We had the great pleasure of being contacted by a nice family in Ohio who want to start a flock of Cotswolds at their farm. After a few phone calls and emails to determine what they were looking for we settled on a group of seven white Cotswold ewe lambs from this spring's crop for them to choose from. These particular lambs are all being registered with ACRA (American Cotswold Record Association). They made the drive from Ohio on Friday and stayed in a local hotel overnight.
Saturday morning started with some beautiful light. I love the way the sunshine makes the air glow down the valley.
The sheepy girls had all had their hooves trimmed and received 'grown up' eartags the day before. I told them some folks were coming out to visit.
That's nice. Are you going to feed us now? We can't meet strangers without breakfast.
Shoot. I always land at the end of the table with no room......
Hey, I think I see a truck coming down the road.
We had a lovely long visit (at least I had a good time - I hope they did too!) and we spent time in the barn talking sheep (Cotswolds, specifically) and in the wool shed talking wool. They intend to have the Cotswolds as a wool flock, but aren't actually sure what direction to take when marketing the fleeces - raw to spinners, processed to roving or yarn (and what kind of yarn), make into quilt or comforter batting, sheets of felt for jacket lining....... We tossed around a lot of suggestions for them to consider. In the end they decided to take all seven lambs to have a nice sized starter flock. They will be bred this coming fall and will lamb in spring of 2013. We are very happy to know that they will be well-cared for and they will provide enough fiber to pursue a couple of different ideas.
"So they loaded up the truck and they moved to Bev-er-ly......., I mean O-hi-o!"
The report late this evening is that they rode just fine and are now settled into their new home doing what Cotswolds love to do - EATING. And.....smelling the resident cats there and trying to love them up.
Silly sheep.
Are all sheep that into cats? Or only Cotswolds? Or only your sheep? So many questions!
ReplyDeleteRemind me that we should do a "card" exchange so that we can hand out our cards to each other's contacts.
I've just joined your blog. (SweetLand Farm) it's great. one of my daughters is sheep crazy, and we have 2 ewes. i love to spin the wool, and so does my daughter. we have a Finn and a Romney/Finn cross. We would like to get them bred this year too! Guess we'll have to wait and see!
ReplyDeleteso glad to find another Cotswold breeder,cant wait to read more!
ReplyDelete