After many, many months of really wanting these sheep and thinking I wouldn't be able to find and/or afford this breed, I found some locally that we could buy! The sole registered breeder for this breed in Utah decided to liquidate her flock. Unfortunately, we missed out on being able to purchase the other ewes, but were able to buy a 2 yr old ewe and her wether/ram lambs and a very pretty silver yearling ram. The breeder's husband delivered them to our house on a very sunny, warm day. It was funny seeing them drive up to the house because you could literally hear them while they drove down the hill. Sheep in a trailer are LOUD!
First thing that I noticed with these sheep (after their loudness) was their WOOL! Oh my holy wooliness, they are the quintessential fluffy white British Isles sheep! When they arrived at our farm they had at least 6-8" of wool on the adults. The babies even had a nice 2-3" on them, and they're only 2 months old!
I honestly wish we'd started out with these sheep instead of the Soay sheep we bought first. They are much more docile, better on the eyes and because they're critically endangered it's a worthwhile effort to keep a small flock of them going just to help maintain and expand their numbers in the US.
Showing posts with label leicester longwool sheep. Show all posts
Showing posts with label leicester longwool sheep. Show all posts
Saturday, May 24, 2014
Monday, December 16, 2013
Soay Sheep in the Fog
I have to admit, these are cool sheep. They aren't phased by much. Snow, fog, heat...they don't care for drizzly rain, gale force winds or blistering hot days, but really, who does?
Today I got a text from the woman with the Leicester Longwool sheep. She said 2 other people had inquired, and one of them was also interested in purchasing in the spring. So, unless we can get them in the next month or two, it probably won't happen. I've got time though, so even if it doesn't happen, it'll be ok.
Friday, December 13, 2013
Leicester Longwool Sheep!
So, I've been drooling over these sheep for a while now. Yes, drooling. I know I'm odd, but it's in a good way. They are the classic Beatrix Potter English countryside fluffy white sheep. And, as per my usual luck, extremely hard to find (i.e. EXPENSIVE). Only a handful of people in the US even raise them, and they're classified as 'critically rare' by the American Livestock Breed Conservancy. I had looked for this breed online only to find a very small number of breeders, none closeby and only one in my state. The out of state breeders wanted $600+ for a single lamb, and that wasn't including shipping, veterinary certificates and state mandated lab work. Around $1000 for ONE sheep was a little to steep a price for me. I gave up.
Remember I said there was a breeder in Utah? Yeah, I tried to contact her before I even bought these soay sheep, but she never got back to me. Until today! The one breeder here has been trying to sell her flock off and on for nearly a year. The last time I saw the ad it had been up for almost a month, and dropped off the board before I could get the number. Today I saw the same ad up with 2 days left before expiring. I texted her, and they're still available.I'll be contacting her to see if she's willing to sell them individually next year, maybe in the spring! Since it doesn't look like she's in a huge hurry to sell them, I'm hoping she'll be receptive to the idea. Yup. I'm a little excited. :D
My goals for the farm would then have to be changed if we do get these sheep. Instead of goats, we'd be doing sheep, which would be ok by me. I do really love sheep and they're much easier to contain than goats. Our fences would be ok for sheep; they wouldn't keep a wanderlusting goat in for more than 10 seconds, max. I was talking to my mom (aka the fiber diva) about possibly marketing the sheep products (rovings, batts, yarn, fleeces, etc.), as she's in an area much more receptive to humanely produced, sustainable farm-to-consumer type products. Salt Lake City has a small, family run fiber mill that handles smaller farm orders. We could get batts, roving, yarn - basically whatever would sell. Instead of trying to market raw fleeces, which probably wouldn't go very well, we could make it a value added product for knitters, fiber enthusiasts, spinners, etc. I think they'd do well out her way, especially with the number of year round farmers markets, yarn shops and other venues to market the products. Utah, unfortunately, just doesn't excel in those areas. We have very limited farmers markets, not a lot of yarn shops and somehow an almost non-existent fiber arts community. For a state that profited greatly from the sheep industry, you wouldn't know it by the lack of fiber anything in this place. Ugh. Sometimes I really miss California. If I could earn enough $$$ off the sheep products to pay for the feed it'd be worth it. Keep ya posted!
Remember I said there was a breeder in Utah? Yeah, I tried to contact her before I even bought these soay sheep, but she never got back to me. Until today! The one breeder here has been trying to sell her flock off and on for nearly a year. The last time I saw the ad it had been up for almost a month, and dropped off the board before I could get the number. Today I saw the same ad up with 2 days left before expiring. I texted her, and they're still available.I'll be contacting her to see if she's willing to sell them individually next year, maybe in the spring! Since it doesn't look like she's in a huge hurry to sell them, I'm hoping she'll be receptive to the idea. Yup. I'm a little excited. :D
My goals for the farm would then have to be changed if we do get these sheep. Instead of goats, we'd be doing sheep, which would be ok by me. I do really love sheep and they're much easier to contain than goats. Our fences would be ok for sheep; they wouldn't keep a wanderlusting goat in for more than 10 seconds, max. I was talking to my mom (aka the fiber diva) about possibly marketing the sheep products (rovings, batts, yarn, fleeces, etc.), as she's in an area much more receptive to humanely produced, sustainable farm-to-consumer type products. Salt Lake City has a small, family run fiber mill that handles smaller farm orders. We could get batts, roving, yarn - basically whatever would sell. Instead of trying to market raw fleeces, which probably wouldn't go very well, we could make it a value added product for knitters, fiber enthusiasts, spinners, etc. I think they'd do well out her way, especially with the number of year round farmers markets, yarn shops and other venues to market the products. Utah, unfortunately, just doesn't excel in those areas. We have very limited farmers markets, not a lot of yarn shops and somehow an almost non-existent fiber arts community. For a state that profited greatly from the sheep industry, you wouldn't know it by the lack of fiber anything in this place. Ugh. Sometimes I really miss California. If I could earn enough $$$ off the sheep products to pay for the feed it'd be worth it. Keep ya posted!
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