And, it turns out that Wensleydales are not seasonal breeders either...
Quincy had been retired as one half of her udder had hardened, and although she had 3 singles, her 4th crop was twins. I was very sad about having to retire her; she is assured a place in the "fleece flock" with that awesome fleece, but I would, of course, have liked more offspring to keep those fleece genes going. And I was even more sad about it when her son Skyhawk (Romney x) proved infertile this time around, so no more Quincy granddaughters and -sons either. It left Hannah, Skyhawk's retained daughter from last year, the only breeding female with Quincy genes. (Quincy has only ever had sons.)
Quincy's last sons are still here, and one is currently earmarked for the fleece flock, but in truth she has had Shetland x lambs with better fleeces in the past. I was surprised these didn't have nicer fleeces; their father Wotsit (Nigel's son) had a simply gorgeous fleece. But, as these were the last Quincy offspring I was going to get, I made my choice of the better sheep of the two (Thingummyjig, pic attached) to become Mr Pie's understudy as Senior Fleece Wether.
The Universe is smiling on me this year, with the aptly named Nigel Golden Balls!
I had been keeping an eye on the other unbred ewes after Pugling popped, and this last week had thought that Quincy's big belly and swelling udder were quite possibly not attributable purely to the plentiful grass...
And sure enough, this morning we have a dark tup lamb. All well, will add a pic once I've got a nice one.