Sunday, June 29, 2014

Adult Rams For Sale

We posted our ewe sales list the other day, but as I said then, we would have two adult rams to sell as well. Here they are:

Winter Sky Khan

An excellent polled moorit son out of Wintertime Black Forrest. Forrest, as he is known, is largely responsible for the salvation of the fine fleece Shetland in the US, and one of the finest Shetland rams in North America. Khan didn't fall too far off the tree. I've always liked Khan better than Forrest, to be honest.

Khan's three year old micron test was: AFD: 22.2/SD: 4.9/CV: 22.2%/CEM: 8.2/SF: 21.9. I would say that those numbers put him in elite company in the North American Shetland community. His comfort factor was 96.3% as a three year old! His fiber diameter has held pretty constant for three years now! That's also pretty rare for a Shetland! Extremely rare.

He's the real deal and would certainly help both new and established fine fleece flocks! This is a rare chance to own one of the foundation fine fleece Shetland rams! You aren't going to find many like him in North America.



Don't be misled by the fleece picture below. It is about 3" long. I know it looks shorter in the picture. Plus, it has great elasticity/bounce/movement (choose your term).


Whispering Pines Barenfang is an example of the type of home raised ram that we once said we would never sell. But that's the way it works with a breeding program. As you get better, you either move out really good animals, or you become overwhelmed with too many sheep. Such is the case with this guy. He is a fawn katmoget son of Khan (sounds like a movie title) and our own Siena.

His yearling micron numbers were: AFD: 21.5/SD: 4.3/CV: 19.8%/CEM: 7.4/SF: 20.7.

Between the pictures and the numbers, there isn't much else to be said about this guy. He is a flock sire waiting for a chance to shine! Note the perfect Shetland tail. I have also found him to be a very laid back ram. I should keep him, but there is virtually no chance he will be used in the next two years, so there really is no point. He is too good to put on the shelf that long.

 
Barenfang's fleece is also about 3" long.


 
 
Above is Barenfang as a lamb. Pretty striking right off the bat!

Two great and rare rams!

Monday, June 23, 2014

2014 Whispering Pines Shetland Sheep Ewe Sales List

When we began working on our flock improvement program in earnest five years ago, we always imagined a day when we could offer for sale some of the best Shetland sheep and bloodlines available in North America. Along the way we have certainly already offered that, but we have never offered a complete lineup like this that is so consistently top notch. I have visited 15 Shetland farms since we have been doing this, and have put my hands on several hundred Shetlands along the way. Having done that, I can say that these sale sheep are better than you will find in most parts of the country, but certainly out east here.

Here is the Whispering Pines 2014 Ewe Sales list. I will provide brief descriptions below each sheep, but can provide much more detail to interested parties. What I will say in general is that these are the best ewes we have ever offered, and all are sheep that we have and would use in our own breeding program. All the fleeces are fine or super fine. I have no hesitation in selling any of these ewes because they are that good. Each has produced for us in a big way and will do the same for you if you put them with the right rams. Breeding is a bit of an art, but you can't go wrong with ewes of this quality. I hate to let them go to be quite frank, but then again, I like the idea of helping other people improve their flocks in a way that we never had when we got started. That's always been in our plan, and I hope we can do that for someone. But, if you don't ask, we can't help.

We'll start with the ewes and follow with the rams at some point. We have way too many ram lambs to list, but we will post some pictures for you to get an idea about what we have. We also have two excellent adult rams that we will be offering, and I will post about those in the coming days.

1.      Sommarang Isla – Age: Three (Sommarang Ginger x Firth of Fifth Avyt)



Excellent conformation and fleece. Moorit, spot carrying ewe. Parents are award winners. Superfine fleece. Does not carry polled gene. Has lambed three times for us. Kept both ewe lambs from last year. Ram lambs this year are excellent.

2.     Sommarang Ilke – Age: Three (Sommarang Comfrey x Firth of Fifth Avyt)



Very good conformation (she is on the small side) and excellent fleece. Superfine fleece. Moorit, spot carrying ewe. Does not carry polled gene. Has lambed twice for us. Lambs this year are excellent!
3.     Whispering Pines Kiyah – Age: Three (Whispering Pines Egyptian King x Whispering Pines Blue Diamond)

 


Excellent conformation and fleece. Fawn katmoget ewe with superfine fleece. Very small and tight crimp. Top notch ewe. Has lambed twice for us. Superb bloodlines. Lambs have been excellent
4.     Whispering Pines Irish Rose – Age: Four (Wintertime Bond x Sheltering Pines Constantinople)




This ewe is as good as it gets in the spotted Shetland world! Excellent conformation and fleece. Spotted fawn katmoget with fine/superfine fleece. Bold crimp. Very light color, almost tan. Superb bloodlines. Lambs have been excellent. Such luster in this fine fleece.
5.     Whispering Pines Coloma – Age: Two (Winter Sky Khan x Wintertime Itasca)

Excellent conformation and fleece. Moorit ewe with fine fleece. Nice crimp. Rich brown color. Has been bred once, and lambed once. Lambs this year are excellent! This is a Khan daughter, which is significant both because of the quality of Khan, and the fact that we hardly ever sell his offspring. She is also out of Itasca, which is significant for the same reason.
6.     Whispering Pines Irish Mist – Age: Two (Winter Sky Khan x Sheltering Pines Constantinople)
 

Excellent conformation and fleece. Superfine. Bolder crimp. Spotted fawn katmoget ewe. Was bred and lambed once. Twin ram lambs this year are superb! Super fine fleece! Nice luster as well.
7.    Moorit bottle lamb – Born this year (Whispering Pines Coloma x Whispering Pines Egyptian Autumn)
Was born small. Have had her on the bottle since birth. Excellent conformation and fleece. Should be similar to her mother in conformation and fleece. Rich dark moorit. Don't have a picture right now, but will provide one if you are interested. The one thing I would say about this lamb is that she will be small and super friendly. If you are interested in that combination, we will make a deal. She is used to attention, and that is the type of home where we want her to go (unfortunately, we can't give her that as much as we would like).