New Sheep
We had some exciting and last minute changes to our flock right before the holidays and I’m feeling pretty excited about where this is going to take us, in terms of our farm goals.
When we started the farm I wanted purebred shetland sheep, I wanted those genetics in my flock and I was thankful that Margaret Brook (friend and sheep mentor) was willing to sell me some and she encouraged me to keep them registered. At the time I didn’t understand why (and didn’t bother researching further) and so I purchased an un-registered ram and within two years none of my pure-bred shetlands were even able to be registered.
Fast forward a couple of years and I started doing more research and teaching on Breed Specific Wool and interviews for my book Sheep, Shepherd & Land. This is when I became aware of the role that ‘registering’ sheep can play in protecting and conserving those genetics.
Why Register?
The Heritage Livestock Conservancy says it best “Registration ensures the lineage of purebred livestock into the future”. So by keeping a flock of registered shetlands I am ensuring that their unique genetic diversity is being protected and preserved and that there is official record that can trace back to the great-great-great (etc) grandparents of my flock!
Why is genetic diversity important?
Well, the first answer to that is because who wants to work with the same type of wool everyday? Once I started playing around with different breeds I realized how boring merino was (no offence to those in a love affair with merino!). Beyond the fun of playing with different types of wool - we don’t want to risk losing the genetic diversity of different breeds and ultimately the health of the entire species.
So as my understanding grew, I decided that we needed to have a registered flock. I’m so thankful that Margaret hadn’t given up on me and she was actually working on a project to bring more registered shetland genetics into the region and grow a new flock of registered shetlands. I attended the artificial insemination of some shetlands last December and it was super cool!
The hope was that in 2 years time there would be a new flock for me to purchase and I could start my registered flock. Well things changed and lucky for me, we welcomed 4 registered ewes and 2 registered ram lambs in mid December to our farm!
Artificial Insemination of some Shetland Ewes (December 2022)
They are currently in the breeding pen or ‘love shack’ as I call it (just to make my pre-teens cringe). And by the spring we will perhaps have doubled our number of registered shetlands. I know that perhaps it doesn’t seem like a big thing - from the outside it looks like we just added 6 more sheep that look similar to our existing flock - but in the broader conversation around breed conservation, preserving genetic diversity and contributions to the wool industry it feels like a big deal.
