Monday, April 14, 2008

A Silver Thread

Well, a silver fleece...

Vi_08

This is Violet's offering for 2008. Any of you who read my blog, visit my website or buy fleece from me know of Violet. One of the first two ewes I bought (Charlotte is the other) she is a main foundation of my flock - she and her offspring. Violet's fleece does not become available to the public often (grin) Violet lambed this weekend, a single white ram lamb. She has had two white offspring ever, and both times have been ram lambs ;( I reminded her that I had requested a white ewe lamb this year, but she just looked at me and went back to caring for her new boy! He is a big lamb and will deserve to lead a flock of his own somewhere. Violet's fleece is headed to Missouri this year.

This fleece belongs to Mary:

Mary_08

Mary is a teenager now, and that is pretty old for sheep. Most years she gives us a fairly small fleece, but this year she out did herself! She also gave me twin lambs - a ram and a ewe, though for the past few years she had produced very large singles. She is a bossy old ewe who is extra protective of her lambs. She loves sheep cookies, but hates to be touched ;)

Violet and Mary are both from the Verlee line of Corriedale sheep in my flock. The Verlee family carefully raised some of the finest fleeced Corriedales I have ever seen. When they dispersed their flock, my sheep mentors (Marlin and Rita Walters) bought some lambs from them. Rita has often said that if she had known more at the time, she would have bought ever sheep she could! In my flock I have concentrated and built around that family of sheep. My old ewes (Mary, Eve, Hannah and Vestal) were the first generation. Next came Violet (through Eve); Ava (through Noah); Amanda and Abby (through Hannah); Valerie (through Mary) and Noah (through Vestal) From Violet came Joseph, Bree and Collette. Because I used Joseph as my main ram for the first few years, I have several of his daughters in my flock to continue the "legacy" We have also kept Coryn and Dawn (from Eve) and Carley (from Vestal) Here is a fleece from that younger generation, Coryn:

Coryn_08

Coryn is a daughter of Eve and Joseph, so a deep concentration of Verlee bloodlines. Some of the ewes silver with age, but not this line of Verlees. They are silver at a very young age. An exceptional example of that is in this lamb, Ella:

EllaBlue

Ella is a great-granddaughter of Violet (funny to think that a sheep can be a great grandma at only 7 years old!) Her mother is Cherie. Cherie is a daughter of Bree, who is a daughter of Violet ;) I can't wait to shear the lamb fleece from this little ewe, who is staying in the flock along with her twin sister!

Anyway, Coryn's fleece is already in the hands of her new owner in Maryland. She also had her first lambs this year, twins, a white ram lamb and a ewe lamb who is her carbon copy. Coryn actually belongs to Alex. He chose well for his starter flock.

Now I have probably rambled on more about sheep bloodlines than you care to know - LOL! But if you ever visit my farm, you might have a better idea of the family values I was after in my flock ;)

What color should we look at next time? How about the brown tones?

5 comments:

Carissa said...

Those all look so soft! I love hearing about your sheep and how they are bred! Coryn's fleece is stunning, I like the colors even better than last year! Alex certainly chose well. I feel blessed to be able to fund (even though it is such a tiny bit) his flock!

Alpaca Granny said...

I'm amazed how beautiful and clean your fleeces are. No wonder they are spoken for before they are shorn.
Maple

Kathy R said...

Ella is just beautiful!

Anonymous said...

WOW! From a son of the VerLee shepherds, it sure warms my heart to see how my parent's sheep are so prized after all these years! Almost as much as it warms my heart to read your bold testimony of faith. You know my parent's first three sheep were named Shirley, Goodness, and Mercy . . . surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. . .

Anonymous said...

Beautiful fleeces! How does one get one?