Saturday 8 November 2008

The Shetland Sheep Inspectors call

On a very wet and windy day 4 Shetland Sheep inspectors arrived to inspect Hector, Cassy, Carmen, Cicely and Carolyn.
The ewes were the first to be inspected and they all passed with flying colours and Cicely got a special mention as an example of what an original Shetland Island sheep looked like with her grey multi coloured fleece. She is by far one of my favourite ewes. Carolyn took the eye of the Shetland Sheep Chairman, as one he would bid for in an auction ring. Carmen and Cassy also got good comments about their fleece and their overall appearance. It's good to know that we have bred some good ewes.
Hector on the other account very nearly failed his inspection. It was his horn, it is swept back, which is not a good feature in a Shetland Ram. If he had been polled (hornless) he would have passed with no questions asked. Everything else was O.K. His fleece is nice and long, which makes it an ideal spinners fleece.
Anyway the main thing is they all made the grade and it's good to pick the brains and knowledge of the inspectors of what does and does not make a good Shetland Sheep

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