This past spring, I was looking for a white ewe with a fine, lustrous fleece. It seemed a simple enough goal. It wasn't. I was surprised at how difficult it was to find one that I liked. Either the fleece or conformation wasn't what I was after. I had seen Queen Anne's Lace at Stephen's farm before and I did like her, but Juliann had recently bought her, so I didn't think she'd be an option. Then, as I was looking into other options, I discovered that Queen Anne would be available after all. So, to make a long story short, I took her and she is better than I remembered.
She is a Bramble Nick daughter and an F3 Greyling. She also has Lightning in her pedigree and several other noteworthy rams. She has a nice conformation, but her fleece is her best feature, in my opinion. She's another one of those ewes who is nice in her own right, but who offers much in the way of future offspring. I just think she can produce some very nice lambs that fit in with our goals.
What do I like about her? I think she has a very nice shetland build. She's also a good size. She weighed in at about 90 pounds last fall, but she doesn't look that big. Last year was a good growing season, so I'll be curious what the weights look like this spring.
I don't have any other shetland fleeces like this. It's very uniform and lacy. I'll need to get some close up shots to do it justice. Her last micron test was: AFD: 29.4; CV: 17.0%. I love CV's less than 20% - especially when the entire fleece is like that, as this one is.
Anyway, lots of potential here. I have big plans for her. Thanks again to Juliann for letting us have her.
2 comments:
I never get tired of looking at sheep photos. I think she's just lovely :)
She is a special ewe, and oh that fleece! I need a good white who carries polled!
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