Wheely Wooly Farm: Wink, Swifty, Hap, Posie, and WILD sheep!!

Shetland Sheep: Rich in History, Rich in Textiles

Shetland Sheep: Rich in History, Rich in Textiles! Our farm mission is to enjoy and promote the wonderful diversity of the Shetland breed by fully utilizing to the best of our ability all they have to offer historically. We believe the best preservation and management of this breed includes it's full spectrum of history. We encourage old and new shepherds alike to join in the fun by engaging in fiber arts, especially spinning and knitting, as this breed is so intimately linked with those aspects of the arts.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Wink, Swifty, Hap, Posie, and WILD sheep!!

Time sure flies! The last three weeks have been very fun and busy. We wrapped up shearing, washed fleeces, and prepared for our sales season, plus tried our very best to keep ahead of the weeds, trimmed hooves, mowed, mowed, mowed, mowed.......add a little traveling and well, I'm sleeping good at night!

Wink here, in the photo below, is a really pretty moorit color. Shetlands have such outstanding colors! I had him sheared with a clipper since his wool is too short to handshear decently. The skin line was a brilliant moorit rich chocolate brown that we all drooled over. He is SUCH a nice ram, but not breeding stock. His baa is distinctive...very deep, raspy, and short. Here he is waiting in a stall for his shearing moment.

Winky waits...

For those of you new to our blog, this is our farm dog, Swifty (purebred Border Collie). He's just one year old now and a HUGE delight to have around!! He brings life into new perspectives of joy. Here, he continues to watch the sheep even though he's hot and needs a quick rest in the shade.

Swifter waits...

Next, comes Wooly Bear's Posie! Can you believe she's out of a little black/grey Shetland ram?!? Gives me giggles. Her wool is going to be so much fun, and she's growing very sweet. Another WILD addition to our flock! Such a reputation to have! Posie is easy to take pictures of, always watching me for an opportune attention time.

Posie waits...

Let's see...who's next? Oh! That's another WILD sheep in our flock! Hard to catch! Watch out! Whew!! Oh Maewyn! You're so unsocial! Please, don't tear my jeans! Notice her LOVELY longish and wavy fleece? Nice woolly poll, too.

Maewyn doesn't wait...for attention!

And last, comes little Hap. He is sooooo cute! Hey spinners out there, did you see that awesome article in the latest issue of Spin Off magazine about the Soay sheep (Summer 2011 pages 86-91)? Check out the fleece samples (p. 89, especially sample number 2)! You can definitely see where the Shetlands get the fleece characteristics with soft, fine undercoats and very distinct hairier tips to shed the constant onslaught of rain. I again (this happens all the time) found that what the campers are saying about Soay sheep to promote their cause (of a shiny new shetland sheep) is unfounded in other areas! Notice that the Soay fiber is NOT super crimpy, super short OR super consistent??? It's (GASP!) longish and wavy!! And HAIRY! Is it possible that hobby farmers in America, who don't spin, or knit, know soooo much more about the Shetlands that they are credible redefining the breed and making everyone else breed for that?? Or should we believe all the rest of the well-researched, consistent information from the rest of the world, over a period of hundreds of years that reiterates over and over, Shetlands are what we've HAD in the US for the last 25 years (well, before AI that is)? I'm going with history, not the camp! I'm not culling longish and wavy, I'm keeping them, because that's what's right. Longish and wavy is beautiful. The camp and their changes will either fade away or start their own breed organization, and we'll all be able to get back to normal.

Back to Hap! Hap reminds me of the little lamb in the photo on p. 86, bright, sweet, with upright horns and a beautiful Shetland expression! You can see Shetlands do NOT have huge, wrinkly noses and super broad heads, but rather more refined and expressive faces. You can see the alertness. I think Hap has excellent Soay/Shetland expression, something we strive for here on Wheely Wooly Farm. Hap is out of a spotted ewe (my only sheep with spotted genetics, so to say). He was born with moorit tips, but just below that is lots of light whites, creams and some light grays over his hips. Upon his first shearing, he'll look totally different!

Hap waits...

...wait....what is Hap waiting for? For the pasture to be under control! I can testify, reed canary grass brings FAST growth, soft fleeces, and very healthy lambs, er, if you can find them that is!

Happy summering everyone!

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What is Shetland Fiber?

Wheely Wooly Farm strives to breed for wool as described on the historic 1927 Breed Standard, which was created and written in the Shetland Islands. Our breeding stock exhibits fleece just as the Standard demands of us: extra fine, soft texture, longish, wavy, and well closed. Our fleeces will have short, crimpy neck wool, longish and wavy midside wool, with little or no crimp in the even longer britch wool. This historic fleece type gives you a wide range of textile capabilities, of which is well documented, photographed, and archived in the Shetland Island Museum (see link below).

Shetland fiber does not carry much "grease", making it easy to wash. Because of it's soft texture and fineness, it does not felt easily, making it great for socks! Stockings (socks, sometimes covering up over the knee) in fact, were one of the primary famed textiles produced. Stockings were just one of many types of textiles that were subjected to inspections, receiving a stamp of approval before they could be sold. Shetland fleeces are desired by hand spinners for long, easy to spin, tiny fibers. The longish, wavy midside wool easily drafts out of your hand in a way you won't forget!

We do not breed for the modern milling goals which claim wavy means crimpy, or that longish means short, as written by an organization outside of the Shetland Islands in modern times. Read why in our June 30, 2011 blog entry.

We also do not micron test our fleeces. Micron testing has been a useful tool in most other sheep breeds, but most other breeds produce wool for carpet, industrial flame-proof clean up cloths, lining for firefighter gear, or insulation for highly flammable vehicles such as trains and airplanes. We feel mircon testing takes the emphasis off the handle of the fleece, which goes against making good selections for breeding in one of the world's premier hand spinning/hand knitting/garment breeds.

We are confident our careful breeding program, adherance to the historic 1927 Breed Standard guidelines, and our textile skills will provide you with the utmost quality of fine fleeces and yarns, so you can enjoy a truly Shetland experience!

"...your wool has made a great diaper cover for our 3 month old son. It's nice to know he is wearing a truly natural product! Big smile and Thank you!" Michelle

"I made mittens with Wheely Wooly Yarn, then put them in a silent auction. They sold for $250! Thanks for making such beautiful yarn!" Lisa

Angela wrote us:

"I could not stop myself enjoying your yarn and already finished my first project which will go to my friend...thank you"!

Bill stopped at our booth and said:

"My wife made the hat I wanted from your natural colors and I love it! Makes winter seem not so bad!

Our Farm

Our family farm is located on a hill in the lush prairie lands of east, central Wisconsin, where we enjoy four distinct seasons and a seemingly endless supply of summer grasses, except in drought! We are surrounded by old oak forests, bountiful spring woodland flowers, quiet roads, and clean quiet lakes with a popular river nearby for fishing. We started a flock of sheep several years ago, deciding to breed up our own lambs for flock growth. Heritage hens grace our chicken coop, providing us with fresh eggs and garden companionship. A raspberry patch planted near the coop gives us plentiful berries for the winter. The hens are superb weeders under the canes, which we much appreciate. Two horses graze down the extra grass ahead of the sheep, one being a very cute black and white pony. We also keep two dairy does for fresh milk and yogurt. Behind our historic 1800's white farmhouse we've planted a vegetable garden. Each year, we can't imagine winter without our tomatoes, peas, peppers, potatoes, onions, soup beans, pumpkins, zucchini, sunflowers, and cucumbers. Two geese have now been employed as weeders there, Pomander the Gander and Hyssop the Goose. A separate garden does it's best to contain exuberant mounds of herbs. Lavender also grows there. To the west are two standard apple trees, to the north a treasured pear tree and an even more treasured peach tree to the south! The barns are patrolled by two feline guards, who sleuth around corners and stake out holes. We treasure them! Each morning, we rise to the crows of our robust roosters. We'll never tire of that! Our work days are long here, with challenges popping up all the time, but it can all be solved in a hurry with a tall cold glass of water in the shade of our old-fashioned front porch!

How we manage our flock

Our flock of purebred Shetland sheep, one dairy ewe, and one wether who thinks he's a pet dog do not leave our farm except for educational purposes with youth groups in non-agricultural settings. Most of the flock has been carefully selected from small, private, non-traveling flocks over a period of years. We no longer take sheep to shows due to disease pressure, nor do we allow in transit sheep, loan out our animal transport vehicles, haul livestock, or allow animals to hold over at our farm. As a result, our flock has become soundly biosecure, with dramatically less exposure and risk for disease. All incoming additions are extensively quarantined and checked for disease. This assures our future lamb buyers of sound, healthy stock. I shear nearly all of our flock myself (another component to biosecurity) with hand blades when the rise is right (usually late May to early June), unless I'm excited for a particular fleece (which means re-shearing mid-summer). Neck wool is typically rooed, continuing throughout the fleece as the sheep is ready. Each sheep is named, halter trained, and tamed. Our rams are very personable, friendly, verbally interactive, respectful, and not afraid. We do not believe a terrified ram is healthy on any farm!! We never touch them on the top of their horns/heads, nor do we EVER use their horns as handlebars unless it's an absolute dire emergency. We keep extensive wool and health records. Fleeces on hoof are checked frequently so that we may keep a watchful eye on the health of our sheep, and what we're producing. The sheep are rotationally grazed April through October, then penned for winter. Each night, they are run into our large pole building for predator security. They also stay penned in the shed during wicked winter storms, or if the pastures are too wet in spring, never in mud. It's all a lot of work, but it's done so that we can assure our customers with the utmost biosecurity and quality in your purchases!

International Show Your Shawl Day
Show the world how beautiful your shawls
are by wearing them for the day! Have you knit

a beautiful shawl, but it's in storage somewhere

'cause you're afraid to wear it?

Has someone gifted a special shawl to you

for a special reason, but you're afraid to wear

it? Well girls! It's time to take them out, show

them off, talk about them, share them,

and put them to use!

Mark your calendars for the next date!

Coming October 14, 2017!!

We changed the date from September to October to coincide with our sale on beautiful Wheely Wooly Farm Wraps! We'll need them, for it'll be cold!

Shetland Sheep: Rich in History, Rich in Textiles

Monday, June 27, 2011

Wink, Swifty, Hap, Posie, and WILD sheep!!

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