[Hillview Farm]

Hello all,

Yesterday we had a very very busy day! We set off early morning to go and view some Shetland ewes (yes I've jumped on to the band wagon) We have bought two ewes who should be in lamb but i'm not fussed if they are not as they will be used for grazing some heathland in exchange of the new farm!  Pics to follow!

After waiting for what feels like forever (only about a month) We got the call to say our new ewes have been scanned and we could pick them up! So we quickly dropped off the Shetlands and drove to Oxfordshire which was well over an hour away.

 The outcome is 10 pedigree in lamb charollais ewes Who we are most excited about. As promised to sally on an earlier post, I have some pictures but they are pretty poor and do them no justice.

[Ladygrey]

Congrats!!!! they look fab! 

Also congrats on the shetlands! what colours did you get?

I too am getting a new breed to go with my shetlands, a type of terminal sire hill breed that come from a farm where they are never fed and never brought indoors, cant wait

[SallyintNorth]

Oh, they look fabulous!!  Well done!

And well done on getting some Shetlands too!  If you can bear to cross them, I'm just spinning Cap'n's fleece now; he's Shetland X Charollais X, and it is an absolute dream to spin

Cap'n himself has gone away  - but his conformation and size were AOK, right on the money.  We got just under £75 for him deadweight - can't grumble at that for an animal with a Shetland dad!    He was a little under the average for the batch, but you'd expect that when the others were chunky wee Texel and Dutch Texel types - most of them were in the bonus bracket. 

Our idea was to lamb just a few Charollais hoggs to the Shetland, teeny lambs that know what they're doing don't overtax a hogg, and the offspring if female are good breeding stock for fat lambs, and have lovely fleeces   .  The males, we have proven, are absolutely fine for the deadweight market, and you can take a fleece off them before they go

Anyway, don't let me railroad you, just wanted to let you have the idea! 

Looking forward to seeing pics of your Shetland girls - what colour(s) are you getting?

[mowhaugh]

Congratulations!

[Hillview Farm]

I will have to get you some pictures as I'm not down with the colouring.

They are both badger looking faced I think that's called Katmoget?? One is white fleeced and the other is a brownish ginger, Mioget? Maybe?

I will try and get you some photos tomorrow but they are in a 6 acre field and although they are very quiet and tame-ish they don't trust me yet to get close enough!

[Rosemary]

Congratulations! I bet the Shetlands are the boss of the Charollais 

[Hillview Farm]

Come on Shetland fans! What are the colours?

[SallyintNorth]

Oh!  Those Shetlands look wonderful!  Beautiful fleeces, by the look of them.

I'm not an expert on Shetland colouring, so we'll wait see what others say   But if their tummies are the darker colour then yes I would have thought the one is grey katmoget and the other also katmoget - but I don't know what that one's base colour would be called.

Anyway, they're lovely and I am slightly envious 

[Shropshirelass]

Very nice looking shetlands but I prefer the larger lowland breeds sorry but I could never be a hill farmer x

[Hillview Farm]

Thank you sally, they both have darker bellies! Its the brownish one that I'm confused on colour.  Your welcome to the fleeces once they have been sheared, I can post them. Next year I will have Shetland x charollais lambs!

Shropshirelass I prefer the larger breeds, I now have the Charollais and I have my Suffolk mule ewes who I love!

Never Ever thought I would have shetlands but there we go!

[SallyintNorth]

Your welcome to the fleeces once they have been sheared, I can post them.

That is very kind and I am very tempted.  However, I do have quite a few little sheep of my own now and shouldn't be greedy... and it's probably very much harder for spinners around Surrey to get nice coloured Shetland fleeces.  So we can talk more in the summer, but I'd suggest you post for sale them on here and on Ravelry for local spinners.  They should be interested in some Charollais fleece too, I'd have thought - depending on staple length (it could be quite short.) 

Now, when it comes to Shetland x Charollais fleeces...   , now those I might find it harder to be magnanimous about suggesting your local handspinners should benefit, lol.

[Anke]

They are probably a grey and a fawn katmoget. If the brown-faced one hasn't got the colour markings on her belly she would be a moget-faced fawn.

Your Charollais ewes have got quite short tails...

[Hillview Farm]

Your Charollais ewes have got quite short tails...

The breed when it was imported from France had no tail at all, the took the whole thing off. Obviously that's not aloud in this country so the breeders just did them short. The shearlings have what I would call a normal length tail.

Nothing to do with me and I wont be doing the lambs that short! 

[jaykay]

The back one looks like a pretty standard fawn katmoget. The front one has a grey moget face and may be a grey katmoget but mine are much darker in the fleece than this.

Need to see the tail ends too. If the face colour goes under their belly, onto their legs and round their tail, then they are respectively fawn and grey katmogets. If not, then as Anke says, fawn and grey moget-faced.

Very pretty, whichever they are 

[Anke]

Your Charollais ewes have got quite short tails...

The breed when it was imported from France had no tail at all, the took the whole thing off. Obviously that's not aloud in this country so the breeders just did them short. The shearlings have what I would call a normal length tail.

Nothing to do with me and I wont be doing the lambs that short! 

I am probably a bit anal about this, my tails are always on the longer side and I prefer to dag the tail(fleece) in the middle of summer if I think they are in danger of flystrike - I have had Swaley crosses as well and their tails were kept long - never got flystrike.

Unfortunately crossing Shetlands with terminal breeds means the offspring loose the fluke tail, so are usually docked.