Sue
Posted: January 22nd, 2007 by Lisa
This is what Sue looked like at the place where we got him in October of 2004. He’d been newly shorn, but still we fell in love with him. Wendy Powers told us all about how good he was at settling many ewes, how much he loves whole bananas, and how his babies were always sweet, even with a flighty mother. She used him not only on her other purebred Icelandic ewes, but on a flock of 30 ewes, where all of them and their offspring were headed to freezer camp. That’s a dedicated worker! Her husband had recently died, and she said Icelandic sheep was his hobby, not hers, which is why she was selling her flock.
We have heard rumors from several people in the area that he is a basher, and I have to admit that the shelter in his pen at Wendy’s farm was really torn up. For a couple of years, though, he didn’t destroy anything, so we were puzzled as to his reputation. (It’s hard to forget a ram named Sue!) But this breeding season, he is up to his old tricks. He’s bashed cattle panels off of posts several times, all to get to the girls.
Usually, he gets loaned out to a farm or two in the fall, and boy does he like that. When a strange truck shows up on our farm, he runs to the gate. I can do a fun party trick, open the gate and let him go. He’ll run right over to the truck, and wait for you open it up for him. He knows the drill! There are treats and girls at the end of the ride. I think he bashed this year because we didn’t send him off for his yearly jaunt with girls, poor guy.
This photo is from his visit to another NH farm in the fall of 2005. He settled all those girls without a problem! That’s our boy. We weren’t going to breed any of our girls at all, because we were going to be away a year. He decided that was a bad plan, and settled Fiona anyway, by escaping! Like I said, that’s our boy.
When he has his full winter coat, he’s a majestic creature. His fleece is wonderful, soft and strong, crimpy, and he passes that onto his offspring as well. The trait of his that makes him so special, though, is his temperament. His offspring are friendly lapsheep, easy to handle, curious and sweet. Even with a flighty ewe, the children share his temperament, not hers. He’s good around lambs, helping them up a steep hill with his nose, nudging them to their mother when they cry. Even if he’s down and chewing his cud, a crying lamb will get him up and over to check it out. What a daddy!
His pedigree is impressive. Barbara Webb from Jager Farm told me all about his father, here. I think I’m going to keep a couple of sons, from different ewes, to keep his genes in my flock after he’s gone. We should have a number of years left in him, though, hopefully.
Right now, he can only be bred to three ewes, (Kaytla, Fiona, Maria) because everyone else is his daughter. But we have three new ones coming in March of 2007, and they are all bred. Those three plus any ewe lambs they have can all go in Sue’s breeding group next year.
His offspring with us so far:
2003: June, Marilyn
2004: Naomi, Minx
2005: Selina, Bill, George
2006: Buster, Baabs
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