[Buffy the eggs layer]

Hi,
  well the plan to buy some witshires ( cos they dont need shearing) seems to have been replaced with a plan to buy Ryelands ( possibly the wooliest sheep in the world) and a set of electric shears.
OH prefers the Ryes and didnt think that "shearing a handful once a year would be a problem"  Belive me I will hold him to that!
I must confess although the wiltshires are hansom the Ryes were my first choice too so Ryelands it is.
I cant go and see the breeder till next week as I am in bed ill so can any of you Ryeland fans tell me all about how great they are and post some pics to keep me going till then.
 

[Bionic]

Buffy,
I have 3 coloured Ryeland shearling ewes and am a complete newbie as they are my first sheep and I have only had them since 9th June. I love my girls and they are so well behaved.
I am hoping to get 2 Ryelands shearling ewes in the next couple of weeks also.
I can only find one pic at the moment and that isn't a good one. Oh well it gives me an excuse to go out and take some more 
Hope you are feeling better soon.
Sally
 

[bloomer]

They look like ewoks this is good!!!

[Bionic]

ewoks???

[bloomer]

from the star wars trilogy!!!

[Buffy the eggs layer]

Ow they are sweet looking little girls.
I was thinking of getting some white and some coloured but I think coloured covers a multitude of shades. Your girls look grey in the photo or are they brown?
Are they happy to be handled and hand fed?
 
Thanks for the photo, its really getting me excited.
 
  

[Bionic]

When I got my girls they had just been sheared and were dark brown but their fleece is begining to grow through now and there is quite a lot of grey.  I am currently spinning a Ryeland fleece like that, although not from my own girls, and it is looking nice.
I feed them by hand each morning, 2 sheep nuts each. I only give them that so that they come to me. Otherwise they are just on grass. The will let me touch their faces and look at their teeth but aren't keen on anything else. To look at their feet we need to get them into the hurdles. I have tried turning them over, as shown by Tim Tyne, but must admit, as a beginner, I didn't find it easy.  I enlisted the help of OH and we got there between the two of us.  Once they have been turned its easy to do most things to them.
Sally

[kaz]

How about this for some hairy Ryelands

[Bionic]

Buffy, my girls came from Kaz so thats what I expect mine to look like too 
Sally

[kaz]

Some of the Ryelands have more hair around their faces than others. These were due in for a hair cut so they could see where they were going.

[Buffy the eggs layer]

Wow they are wooly!
  are they easy to shear? I plan to buy some electric shears from horner shearing and get some lessons from the shearer. I thought that I would use a halter or head stock to restrain them when I shear them. I think it will be more comfortable for them and me. I suppose doing the face must be tricky.
How early in the year can you shear them? or does it depend on the weather. This year has been so wet and hot that I would worry about fly strike and heat stroke.
 
 

[Rosemary]

Have a look in the TAS gallery and on the website proper for photos of ours OR on our sheep website www.rosedeanryelands.co.uk

I don't turn mine - I do their feet like you would a horse. Ours are pretty tame - especially the tup and our wether.

I would advise not mixing white and coloured ewes if you are planning to register your sheep (which I would advise) - RFBS prefers white tup on white ewes and coloured on coloured - it sounds a bit pedantic, but take it from one who used a white tup on coloured ewes, it's better not to give your self the hassle at registration.

[kaz]

Our Ryelands are shorn end of May beginning of June normally. I clean their faces if they are really woolly with a pair of double bow dagging shears, as they are nice and light to handle. I use a head stand as that keeps them reasonably still for trimming.
I have two separate flocks of Ryelands, The Ryelands (white) and the Coloured Ryelands and at tupping the relevent Ryeland or Coloured Ryeland tups go in with their relevent girls. I will probably be using several tups with different groups of girls this year. My new coloured tup lamb was Champion of the Coloured Ryelands at the Royal Welsh this year so he is coming home in a chaffeur driven car rather than a trailer as befits his title.
We have a turnover crate for feet etc. but use a headstand for one or two and turn up their feet as if they were horses hooves.

 

[Moleskins]

GFD's don't get legs trimmed as the norm I'm thinking of making this the standard 'trim' for mine, clipping a Ryeland is hard as there's no start point.
Great sheep though, when you catch them they don't fight back they just give in. When penned and you approach them they hide their heads in a corner hoping you won't see them. 

[Buffy the eggs layer]

Thanks everyone,
            and to Rosemary for the advice on not mixing colour. The breeder advised that the whites could produce coloured lambs which would mean that they are not pure white but have mixed parentage. I was wondering why they have one flock name for the coloureds and one for the whites if either ewes could produce each colour.
The easiest thing for me would be to choose one colour in that case. If not I will need to borrow two rams come tupping time.
Now I have to decide which one