden Schnapps … a 2008 mioget/fawn ewe out of Great Plains Sylvia AI (F1 Greyling) and WillowGarden Nelson AI. This ewe has a fine, even fleece and great conformation. She is F2 Greyling and carries spots. … AFD – 25.7 … SD – 6.7 … CV – 26.2. … $375 ... SOLD

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

My Dogs ... and ... Some Boys I Like ... ;-)

I can hardly wait until next summer when these dogs are more mature. They are already making excellent progress, but I am still losing the odd lamb to predators! I HATE that and will be cutting back the flock this Fall to keep it to a size that can be locked down behind much electricty through the 'hungry season' for coyotes/wolves.
I LOVE this guy for his colour, crimp, and uniformity of fleece. He is WillowGarden David Niven, out of WillowGarden Opal and FirthofFifth Lassig.
This guy is out of Windwater Petunia and UnderTheSon Two Bars. He is 10 weeks old in this photo. I'm sure that he is a modified katmoget.
Here is my buddy Richard Gere, out of WillowGarden Gin and North Wind Holiday ... pictured at 10 weeks
And another scurred boy ... out of WillowGarden Cherry Bomb and WillowGarden Garnish ... also at 10 weeks.

Friday, August 07, 2009

WOW ... Life ... Is So VERY Good ... :-)

Tonight ... it opened ... :-)
Seems to be a 'night blooming' something ... :-)
It is very beautiful ... and VERY fragrant ... and it makes me smile.
It is ALL good ... :-)


Monday, August 03, 2009

My Weekend Shingle-fling

What a GREAT weekend! Between my neighbours, my family and my friend Pete ... I got LOTS done on my home.

'We' started to shingle on Saturday as the weather forecast for Sunday didn't look good. My part of shingling was to feed folks ... after I went into a hyperventilated state the first time I got on the roof ... and had to crawl backwards to the ladder!

The rest of the 'event' is captured digitally below ... :-)

Pete, my neighbour Pete that is, and Matt, also my neighbour, did the actual shingling. (Sorry that I didn't get a more flattering view of you Pete ... hehehe)
Julie, the head of the neighbour family, helped in MANY ways. Here she is cutting the shingles for the ridge cap.

My son, Chris, helped with the screens.
Son-in-law Tim, used my new gas powered pressure washer to clean EVERYTHING!
Jason, also a neighbour, re-worked their driveway using my tractor.
Abby, the neighbours' Great Dane ... supervised ... ;-)
And me ... well ... the photo above pretty well sums up my contribution ... LOL. Mind you, we did eat well all weekend, so I DID contribute by doing what I do best ... feeding people.
Thank you to the best neighbours anyone could ever have ... and to my family (also the best a guy could ask for) ... and to Pete (hmmm ... he is pretty awesome as well!). Let's do it all again ... in 40 YEARS ... hehehe
Life ... is so VERY good ... ;-)

Sunday, August 02, 2009

Will ... Meets Aman

I had the MOST awesome weekend with close friends, family, and the BEST NEIGHBOURS in the WORLD (who are also dear friends). My new roof is beautiful and will outlast ME! I have pictures to tell the WHOLE story ... hehehe ... but I'll do that in another post ... :-)

Right now, I just want to share the meeting of Will, 'The Most Perfect Little Boy in the World' ... and FirthofFifth Aman, who LOVES little people.
Grandpa did the introductions and showed Will how to 'tickle' Aman's chin to make his tail wag.
Will discovered that Aman likes to be 'tickled' just about anywhere ... :-)
The two boys rapidly became 'best friends' ... and neither wanted to leave the other one. Will DID leave when asked if he wanted to come and sit on Grandpa's tractor ... ;-)
Life ... is so very good.
THANK YOU everyone who helped to make this weekend so wonderful!