Goodbye Yosemite and safe travels

Today my youngest and one of my favorite ram lambs left for Oregon. It was quite the experience as I have never shipped a lamb by plane before. Here's what I learnt.

1. American Airlines require a health certificate with a date 10 days (max.) from the flight date even though the state health certificate is good for 30 days. Amen for fax machines.

2. The maximum weight of priority cargo is 70lbs....shame that Yosemite in his crate weighed 73lbs. Fatty lol.

3. The person that takes the lamb/sheep to the airport pays for the transportation. Thank God for the ability of wiring funds quickly.

All in all rather a stressful few hours but I'm happy to say he made it on the plane eventually...true it was a later flight than planned but at least I didn't have to drive him back to the airport in the early morning. Now I'll say a little prayer and cross my fingers that he makes it to Oregon safely. 

Goodbye sweetie and be happy and healthy for a long long time.

Meet the girls'

Well after showing plenty of pictures of the boys it's time to meet some of the girls'. I have 6 ewes in my flock plus one ewe lamb that is for sale. I'm not having much success selling yet although I do believe I have one ram lamb sold (yay!). I just have the 3 other rams that need to go before breeding season begins, I have 2 shows next month to go to which I am quietly hopeful for, they have quite a lot of shetlands there normally and I have also got several people to talk to locally. Next year I will remember to market my lambs earlier.

Anyway enough of that. This is RF Bella the only ewe lamb born this year at Ridgeway Farm. I think she is going to stay black, the brown is just sun-bleaching. She is wonderfully delicate, her body type reminds me of my wonderful Gypsy. Her fleece is very soft with a moderate crimp to it and it is already so thick.

This is BluffCountry Gypsy and her best friend RF Amelia. They can always be seen grazing together. Gypsy won an award at the MA sheep and wool festival for best fleece in the rare and minor breed class. An accomplishment I hope to replicate a few more times.

This is Hythe Farm Hermione. She is my oldest sheep and has beautiful babies. It's not a great picture of her, I'll try and get something more flattering lol.

This is Painted Knoll Kanasatka I love her markings and her fleece is exquisite. I'm looking forward to watching her grow up and seeing what her lambs look like in a few years. She also has little scurs which I'll be following.

Last but by no means least this is Hythe Farm Sabrina. She was the first sheep I got and I bottle raised her from a day old. She even went to the veterans day parade and will walk very happily in a collar and lead. Some people even mistook her for a dog although I am not sure how! I love her fleece and hopefully I can continue to keep the burrs out of it this year. 

Anyway that's all my girls' and I love them all!

On a side note does anyone know anything about canine epilepsy? Our Siberian Husky Ji was just diagnosed with idiopathic epilepsy at 2 years of age and started phenobarbital. He's had 4 seizures total in 3 months with the most recent ones being 12 hours apart. So far none since starting the meds, but it's only his 2nd day. Any info would be grateful :)

Head shots and other pictures.

Today I spent a lovely few hours enjoying the not too warm and not too humid MA weather with the sheep and lambs. Here's some of my pictures. I am off on vacation tomorrow to a dude ranch  for a few days. It should be fun.

Like father....

....Like son. This is RF Yosemite. Doesn't he look like his dad? He is the youngest of my lambs but probably the biggest. 

This is RF Yates and he is the friendliest lamb I know. He has a very soft fleece and would be happy to sit in your lap and receive pets all day.

This is RF Yippee looking all regal. Doesn't he have wonderful horns? He's going a very interesting shade of grey. Almost metallic. 

This is RF Yankee (Yippee's brother). I love his markings and his fleece is super soft.