News and Views. I have to admit that I am a dull

Transcription

1 St. Croix Hair Sheep International Association Newsletter News and Views Volume 8, Issue 2 April/May/June 2011 by Eddie Martin I have to admit that I am a dull person, but please don t try to change me. I ve been working on dull for over 50 years! Just to prove my point, I still watch the reruns of The Andy Griffith Show and one of my favorites is where Andy and Barney are trying to get Gomer Pyle to go on a blind date. If you have seen this episode or have a guess, the lady is not what the world would define as a looker. To describe this potential date, Andy and Barney go through a routine of repeatedly telling Gomer that she is nice and then finally my favorite line comes along, She s REAL nice! Ah-h-h, it is nice to drop a few of life s worries and enjoy the black and white TV shows and the good old days. But here we are in 2011, and how do we describe our St. Croix sheep over the phone or in s to people? Are they nice or REAL She s REAL Nice! nice? Which lamb out of a contemporary group of lambs is either the best or the better fit for me as a potential buyer? Are you considering a particular lamb to be the best because it is currently the biggest, the tallest, the mother is the friendliest, the sire is from a good flock or is the sister doing a good job somewhere? Our personal knowledge, flock records and notes on individual animals are tremendously important, don t get me wrong, but if I am comparing your ram lamb to another breeder s ram lamb for my next replacement ram, what can you do to convince me that your lamb is the best and if he has the traits I need to improve my flock? Those kinds of questions haunt me. How can I really know? With that background, I have been trying to learn more about the National Sheep Improvement Plan (NSIP), from here in the United States, which has recently merged with LambPlan, from Australia. I ll give you what I know of the program in bullet form from In This Issue President s Letter...1 Member Profile...4 Never Get Somethiing...5 Regional News...6 National Animal Health...7 Boy oh boy gimme St. Croix...10 Wanda...12 Advertising...15

2 News and Views St. Croix Hair Sheep International Association St. Croix Sheep International Association Officers President: Eddie Martin Vice President: Lynne Vanderlinden Secretary: Kathy Bennett Treasurer: Vicki Hamstreet SW Director: Bill Wire NW Director: Linda Barnes NE Director: Linda O Neill milfont@aol.com SE Director: Jerry Fickel agropecmia@aol.com NC Director: Charlie Bedinger shpsht@sbcglobal.net SC Director: Sandra Walker walkertexasranch@gmail.com Director-at-Large: Vanessa Harris ringtail@pldi.net News and Views is published quarterly. Editors: Richard and Kathy Bennett For advertising or content contact: Richard and Kathy Bennett Tiller Trail Hwy. Days Creek, OR rbr15863@hughes.net an reply I received from Mr. Jim Morgan, NSIP Board President. NSIP All breeds (can) submit birth weights, 60 day weights, 120 day weights, number of lambs born and number of lambs weaned. The software platform allows many other measurements, including scrotal circumference, and FEC (fecal egg count) The breeds running in NSIP are arranged into 4 major groups which receive similar data reports. The four groups are USA Terminal, USA Wool Maternal, USA Range and USA Hair. The USA Hair breeds report now have reports with EBVs (Estimated Breeding Values) for birth weight, 60 day wt, 120 day wt, number born, number weaned, lbs lamb weaned/ewe lambing index, maternal milk, FEC at 60 days, FEC at 120 days and scrotal circumference, 120 day ultrasound. Just for our discussion of what other hair sheep breeders are doing Most of the Katahdin flocks don t submit carcass or fecal egg count data; but they have the option. St. Croix Association Options Is this something we should consider with our St. Croix breed? I think it is worthy of open discussion and debate by all members of the association. Please consider this range of options any of us could have. If you like the way things are now, you would never be forced to participate and your St. Croix sheep will be registered and held in the same view as any other St. Croix sheep that might or might not be enrolled in the program. It would be a volunteer effort to start or stop data submission for any participating member. You would pay your own NSIP fees. If you were to focus on maternal type traits for your flock, you St. Croix Membership The St. Croix Hair Sheep International Association rd Avenue Milo, Iowa All membership dues will be collected by Associated Registries. A membership application/registration/transfer worksheet can be found on our web site at Call the registrar for clarification or to ask a question concerning registration or transfer. Please mention our association name and ask for Karey. 2 The St. Croix Hair Sheep International Association News and Views

3 could record and submit data only about lambs and ewes up to the 60 day weight. If you wanted to develop more carcass yield in your market lambs you could just collect ultrasound data and 120 day weights and forget about the fertility and ewe side of the data collection. If your only concern is resistance to internal parasites you would only collect and submit FEC data. You might think that all data is good and perform total data collection and receive all of the information that can be generated by NSIP. One side benefit also comes along with the system: If you suspect that your sheep are becoming too inbred, Mrs. Mary Sorensen, located at the NSIP Office, told me that all of the breeds receive inbreeding coefficient information for each sheep. What s in It for You? Some of your first questions ought to be: What would the enrollment of my flock in NSIP do for me? Is the NSIP worth the trouble? How could I use any of the data I would get back from NSIP? If you are a registered flock owner who values having the best ewes in the business, you could key in on the maternal type data and be guided in your selection of ewe lambs for better replacements. If your business model is prioritized to market meat animals (either market lambs or direct sale) you could search for replacement rams in other flocks that have improved growth and carcass values. The average commercial sheep producer in the United States probably does not even consider the St. Croix breed as an option in a crossbred flock rotation. But with data to compare individuals of our flocks to sheep in other breeds, such as Dorper and Katahdin, the St. Croix could be seen as a newfound blessing with the genetically built in convenience traits of parasite resistance, out of season breeding and fertility documented in EBVs for all the world to see. There is plenty of other information which we need to discuss and some genetic links within the breed that need to be studied to let the association move forward with this potential change, but I want to hear from you before we decide to do anything different. Once this issue of the newsletter has been delivered to all members, I ll post this same article on the Association s Discussion Group site so that we can comment and reply on an open forum. You can find the link to the discussion group on the website or you can use this address: origstcroixhairsheepassn/ So, what do you think of this idea? Is it nice or REAL nice? NV New lambs enjoying the sun at the Scharf s, Chehalis, Washington. April/May/June

4 Member Profile: Jason and Miranda Pelzel PERSIMMON CREEK FARM by Lynne Vanderlinden Cheese from the ewe Milk from the goat Butter from the cow N ot so, say Jason and Miranda Pelzel of Persimmon Creek Farm in Koshkonong, Missouri. While they use their St. Croix for milk and butter, cheese would be very viable. As a matter of fact, the most popular, high-end cheeses (feta, ricotta, pecorino Romano and Jason with a hand milker Old Spanish Proverb Roquefort, just to name a few) are traditionally made from sheep milk. Due to higher solids content, more cheese can be produced from a gallon of sheep milk than a gallon of goat or cow milk. Miranda wrote, My husband and I got into St. Croix in a unique way. We wanted milk! We considered a cow, but they gave too much milk for just us two. We thought of a goat, but the bucks stink and the goat milk we d tried wasn t palatable. Then we thought of sheep. But what kind? We didn t want to shear and we wanted as low maintenance as possible. Back then, we lived in Texas where it can get very hot and dry. After months of research, we had it narrowed down to St. Croix or Katadhins. My Mom told me we had a cousin in Oklahoma who raised Katadhins and we went to see them. On the way, we stopped by Bob and Vanessa Harris s to take a look at St. Croix and loved them! We continued our way to my cousin s and saw their Katadhins, but we really wanted St. Croix. But the St. Croix isn t a milk breed! Officially, no. But tell me, have you seen St. Croix NOT produce enough milk when they lamb? Sure, there are exceptions, but generally, the breed is very capable. So why not milk them? We bought our original St. Croix from Bob and Vanessa, tried them out, and never looked back. Best milk we ve ever had. Both Jason and Miranda have full time jobs, so they separate the lambs at night and milk in the mornings. They use a milk stand and let them eat while they milk. When they re done, they turn them loose to nurse the lambs during the day. They are very impressed with the parasite resistance of their St. Croix in the hot, humid Missouri climate. Their website states that while Dorpers and Katadhins must be wormed and their neighbor s goats were dying from parasite infestations, their St. Croix have never required worming. With the huge locavore movement sweeping the country and the high demand for gourmet cheeses, it would seem that a St. Croix dairy would be a lucrative niche market! Or, like Jason and Miranda, who primarily want milk and butter for personal use, think St. Croix! Visit their wonderful website to see what else these two very busy people raise on Persimmon Creek. NV 4 The St. Croix Hair Sheep International Association News and Views

5 Never Get Something off the Internet Just Because It s Free! This is the second and final part of Don t Get Anything off the Internet Just Because it s Free, by Paul Potter. In the first installment, the author s wife obtained a free LGD and we left off with Paul and O.D. hot on the trail of dangerous predators... wild turkeys. T here was a massive jerk, the leash left my hand, as well as some skin that I wasn t really using, and a white blur vanished from sight in the direction of the gobbling. I didn t know anything that big could move that fast without special effects. Neither, apparently, did the turkeys. I followed the blur and saw him descending on a flock of 5 birds across the road from the neighbors, whose curtains were now wide open, with faces pressed against the glass. The birds tried to jump/fly over him; he leaped higher. Then they turned in tight formation and ran - towards me - with a very determined O.D. hot on their tails. It was at that moment I had a burst of revelation. He had been around poultry at his old home, and was trying to drive the errant fowl back to the pasture. In fact, he was doing it! About 100 feet in front of me, the turkeys also had a revelation. They didn t have to run, they had wings! As one, they rose into the air, still coming straight at me. So was the dog. I dropped. The birds flew over me, closely followed by the dog, who was NOT flying, but still went over me. The neighbors were now leaning out the window cheering. For whom was not apparent. The turkeys flew over the fence, O.D. veered and ran down the fence line, and they all disappeared in the direction of the White Mountain National Forest. My wife was frantic when I told her and immediately got dressed to help search. She also informed me that most of these dogs had a different name when they were not fenced in. They were called, Gone. After a fruitless 9-hr. search, I decided that life does go on and it was Dump Run Day. We drove slowly, hoping against hope to get a glimpse of Gone. Turning off the road leading to the dump, I spotted our friend Jake, staring down at a large white rug lying at his feet. Living on the dump road, Jake is used to having to pick up trash from his yard, but when he tried to kick the rug aside, it sat up. So he did what any good guy would do and fed it breakfast. The rug was apparently waiting for dinner. Thanking Jake, I unwound the still attached leash. He didn t mind going with me, but he did give a longing look at his breakfast bowl. As I opened the truck door, the wife reminded me he didn t like to ride and I reminded her that I had a comealong. Either the dog was listening or he liked to ride shotgun. One leap and he was on the seat, and a moment later my wife disappeared, sounds of outrage issuing from beneath him. We continued on to the dump, where my wife demanded I empty the trash and get us home. I felt she really meant it too, as she was gasping for air while telling me. Anyway, we got back home and stuck O.D. in with the sheep. My wife was completely indifferent about them beating him up, and even sort of agreed with me about not ever getting anything off the Internet just because it s free. NV April/May/June

6 National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) Visits Dorsey/Lee St. Croix Farm by Linda and Ed Barnes E ach year, the Department of Agriculture instructs the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to test various species of animals in the United States by a statistically valid NAHMS study for determining national estimates of health practices and for compiling health information to enhance production for those species. This is accomplished by the combined efforts of APHIS, one of twenty-two states in this program and producers of various species of animals. In this particular year, data on sheep is being collected. APHIS divides the sheep herd research groups into herds of 20+ and 100+ breeding ewes. Our herd of St. Croix was one of the herds chosen in the Northwest corner of the State of Oregon. The State of Oregon is divided into several districts, each headed by a Veterinary Medical Officer of the United States Department of Agriculture, APHIS Veterinary Service Unit. APHIS and the State of Oregon provide personnel to collect specimens and samples within the guidelines of the study. Linda and myself as the producers here at D/L St. Croix Farm were required to provide accurate information regarding sheep health and management practices related to study objectives. An agreement signed by the inspecting officer and us as producers stated that the data collected would not be used for regulatory purposes. The agreement also stated that the aggregate (summary) findings acquired by NAHMS may be published for the benefit of the sheep industry. Also, after completion of data reporting, APHIS will provide several reports containing summary results from all participating producers. In late March, Dr. David P. Silberman, DVM, conducted an oral survey questionnaire of our animal husbandry practices which took a little over two hours. The questions were related to the tests that would be conducted on the ewes and lambs. Dr. Silberman took time to explain the program, highlighted the pros and cons and mentioned that we could decline the testing procedure at any time. Obvious benefits of the program were that the data produced from testing a herd could be helpful ultimately to all sheep breeders. The draw back of the program, in Dr. Silberman s mind, was that all individual data results collected for the producers herd would not Randy Wilson, CVT (left) and Dr. David necessarily get back to Silberman, DVM collect fecal samples the producer, and some of the data may not be necessarily useful to the producer s program. Recommendations concerning a particular herd s data findings would not be given. In early April, Dr. David Silberman and Randy Wilson, CVT (Animal Health Technician), collected the necessary samples for the study. But, it takes people besides the collectors to get the job done. Linda acted as scribe, to keep the animal records straight and record accurate ages. Myself and our helper, Roy Wiederhold, were the animal holders. Blood, nasal swabs, and fresh fecal samples were taken. In this particular study, there were five target areas in which this year s study was based: (1) From blood and nasal swabs, the presence of Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae (this is the bacteria that was associated with the death by pneumonia 6 The St. Croix Hair Sheep International Association News and Views

7 Rebecca Miles and 4-H Lamb, Izzy of Big Horn Sheep in the Rockies) and Q-fever. (2) From the fecal samples will be a fecal egg count for the parasite load and a DrenchRite Assay. This will inform the producer if there is anthelmintic resistance. The assay determines if larvae grown from the eggs are resistant to common dewormers. (3) Also from selected composite fecal samples, testing will be done for Salmonella and Campylobacter and a subset will be tested for Enterococcus and generic E. Coli. (4) The samples are also used to discover if there is Johne s disease, a gastrointestinal disease that is fatal and can spread through the flock. (5) The presence of OPP or Ovine Progressive Pneumonia which is a viral disease. Once the animal is infected with this virus, it remains a carrier for life. The primary transmission is through the ingestion of infected colostrum and milk. (6)A soil sample was also taken to see if Q-Fever was present in the soil. The overall composite results of these tests are reported back to the producer in varying time frames, from one month to many months as some of the tests are labor intensive and take months to generate results. The producer is also given the option to be involved in future testing. After Linda and I participated in this study, we had mixed emotions as to the value to us as we are a small operation and fall into one of the 20+ breeding ewe groups. This procedure of drawing blood, taking nasal swabs and collecting fresh fecal samples is laborious. The results of the data might be interesting in general but will not give us specific results concerning our herd s health. But the procedure was free to us and only really took just a little of our time. So, we hope the data generated will help the sheep industry as a whole. NV Regional News From the North Central Region Director MIDWEST RAMBLINGS We are finally getting some spring weather. The Midwest had a long, cold winter. The sale in Springfield in June has been canceled as stated in the previous newsletter. Illinois State Fair raised the rent for the barns significantly. Several of the other breeds that sell the same day canceled which further raised the rent for the ones that were remaining. Our local breeders have had a great sales year and were short on numbers to put into the sale. I hope to put together a regional St. Croix event. It will probably occur in late summer with the time and place to be announced. A Midwest St. Croix promotion organization is still being discussed. The goal is to combine advertising in local publications. We are also in the process of developing a Midwest web site. I have had several export inquiries that included St. Croix. They were influenced by internet research. Several of our Midwest breeders have sold start up flocks this spring. Parasite resistance is a big selling point. I am looking forward to hearing from fellow Midwest breeders regarding the promotion organization and a summer St. Croix event. I am open to hearing your opinions and suggestions. Have a great spring. Charles Bedinger From the Northwest Region Director We have been advertising our St. Croix lambs on craigslist. We put in three pictures and have had a lot of response, with a result of a few sales so far. For interested buyers asking for St. Croix that we don t have available, I have forwarded their request to several NW members. We will be putting an ad in the NW Capital Press Ag magazine which we found to be also very successful last year for the sale of our Spring lambs. Our pastures are starting to grow, but still supplementing the sheep with hay and grain at this time. Our lambing this year was very successful with no losses and all mothers doing well. However, some of our members have reported not being as lucky this lambing season. Linda Barnes April/May/June

8 From the Northeast Region Director I wrote to Bob Bokma in Maryland and he wrote back to tell me that he was going to be taking his SC to the Maryland Sheep and Wool show again this year was probably the quietest year I have ever had with respect to enquiries for sheep, so much so that I did not breed at all. Matters picked up a bit in 2010 and I did get two new breeders started with flocks. I have some orders for lambs for later this year and I am looking forward to a bit brisker year in 2011 and so far have enquiries from 4 potential new breeders. I have personally committed to donating some sheep to the SVF Foundation which is collaborating with Tufts University veterinarians to cryogenically preserve unique genetic traits of endangered breeds. The ideal group of sheep would be ewes which are 2-4 years of age and are proven breeders. These ewes would be synchronized and used for embryo collection. Additionally they would need 3-4 rams. The rams are used for semen collection and to sire embryos. The more genetically diverse the group the better. The ultimate goal is to have at least 30 ewes and 10 rams represented in the collection. This process generally takes 3-4 years to complete as stock are rotated yearly. At any given time SVF is working with 5-6 different rare breeds as it is often impossible to focus solely on one breed at a time. This gives time to seek out the best stock and work with different breeders around the country who want to donate or free lease animals to the program. Linda O Neill From the South Central Region Director The state of St Croix sheep in the South Central region is great. I get calls almost every day from people wanting our wonderful breed of sheep. The only complaint I get is that people can t find registered ewes to buy. According to one customer, there isn t a ewe to be found in Texas or OK...isn t that something! The weather in Texas is dry; we are under an extreme drought here in East and South Texas. We only got.4 inch of rain on our farm for March (we usually get about 5 inches). I believe LA is just as dry as we are. No one around here is expecting to get any hay cuttings this year, unless they have irrigation. The weather guessers don t expect things to get better any time soon. On the good side, it is sunny and hot...no snow! Sandra Walker From the South West Region Director Having just returned from a trip to New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia and China to see how sheep are being raised, it was a great to get back to our St. Croix which is a lot less intense labor. We had a great time in all the countries. The people were warm and always ready to talk about sheep. Most did not know anything about the St. Croix hair sheep and all their outstanding characteristics. However, I was more than willing to be an expositor for the St. Croix hair sheep. So far this is has been a very productive year, all the fall and spring lambs being sold with a waiting list for the new September lambs. A fall St. Croix ram ramb was donated to a 4-H student in the Sacramento, California area to be shown at the Sacramento County Fair to promote interest in hair sheep. We have people call just about every day and the most of them talk about finding our information on the association web site. We even had a call from a veterinarian asking if several St. Croix were healthy because they had someone bring in a bunch of wethers that were losing hair. Gave some information on the sheep and sent her photos of ours with a bad hair day. How fast the spring is going by with so many things to do and not enough time to be working with the show sheep. We are trying to get the sheep ready for the California State Fair in August Hope to see other St. Croix breeders attend the show. After the California State Fair it will be on to the Oregon State Fair. Bill Wire 8 The St. Croix Hair Sheep International Association News and Views

9 DL DL Dorsey/Lee St. Croix Farm DL 249 ELLIS DL FOR SALE DL April/May/June

10 By Mindy Poehl, East Texas Farm & Ranch News, Wed Feb 09, 2011, reprinted with permission. Boy oh boy, gimme St. Croix P ALESTINE Rob and Joy Bass, owners of Just Right Ranch in Palestine, are raising a rare sheep breed that produces a great meat, breeds quickly, and is relatively easy to manage. These white hair sheep are called St. Croix. These sheep flock closely together and are wonderful for training herding dogs on, which is also what the Bass s do, with their Shelties. We raise these sheep for three reasons, Rob explained. We sell them to the breeder market. We cater to the meat industry. And we have a herding facility where people can train their dogs to herd sheep. While still a rare breed in the United States, with just over a million head of the breed located here, the breed is growing in popularity. The sheep are prolific animals and breed throughout the year. They adapt easily to different climates, they are docile and easy to handle, they shed their coats and don t need to be sheared, their tails don t need to be docked, they are hornless, they have a high resistance to parasites and they have a high reproduction rate. All of the above reasons are why Rob and Joy opted for raising St. Croix. Rob and Joy have traveled all over the world, and they lived in Singapore before moving to their 60-acre ranch in Palestine in We ended up in East Texas because we don t have bad storms here, Rob explained....couple raises unique sheep and Shelties... I started out with cows, but that is difficult to make money with and they are harder to handle. With sheep you can run more per acre. And we tried goats, but their parasitic issues were difficult to deal with and it s not fun to bury an animal. Their sheep flock was imported from Oregon. We started with six ewes and one ram, and now we have 78 head of sheep, Rob said. And we have not had to give them a drop of worm medicine. They are parasite and foot rot resistant. There is no wool to shear. They are docile and they have an incredible lambing rate. The gestation period for ewes is 150 days. On paper, they lamb twice a year. They have lots of twins and often triplets, so with multiple births, it ads up in a hurry, said Joy. We have a pasture for lambing and then we ll put them in a pen for three or four days. All of the sheep are registered, tagged and all of the rams are tested for scrapies. The rams are all RR genotype, which is scrapies resistant. By using an RR ram, we re always gonna at least get a QR sheep, which is rarely susceptible, Rob explained. We keep the RR rams for breeding and we ll eat the others. The Bass s consume around two or three sheep each year. It s leaner than beef and the flavor is good, Rob said. We sell a lot to ethnic people, like Middle Eastern and Jewish people who value Rob Bass, owner of Just Right Ranch in Palestine feeds his hardy, docile and fruitful St. Croix sheep, that produce a healthy, tasty meat. 10 The St. Croix Hair Sheep International Association News and Views

11 lamb as a religious holiday celebration. The market is growing steadily and the price has gone up 50 percent in the last year. In the grocery store, a pound of lamb sells for $10. The Bass s sell a lamb for $150, along with the processing fee at the slaughter house, it winds up costing the Bass s customers only $4.50 a pound, explained Rob. That s a real deal, he said. The sheep are grass fed, along with protein cubes. No growth hormones are used. In the winter we will supplement with a bit of grain, Joy said. The breeding time for a sheep is five months and the sell out time is 6 months. They pretty much all have twins and the turnaround rate is pretty good, explained Joy. One year we had two sets of triplets. The ewes cycle every 21 days, so the Basses are able to plan their lambing season. They lamb naturally and we ve been lucky to only lose one lamb the entire time. said Joy. While Rob s main passion is raising the sheep, Joy s passion is raising what herds the sheep...shetland Sheepdogs. Joy has had Shelties for 35 years and is a licensed AKC judge. Rob and Joy have boarding kennels for dogs under 40 pounds and also train dogs to herd, using their sheep. Not all breeds herd, Joy explained. Shelties have a 50/50 instinct. They can t be trained to have it; that instinct just kicks in. It s either there or it s not. Shelties like to gather the herd and circle them to flock them. There s a real communication going on between the dogs and sheep and it s amazing. she said. They don t stare or use their eyes. Shelties like to bark a lot. Once the dog has that herding instinct, then they can be trained. You put a stock on the dogs. The dogs are trained to go left and right, they ll lay down and they put the sheep in the pens. The Basses have two herding courses. Course A is pen work and class C is field work. The dogs will take the flock down the road and take them to the grazing area, Joy said. It s an old European tending style with barbed wire fences. We plow furrows into the grazing areas and the dogs are trained to work on that border. Having dogs that instinctly herd, and sheep that seem too good to be ewe... I mean, true, the Basses have a successful business that should continue to stay profitable. For more information, or to buy a sheep or train your dog, call Rob and Joy at Just Right Ranch at NV Triplets learn to share. April/May/June

12 by Anne Scharff W hen my husband and I first bought our small bunch of land and acquired our sheep, we weren t sure what we had and we really didn t know what do with them. We did know that we had an exceptional ram named Vinnie (Swan 745) who became, in an odd way, a very helpful therapist to our young autistic daughter. However, we also had three beautiful and much more independent ewes that we bought right along with him. We showed up on time at Ternan Tails Farm to look at the sheep. Fay Ternan had just arrived home from work and was still in her dress clothes. She put on barn shoes, went out and called SHEEP-SHEEP-SHEEP! A WAVE of beautiful white St. Croix responded to her calls. We observed as she fed them. She had an old ewe named Old Ma, whom of course she wouldn t part with, understandably. Old Ma was a light cream color and had somewhat curlier hair than the rest. We loved the sheep and Fay and Mike Ternan. A few weeks later, we showed up again with funds to purchase a few. Fay again took us out to the barn, asking us to pick our ewes on our own, which in the sheep business is a very smart thing to do, especially with people as inexperienced as us. We already knew we were purchasing Vinnie. I was a bit in awe and confused as all of the ewes looked the same to me. We picked out three ewes that Fay marked as we chose them. When we finally got them home, I realized we had two young ones, probably two years old or so, and another older, old style ewe who was obviously the progeny of Old Ma. Now, Old Ma was a leader and so was her daughter. We named the ewes WANDA Wanda Sheila, Mabel and Wanda. Old Ma s progeny was Wanda. She was a light cream color as opposed to the other two who were pure white. She led the others confidently to new pastures. The sheep did very well until I got the bright idea to also obtain an old rescue horse so my daughters could learn to ride as I did. I found an old mare from a rescue group named Roxie. We went to Morton, Washington and proceeded to take her home. We put her in our back pasture away from the sheep. We received a call a few days later from the rescue group. A horse named Honey, who had been rescued with Roxie, was very upset because her friend had been taken from her. Honey and Roxie had been abused and starved together, according to the rescue group. I agreed to take Honey as well. The rescue group brought her out the next day, driving almost 60 miles to our home. As they pulled up in our driveway, they stopped and unloaded the most beautiful, young dapple Palomino Quarterhorse I have ever seen...and I have a long history of experience with equines, since I was a small child in Montana. However, I noticed they were leading her from the right. As anyone knows with horses, they are traditionally trained to lead and be worked with or mounted from the left. They turned her around and I was shocked at what I saw. This beautiful young horse had been beaten severely about the left side of her head and face. Her orbital bones had been fractured and crushed, leaving her totally blind in her left eye. Her fractures had healed without any assistance from a vet and she obviously hated humans, with good reason. The rescue group marched her to our back shed and left her there. 12 The St. Croix Hair Sheep International Association News and Views

13 Start at the Top for Flock Improvement River Bend Ranch Rams Get of Sire Oregon State Fair Richard and Kathy Bennett River Bend Ranch Days Creek, Oregon I tried to make contact with her, but her flying hooves (just past my head) and her bitter hatred for humans forced us to leave her alone. She was a fence pusher-though, always thinking the grass is greener on the other side. One day she escaped from the back pasture to the sheep pasture. With a history of being starved, she tried to run to the sheep s feeder. Wanda would not back down. Honey, like she did with humans, turned and kicked, as that was the only way this animal knew to defend and feed herself. Mike went out and placed her securely in the pasture where she should be as I called the sheep. Wanda came in, and her right leg was dangling, useless and obviously fractured right below the knee. She was also obviously pregnant, due to lamb in a few weeks. I called three vets, including our own first. All said to butcher, get rid of, or put her down. I called Fay Ternan and lamented about our sheep problems with her. She told me to stick it out, splint the leg and let her try to have her lambs. Well, it didn t work because with the area of the leg break, if we splinted it, she couldn t get up or down. As anyone who has ruminants knows, they have to be able to get up and down in order to eat and digest. We kept Wanda in a jug until she lambed. Her leg dangled horribly and no one would help us. We tried to help by splinting it again but she refused. She had twin ewe lambs in the middle of the night, with no help from us, of course. Her leg actually healed well within a few months. Although it remained crooked, it was very difficult to tell that she had any kind of impairment later. My husband and I still miss old Broken Leg. We are still in touch with the family who has her now. They love her and she has produced two more sets of twins and continues to act as nursemaid to others. I was told by Fay Ternan in no uncertain terms that she should still be with us, and Fay is right. However, Wanda AKA Old Broken Leg has gone on to help others in their inexperienced ways, just like she helped us. NV April/May/June

14 New Lambs at the Harris, Ringtail Enterprises, Comanche, Oklahoma Lambs at River Bend Ranch, Days Creek, Oregon Spring Lambs at the Sweckers, Rochester, Washington 14 The St. Croix Hair Sheep International Association News and Views

15 Advertising FREE CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING: Send ad copy to or call Copy ready display advertising rates: Full page ad $35. per issue; Half page ad $20. per issue; Business card ads $5. per year. FOR SALE: The Swan Ranch has outstanding spring 2011 lambs avaiable. Contact The Swan Ranch, FOR SALE: Taking reservations for spring 2011 ram and ewe lambs. Spring and fall 2010 registered ram lambs available now. Check us out at Richard and Kathy Bennett, River Bend Ranch, Days Creek, OR 97429, hughes.net FOR SALE: We have ram lambs for sale; would consider trading rams to introduce new blood into our flock. Bob and Vanessa Harris, Ringtail USA. Contact us at or pldi.net. FOR SALE: Need to make room for spring lambs. Two young Swan ewes (2 years old), one ram lamb and one yearling ram available now. They will add quality to your flock. Great bloodlines, conformation and disposition. Richard and Jean Patterson, The Willows Farm, FOR SALE: DL 249 ELLIS. Ellis received a 2nd in the very large yearling ram class of eighteen at the Oregon State Fair in He is RR tested for scrapie and is a proven sire. Ellis is very easy to handle with a people friendly disposition. He is also a grandson of DL 17 LELAND, his sire being MM21 LORENZO. DL 249 ELLIS is priced at $ Contact the DORSEY/LEE ST. CROIX FARM, Dr. Edward and Linda Barnes April/May/June

16 News and Views St. Croix Hair Sheep International Association Newsletter Tiller Trail Hwy. Days Creek, OR Easy Care No Shearing First in Internal Parasite Resistance Kathy Bennett, Secretary Karey Claghorn, Registrar Tiller Trail Hwy rd Avenue Days Creek, OR Milo, IA / / Sheep That Work Better For You! 16 The St. Croix Hair Sheep International Association News and Views