Today was the NW Washington Shetland Sheep Breeders meeting. We gathered at Chris & Jerry's beautiful Whoamule Farm on Whidbey Island. In attendance were Molly from BlackberryMoon Farm and Wendy from Ylletroja Farm, both also from Whidbey Island, Donna & Tom of Schoonover Farm in Sedro Woolley, Sally from Sleepy Hollow Sheep Dogs in Granite Falls, Franna from EverRanch in Auburn and of course, The Shepherd and myself. 
Chris & Jerry's pastures come right up to their home - so the sheep are never far away.
I think their young ram flock was hoping for some cookies. Sorry boys, not today.
Before lunch, the group went out and took some halter lessons -
Oh, oh, it looks like The Shepherd has a flopper...
Here we go - this looks much better - all hooves on deck.
We had a delicious potluck lunch - (oops, lunch, but that's the wrong group - ha, ha)
After lunch we checked out several web sites and talked about how to best market our little short sheep and their products. We came up with some great ideas - I'll keep you posted.
We will definately be doing the Skagit fair as a group again in 2008, and hope that more Shetland breeders will be able to join in the "fun" of taking sheep to the fair. We had three this year and hope to have 4 or 5 more farms show next summer.
We all brought a little gift to exchange - I picked this cute little bag - it was full of mohair (something new to spin!) and three cute little sheep Christmas ornaments. I thought that the saying printed on the bag was very appropriate for the day.
4 comments:
Nothing is more pastoral than sheep in a pasture. How lucky you all areto have them. Thank you for your kindness to mommy and me right now. My kitty friends are the best...Nellix and Sinda I love you:)
NOW I know why I couldn't make it -- it was a NW WASHINGTON Shetland Sheep Breeders meeting! Glad to hear you all had a good time, though, and look forward to having an added resource for marketing.
It looks like a great time might have been had by all...except for "The Flopper" John had. :) I wish either I had been there, or we had a group like that here.
I first saw Shetlands when the Shetland show coincided with the Black Sheep Gathering. Halter training??? I couldn't believe how many folks walked their sheeps by their horns. It looks kinda weird.
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