We have had the farm since 2009 and began working with sheep in 2012 with our original sheep acquisition of seven sheep (5 purebred Border Leicester, 2 Border Leicester /Romanov cross) from Martinez Farm. The Border Leicester blood lines were from Bernard’s, CJ’s, Deakin’s, Sudan’s and Jonasson’s farm out of Oregon. Since then we have striven to optimize our breeding to obtain the finest wool for spinning.
We continued our breeding program with a registered Border Leicester Ram from Solace Farms with blood lines from JTR and Dancing Sheep Farm. Over time we have experimented crossing Cheviots ewes with B.L.s to obtain the best wool. Our greatest success has come from crossing our B.L. ewes with a Blue Faced Leicester ram. The end result has been to produce wool fiber with a beautiful lustre yet soft, tightly crimped and with locks 5-8 inches in length. The long locks can be lightly rinsed or washed and spun directly into yarn. The yarn can be used for sweaters, socks, vests, hats, scarves and more.
Fall of 2017 we purchased a registered Border Leicester ram again in order to continue to keep the length of the fiber as well as durability. Our current flock of 35 long wool sheep consists of about half white and half natural colored ewes. These ewes are exceptionally attentive mothers producing many twins and a few triplets. Generally, our ewes are medium sized weighing 150- 175 pounds. Their disposition is gentle and easy to work with. They are a hardy breed with few problems.
Our flock thrives on 40 acres of unsprayed pasture supplemented with local organic hay as needed. We do not use any antibiotics or hormones in their feed. We provide a mineral mix and salt from Redmond products along with Atlantic kelp for all their mineral and trace element needs. They are supplied with clean UV filtered well water year around pumped from the same well we use. We enjoy our sheep and try to ensure they are stress free and protected from harm being locked in the safety of the barn every night away from local predators.
