Thursday, March 5, 2009

Cour de Nuit - Rich


Cor de Nuit is quite simply a spectacular shetland ewe. I’ve only seen one or two that are better, to be honest. She has an excellent conformation and a very dense, crimpy, single coated fleece. Boy is that one nice fleece! I can’t wait to see how it spins up! I said that I personally prefer Sparkles fleece, but a fiber person would probably question my sanity (like most people do). She’s not our friendliest ewe, but there’s not much wrong with her that I can find. She’s also very wide in the back, which is something I value. We bred her to Cihat this year because I feel they complement each other from a structural standpoint. I could’ve used Clover on her as well and not gone wrong, but the allure of a striking spotted katmoget was too much for me, and to be honest, I think this combination will give us the best overall lamb. Who knows? Having said that, I really wanted to breed her to Leyland , but I felt he was too small. That would’ve made for an interesting lamb, but so will this one.

2 comments:

Ebonwald Cardigans said...

she is just gorgeous! Stephen's sheep are so correct, with consistent fleece....now to just make them finer! Leyland I have a feeling will be getting most of your ewes this fall? :)

We may have to trade leyland lambs for jazz lambs ;)

Jen and Rich Johnson said...

She's right there at the top of our flock for sure! She probably has my favorite fleece! I wanted to breed her to Leyland last fall, but the size differential was quite subtantial. It wasn't worth the risk to me. She's too nice to leave open.

There's still a lot to learn about Leyland's genetics, but I like how he's developing! I really want to see what his lambs look like! Will he improve any of the ewes he's with? Does he carry spots or moorit? You know the drill.

Stephen has better fleeces than he gives himself credit for. You two really have high standards for fineness.

Rich