Kimberwood Shetlands

Three Handsome Rams

2008-07-25T19:16:00.004-05:00

These handsome guys are available as your next flock sire! I'm getting out of horned shetlands and will be concentrating on producing polled shetlands from now on. All three are spotted and modified. Which will you choose?

P.S. There is a fourth one hidden in there but he isn't spotted and isn't interested at this time in becoming your next flock sire. ;-)

Kimberwood Abbie ~ For Sale

2008-07-24T13:25:00.002-05:00

This beautiful moorit yearling ewe is sired by North Wind James (F1 Jamie) and out of Locksfield Brigid. She was not exposed to a ram last fall so she did not lamb this spring. Both parents are modified and I believe Abbie is actually fawn. Abbie is for sale for $300.

Nut Goodie

2008-06-03T13:31:00.005-05:00

Born May 31st, 2008 to Kimberwood Snickers (Justalit'l Kit Kat X Li'lCountry Rugger) and Kimberwood Harrison (Sheltrgpines Tullia X Sheltrgpines Charlemagne AI):

Kimberwood Nut Goodie
katmoget/gulmoget ram lamb

Goodie has some deep depressions where he would normally have horn spots. I'm hopeful that he may be fully polled. I'm still trying to decide if he is fawn or grey. He'll need to grow some to tell I think.

Handling System/ Lambs Update

2008-05-25T20:44:00.004-05:00

Almost ready! We have just a bit of fencing to do to get the system up and running. It's located behind our barn in the ewe's paddock.
And for those who have been asking.....lambs!

One of our North Country Mule Ewes with her 3/4 BFL ewe lambs.

A NCC Mule ram lamb.

A Shetland Mule ewe lamb

You'd think after taking 40 pics I'd have more to share!

Oh My Aching Back....No More!

2008-05-14T18:00:00.003-05:00

It may be a little difficult to see but this is our new handling system! All 1300+ pounds of it! Fortunately we have a very nice young man (Thanks a million Travis!) who lives next door to us who was kind enough to come over with a bobcat to unload this from the semi parked on the road in front of our house today (or I very well might have had an aching back!). I can't wait to unwrap this and get it all set up. The sheep have no idea what is in store for them.

Okay so I might still have one more aching back coming my way while we get it all set up......

The Girls Are In The Lead Again

2008-05-01T21:32:00.003-05:00

Born today May 1st our second to the last lamb for 2008:

Kimberwood Alice
(named for her Grand Dam)
Moorit? or Musket? Yuglet ???
Out of BluffCountry Glitter and Kimberwood Gentry

I've never had one so white and not Awt! Mom is musket and dad is moorit.

Only one more ewe left to lamb and she isn't due until May 18th. This shepherd will hopefully get some rest by then!

The Boys Are Catching Up

2008-04-26T07:33:00.008-05:00

Yesterday, Kit Kat gave birth to a big single black ewe lamb sired by Dougal. We are now at 30 lambs, 13 ram lambs and 17 ewe lambs.

A few statistics to date:
Out of 24 ewes exposed to rams, 22 have lambed with 1 left to go. (One looks like she is open)

We currently have 30 lambs on the ground.

Shetlands:
15 total, 8 ram lambs and 7 ewe lambs.

Polled (genetics): 2 ram lambs (1 moorit and 1 musket) and 1 ewe lamb(black). All sired by Lil'Country Light Foot.

Horned (genetics): 6 ram lambs (2 moorit spotted, 2 moorit and 2 black) and 6 ewe lambs (2 moorit, 1 black, 1 black HST, 1 fawn katmoget spotted and 1 moorit & white yuglet) All of these are sired by Gentry.

Crossbreds:
15 total, 5 ram lambs and 10 ewe lambs

NCC X BFL: 1 ewe lamb (black) and 1 ram lamb (white)

NCC Mule X BFL: (for 3/4 BFL lambs): 4 ewe lambs all white

Shetland X BFL: 5 ewe lambs (3 black, 2 white) and 4 ram lambs (3 black and 1 white)

Only 1 remaining ewe yet to lamb: Bred to a Shetland.

The only ewe not covered by our clean up ram Harrison looks to be open.

There will be a 2 week break until Snickers (fawn katmoget sired by polled ram) lambs. She is bred to Kimberwood Harrison (black gulmoget half polled ram).

Bliss Did it Again!

2008-04-25T14:48:00.004-05:00

Born today, April 25th to Windswept Bliss and sired by Kimberwood Gentry:

Kimberwood Maxx

Dark Moorit and White Ram Lamb

Does this mean he is a flecket?

More Crossbreds

2008-04-18T22:52:00.004-05:00

Born today 4/18/08 to NCC Mule Y-245 and sired by Dougal:

White Crossbred Ewe Lamb (3/4 BFL)

White Crossbred Ewe Lamb w/black spot and black hind hooves.

The dam to these ewe lambs is a NCC Mule and her fleece is more like a BFL. She is a first time mom at age 2 and rivals the Shetlands in her mothering instincts. I was very impressed. The other NCC Mule we have has fleece more similar to a NCC and has not yet lambed. A BFL ram was used on these ewes the first time because we do not yet have a Terminal Sire. We are planning on purchasing a crossbred British Suffolk this year to use on them in the fall. We brought these ewes and two black NCC ewes into the flock to use in a 3-tier breeding program for market lambs and also to use in training our Border Collies to herd. We will begin their training this summer as soon as we get our round pen up.

Molly's Crossbred Lambs

2008-04-18T18:39:00.002-05:00

Born 4/16/08 to Molly and Dougal (BFL):

White Crossbred Ram Lamb (one of our bottle babies)

Black Shetland Mule Ewe Lamb

Spots at Kimberwood!

2008-04-18T07:15:00.007-05:00

Born April 17th to Sheltrgpines Siomha and Kimberwood Gentry:

Kimberwood Siobhan
(pronounced sho-vahn)
Katmoget Yuglet/Flecket Ewe Lamb!

I'm having a hard time with determining if she is fawn or grey. She has areas on her belly that are darker than on her body but it looks dark brown to me not black. When looking at her next to her mom they look very similar but Siomha's eye spots and ears look darker (more black). Anyone want to enlighten me?

Here is why I think Siobhan is katmoget: See how dark the color is here on the belly?

And here on each side of her tail.
The consensus is that she is a fawn katmoget.

Guess Who Has No Fear of the Pit Bull!

2008-04-13T20:41:00.002-05:00

Halle and Kaiser

Kaiser is our son's dog and has become my "Grand dog" according to my son. Halle shows no fear at all of him but I still watch him closely when he is near her. I really don't think he would do anything to her but I won't take any chances he might. Here he is licking her. I sure hope it warms up soon, she needs to go back to the flock. I'm getting really tired of her dirty diapers! You all know how much Shetlands like to wag their tails! Imagine how happy she is to get out of her dirty diaper!

Isabelle's Twins

2008-04-13T20:22:00.003-05:00

Born April 13th to Kimberwood Isabelle (F1 Brent) and Kimberwood Gentry (HST)

Kimberwood Mikaela
Black Krunet Ewe Lamb

Kimberwood Giselle
Moorit Ewe Lamb

These little girls are F2 Brent and carry spots.

Hi, My Name is Halle

2008-04-11T18:05:00.006-05:00

Kimberwood Halle

Kimberwood Lili X Lil'Country Light Foot

I was born last night in the storm. My shepherd kept all of the moms inside the barn and it was a bit crowded. When my mom Lili had me there was a lot of confusion and we became separated. My mom had never had a baby before so she didn't know what to do. My shepherd tried to get my mom to take me back but she was just too upset. Now I get to live in the big house with the satellite TV! Bob the big guy of the house says I shouldn't get too used to it because as soon as it warms up I have to go back to my flock. My shepherd says I'll be okay and that she will take good care of me. She says its important for me to be with other lambs like me to play with them. Did you know there are "Lamb Races"!

Our First Shetland Mules!

2008-04-08T13:06:00.004-05:00

Twins Born April 8th to Kimberwood Katy and Beechtree Dougal:

White Shetland Mule ewe lamb

Black Shetland Mule ram lamb

Our First Crossbred Lamb

2008-04-07T10:29:00.004-05:00

Born April 7th to Y-263 (NCC ewe) and Dougal (BFL):

Un-named black NCC Mule ewe lamb

Why do these ewes pick the muddiest places to lamb? This NCC ewe is not a purebred, she is 31/32 NCC.

Kimberwood Caprio

2008-04-06T21:33:00.002-05:00

Born April 6th to Kimberwood Thistle and Lil'Country Light Foot:

Kimberwood Caprio

Musket polled ram lamb

2008 Lambing Begins!

2008-04-04T14:04:00.003-05:00

Born April 3rd to Kimberwood Lydia and Lil'Country Light Foot:

Kimberwood Leonardo
Moorit polled ram lamb

Finished Premier Feeders

2008-01-12T12:21:00.001-06:00

Bob finished the second feeder, he and the boys brought it down to the barn and set it up :

He did an awesome job and I think this is going to save us a considerable amount of hay. We are going to keep going and build some single sided feeders to use on the other side of the ewe's paddock as well as some for our polled rams. We've been talking about some modifications to add a roof so that we could use these outside as well.

Update For Corinne

2007-12-31T09:46:00.001-06:00

I have to say that the Premier Feeders go together much easier than I expected. Bob had this feeder up to this point in one afternoon. The directions are pretty easy to follow too. We are still waiting on the panels I ordered so this is as far as we can go on this one until they arrive.

Corinne~ If my husband can do this, I'm certain yours can! ;-)

On to feeder number 2!

New Feeders!

2007-12-29T14:00:00.000-06:00

Well, Bob must be tired of all the wasted hay. He's building me new feeders! Woohoo!! Yesterday we made a stop at Home Depot to pick up the lumber. We discovered that they have a wonderful free service available. They have a huge saw that can cut your plywood or other big sheets into your specific dimensions. It really is going to save some time in building these feeders. So, we started with this:

And have gotten one side together so far:
You'll notice we are not using treated lumber on our feeders. I felt that since I've gone to eating as organically as I can, the sheep should too. I didn't want to expose them to all the chemicals in the treated lumber. We felt it wouldn't be a problem in replacing boards as they rot. Especially since these will be inside the barn.

Eventually the feeders are going to look like this:

I ordered the panels from Premier yesterday and can't wait to see the finished feeders!

New Shetland Sheep Community!

2007-12-23T08:37:00.000-06:00

Check it out!

Visit Shetland Sheep

Finished!

2007-12-06T16:06:00.000-06:00

I started and finished this scarf recently for my son's girlfriend, Abby. It's made from Wesley's lambs fleece. It's a very easy pattern and if anyone would like it, let me know!

Happy Birthday Abby!

Lambs for 2008

2007-11-19T18:35:00.000-06:00

Our breeding groups have been together for a week now. This will be the first year of our crossbreeding program using Beechtree Dougal who is visiting here from River Oaks Farm in Mora MN.
Dougal is a Bluefaced Leicester ram with gorgeous fleece. He has 16 ewes in his harem this fall including 12 shetland ewes, 2 North Country Cheviot ewes and 2 NCC Mules. We're looking forward to Dougal's lambs and have our fingers crossed for lots of ewe lambs to start off our crossbreeding program!

Our next group of 9 Shetland ewes are being exposed to Kimberwood Gentry who is a home grown moorit smirslet yuglet with outstanding conformation, great horns and a great tail.

Gentry's girls include several who are spotted and many more who carry spots so we anticipate many spotted lambs this spring.

Our last group is sired by our newest black polled ram Lil'Country Light Foot who may be full polled! His girls are all suspected half polled ewes including Lydia (moorit), Tullia (black gulmoget), Lili (black, Oliver's daughter), and Thistle who gave us a ram lamb last spring who has so far only grown tiny button scurs. Light Foot's picture will follow......

BAD EMILY........

2007-10-31T17:23:00.001-05:00

No dinner for us tonight. It was going to be delicious too! Emily decided it needed to be taste tested while it was waiting to go into the oven. She has NEVER EVER done anything like this before. I know it wasn't because she was hungry either as I had just fed her this afternoon and I watched her eat it all. Guess I'll have to remember this the next time I'm cooking dinner. Poor Bob, I promised him a home cooked dinner tonight. Guess we go out again.......darn! ;-)