Ram bios

The Shetlands Yahoo group email list asked for bios of our rams.  So I typed those up this morning and thought I'd post them here- for those of you not on this list.

Our older ram is Bitterroot Ansel- we call him Jocko. I wanted to produce mioget in my flock so arranged to purchase Jocko from Judy Colvin. We went to Western Montana in January 2002 to pick him up during a blizzard. I had just met my soon-to-be husband Tom in November. On our first date I had dropped off a sheep to be bred just prior to the date, and our second date I had a bale of alfalfa in my car so he should have known what he was getting into, but this was quite a trip to pick up a sheep. We had my Subaru Outback wagon with a large dog kennel in the back. We made it to Lolo Hot Springs and stayed there- enjoying the hot spring that Lewis and Clack had enjoyed. Then the next day we braved the snow and made it to Judy's place to pick up Ansel. He was only 8 months old but had the most wonderful fleece I have even seen (including until now). Plus he handled the ride back well- very good disposition. I thought Ansel wasn't a very inspiring name for him to breed my ewes when he got home so we saw a sign for the Jocko River and decided to call him Jocko. We did not have the time to see Judy's place as we had to head all the way home to NW Washington. We made it back OK, and Jocko got to meet his new flock's ewes upon our arrival. He has been a great ram for us in producing lovely lambs, gorgeous fleece and minimal fence damage. I am currently trying to reproduce him as he will not last forever, and I want to continue his legacy.

His pedigree (with his offspring) is at:
http://www.mtn-niche.net/NASSA/members/nm_pedigree.php?pregno=S12507


This next bio is for our second ram, Lewis. I had wanted spotted sheep and was not having any luck producing spots with my genetics- all the spotted sheep were agouti and faded. So I made arrangements to purchase a solid black spotted ram lamb from Stephen Rouse in the summer of 2003 (while I was also making at-home wedding plans too). Then there was the issue of transportation. I found a woman who lived south of Missoula who was going to the Michigan Fiber Festival and could bring him back to her farm. So after Tom and I were married and honeymooned in July, we headed back to Missoula in August to pick up another sheep. At least by this time we had a truck with stock rails and decent weather. The only issue was there were horrible forest fires that year and Missoula and Lolo Pass were full of thick smoke and fire fighters. We stayed at the Hot Springs again and then picked up our new ram the next day and headed home. He hadn't been named yet ,and Montana was gearing up for the 200th anniversary of Lewis and Clark's exploration of the area so we thought Lewis would be a great and inspiring name for our new acquisition. It seems to have worked (at least to the degree a ram can be inspired) as he has produced wonderful spotted lambs (yuglet, flecket and HST) for us and continues to do so as we speak (read?).

His pedigree and offspring information is at:
http://www.mtn-niche.net/NASSA/members/nm_pedigree.php?pregno=S16231

I am pretty thrilled with the rams we have- can you tell?