Anyway, amongst other things, we had a flock of sheep that usually numbered a couple hundred head, and from the time I can remember they captured my heart. I don't know if its cause we not only lived in the middle of nowhere with no decent towns within a hour drive, but we also had no TV, internet, nintendos and other such things. So our entertainment was the animals. Horses and sheep were my big loves (and my milk cow, Daisy) and if I wasn't riding horse I was in the sheep barn. Us kids pretty much lived for lambing. And I guess once sheep are in your blood they never leave, cause from the time I left home I knew I was gonna someday have sheep again. Preferably sooner rather than later! Like they say you can take the girl out of the country but you can't take the country out of the girl. (corny but true) And its not just me, my younger sister would love to have sheep someday too and she also has the strong forever kind of love for sheep.
But life happens and it doesn't always work out exactly as you planned and sheep become a more distant dream each year. And instead of marrying that cowboy you planned on marrying, you marry a town boy who doesn't even know the proper sheep terminology! horror! But little do you realize that someday he will make the best darn farm asset you've ever met and will spend countless hours building you fences and barns and dehorning your goats and pretty much all the gory parts of farm work possible....with NO complaints.
But you have other fun endeavors including building your dream house together and starting a family. Eventually one day you sell your little dream house that your husband built you and you are looking at building another but then you stumble across a delapitated old farmhouse on a couple acres on the edge of town. And you make the decision to buy it instead of building another dream house. Why? Because I knew someday I could have the sheep that I waited so long for. So I squashed one dream to pursue another which is something we are all familiar with I'm sure. You could say that we are living where we are today because of Sheep. And some days when this house literally is falling down around us, I wonder if I made the right choice, but then I just have to step into my backyard and I know I did.
Well as soon as we moved in, I had Rye building fences so we could get some sheep. I had waited almost 20 years and couldn't wait a day more. But then my little baby boy started getting sick and we eventually found out he had a dairy allergy so my practitioner suggested he go on goat milk. Since we can't legally purchase REAL goat milk here in the state of Montana, I decided to buy my own goat. And there rest ,as we say, is history. I was smitten by goats and sheep were put on the back burner temporarily but they were still always in the back of my mind. Don't get me wrong, I will always be the goat lady and they will always be my first love, but I just couldn't ever forget about those sheep. They were becoming a nuisance, frolicking around there in the back recesses of my brain. I stalked Craigs List and papers reading the sheep ads and following sheep blogs and watching sheep shows and...... you get the picture. I tried in vain to convince myself that now that I had goats I didn't need sheep. But finally one day I decided I just needed to do it, you only live once, and I just wasn't going to get over those sheep no matter how many goats I had. I just had to get Rye on board which was shockingly easy.
But what kind should I get? We raised Rambouillet sheep which were a dual purpose sheep but were mostly known for their wool. We used to get our wool judged based on density, crimp and other factors that I don't remember now and we even joined the ND wool growers association. Mom and I entered their wool contest where we made our own outfits out of wool and were judged on it and my mom even won! GO mom! So wool was a big part of our sheep raising experience and on shearing day we were even allowed to SKIP SCHOOL to help out, which was another highlight of our year.
So I knew I wanted a sheep known for its wool and I knew I wanted a heritage breed. That word is passed around today like candy but it really does mean something to me. Commercial sheep have been purposefully bred to be larger, faster growing, and more 'improved.' Yes, they are bigger and better in many ways but theres so many things you lose along the way. A lot of their natural hardiness and breed characteristics are lost along the way. Heritage sheep as a rule have an easier time lambing, are not plagues by sickness and are true to their ancestoral lines. Theres VERY few true heritage sheep breeds left that have retained their primitive instincts and qualities. Now yes, commercial sheep are great for those who need to make a living at it and they are still awesome and I still love them and would take them in a heartbeat. Targhees, Rambouillet, Suffolk, Hampshire....those are just a few and they can be found around every corner in America. But no.... I had to have the hard to find more expensive breeds. See how lucky Rye is.
So in my quest I decided I wanted Shetlands and babydoll sheep or Southdowns. Shetlands are a true rare heritage breed that have been around for 1000's of years and they originated on the Shetland Isles and were transported later by early Vikings. As we all know based on my previous writing, I take great pride in being a Viking descendent. Haha!! But really since I am pretty much 100% Scandinavian, its fun that these sheep were from my ancestors country and they likely raised them at some point! They are known for being one of the smallest breed of sheep with some of the very best wool. According to some, only the angora can pass them in wool quality but I'm sure that is highly debatable by many people. ;) They come in many many different colors and combos and are very colorful.
They are incredibly hardy and can withstand very cold temps with no problems. They were used to the highlands of Scotland after all. They are very docile, friendly and much more intelligent than their overbred commercial cousins. They will even wag their tail when petted and will actively seek out human companionship. This is not normal behavior for most sheep as any sheep breeder will tell you. Even my tamest bum lambs would eventually lose all interest in me after they were sent out to the flock with the exception of Orphan Annie who remained tame her whole life.
Shetlands almost never need help lambing, their tails are naturally docked, they are not as susceptible to hoof rot, sore mouth and many of the other common sheep ailments. They will even start slowly shedding their wool and don't need sheared as much as commercial sheep. So you see why I became convinced!? I read blog after blog about them including the one of the breeders who brought some of the first Shetlands over here. The more I read the more obsessed I became. (Baby doll sheep I wanted cause they were just so stinking cute!)
So anyway here we are in Montana far away from any Shetland breeder and no closer to getting my sheep. The years are passing but I decide to be patient and wait and someday something will turn up. I scoured CL and papers weekly but to no avail. I find a few breeders in MT but they are hanging on tight to their sheep. Patience is NOT one of my virtues but somehow I prevailed. And then one day I spot some shetland sheep on CL. Be still my beating heart. My husband thought I won the lottery when I called him! So this week we added 2 white (I wanted color but that didn't stop me) Shetland ewes who are one year olds and one beautiful Shetland Ram. They need shearing soon and I can't wait to card and spin the wool so we can knit with it even though I don't remember how to do that at all.
We can't find a shearer who is willing to do 3 sheep, no small time breeders can, so good ole Rye gets to learn how to shear sheep. He needs some kind of medal or something for putting up with all I throw at him. It should be interesting and highly entertaining to watch! He also had to get up at 5 this morning to go pick up my heritage breed turkeys to from the PO this morning. This poor guy.
We picked blue slate turkeys for the same reasons. They are heritage breed which means they are hardier, healthier, smarter, stronger, and slower growing. Not only are commercial turkeys, (even the beautiful broad breasted bronze that you see everywhere), fast growing, apprarntly they are so dumb they can't even learn how to eat as babies without you showing them how! What? What have we done to these poor turkey breeds?! The beautiful broad breasted bronze turkey (the kins you see in all traditional pictures) are so overbred that they can't live more than a year or so due to leg and heart problems. They are lacking natural instincts including reproducing, they can't and won't hatch or raise their own young. Many breeders of commercial turkeys raise chicks with them so the chicks can teach the turkeys how to eat and drink and the hatchery recommend we buy chicks with our turkeys for this very reason, unless they were the heritage breeds. So although big and beautiful sounds fun we chose smart and smaller and I'm very excited for our blue slate turkeys, also called Lavender turkeys. Since they can reproduce naturally without human intervention or incubators, we are hoping they will build up a little flock for us since I could only afford 5 of them. And our thanksgivings will hopefully never be the same!
So my mothers day this year is the best ever, having received 3 sheep and 5 turkey poults! I got a goat for my anniversary in February. The lady I got the shetlands from is considering selling me a few babydoll ewes so I'm thinking that might be the best birthday gift ever! wink. wink. I just even love their smell, brings back so many memories.
Sorry for such a long post about a few sheep but when you wait over 20 years for something, its a very big deal! Rye has had to listen to me talk about getting sheep from the day he met me. He always teases me that I'm the only person in the world who went to Sheep Camp in high school when most girls my age were going to volleyball camp. But hey, I learned a lot at sheep camp and even though he thinks thats not something I should brag about....I brag about it. I was busy learning to AI sheep while my friends were going on dates. But I'm pretty sure their were a few cute country boys at that sheep camp if I remember right.....
So here they are....
