Like a walk through the country side living on a small farm is full of daily surprises, sometimes wonderful and amazing, and other times puzzling and sad. I hope you will walk with me as I live out my dream of living on this tiny farm. You will come to know the dogs, cats, Shetland sheep and chickens that make up this farm and what goes into keeping them happy and healthy. Come and join the journey with me.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Fairlight Omen & Fairlight Orion

Here is my 'ram crop' from this past Spring. Due to space restrictions I seldom keep ram lambs. This year I decided to go ahead and keep the "O"s as ramlings to see how they matured.

I have likes and dislikes on both boys, but so far here is what I think about them.

Fairlight Omen
(Locksfield Griffen x Fairlight Duckie)

Omen is an overall nice looking fellow. He has a nice topline, good solid 'bone', is wide in his hocks and also has a nice wide front. His tail is probably as close to perfect as I've seen. He is a good solid ramling.

There are a couple of things that I'm not as pleased with. His rear hocks have a slight 'tip in', even though I would not consider it to be of that bad, as they are wide top to bottom. His horns are not going to be as wide as I had first thought, but I think they will still be quite nice and clear okay.
He will possibly have a primitive double coat. So far his fleece has a nice handle, but only time will tell on this. His mother has the typical primitive type fleece with a very soft undercoat which separates easily from the harsher outer coat. Omen is for sale, if you are interested you can check my website for more info and prices. I think he will have much to offer to a flock, and can definitely help improve tails, hocks, bone and all over structure. He comes from an interesting mixture of Stone Ridge, Locksfield, Shandrew & PetitePet lines.
Fairlight Orion
(Locksfield Griffen x Fairlight Luna)

Then there is Orion. What to say about this guy? My heart breaks over him and I've come close many times to just loading him up and taking him to the vet to be wethered. But he is sooo nice. He is a big boy, but I think this comes more from being a single and also being supplemented after weaning, as his family lines are on the small side. His fleece is so lovely and soft. It's long intermediate and doesn't have allot of crimp, but a nice 'wave', the handle is very nice and he seems to just 'shimmer'. He also has good bone, nice topline, square and wide rear and front. He has come a long way from the timid little guy he once was--afraid of his own shadow most of the time--now he is calm, interested but not overly wild or friendly. His manner is mild towards the other ramlings.

His tail is a bit on the long side and what I would explain as a bit 'rat' tail, but it isn't excessive and neither does it have long puffy appendages of wool either. He is musket ( think--his color has darkened again), but that of course isn't a fault. So really it comes down to the horns. Those blasted horns. If you look close at the picture, his left horn curls right towards his face. I'm letting it grow for now, as the horns keep fooling me and so far haven't grown terminal yet. If that one does, I'll be wethering him after all, and looking for a fiber home for him. For now though, I'll just keep watching and waiting to see how it goes.

2 comments:

A Jackson said...

You know, it really looks like it will clear just fine.

I hope so, he's a pretty boy, I forget who Mom was again? Was he a Griffin baby?

Kathy said...

Beautiful boys! Two of mine are being sold next week to fill a family's freezer and if the rest don't sell soon, I will take thme to auction. I just can't afford the high cost of feed to go to animals that "might" sell later. sniff, sniff
Oh, to have the space you do...