The Ludlam Family
Hopkins, Michigan
NASSA Flock #240 USDA Scrapie Flock #MI17
Member Michigan Sheep Breeders Association
- Raising quality Shetland Sheep since 1993.
- Veterinarian owned and managed.
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Our primary flock goals are excellent conformation and health. Secondary goals are preserving a diverse range
of colors, patterns and fleece types. - Our award-winning Shetland sires and dams consistently produce championship offspring.
SPRING LAMBS!
What's New
at
Windswept Farms
SPRING 2012
Spring has officially arrived at the farm and the lambs are here! The Targhee ewes began lambing in mid-February. We had two sets of Targhee twins and two singles, giving us 4 ewe lambs and 2 ram lambs to grow our Targhee flock.
Our shearing day took place at the end of February and went very well. It was a beautiful day, with plenty of sunshine, and we were able to move many sheep back out to winter pastures after they were shorn. Thank you to everyone who came to help- you made shearing go smoothly and efficiently! Thank you to everyone who came to buy fleeces!
Mike has just begun sorting, evaluating, and skirting fleeces from our February shearing day. He hopes to have individual fleeces up on the website within the next month.
The majority of the Shetland lambs are now on the ground. Most of the Shetland ewes lambed the first weekend in March. A small group of Shetland ewes will lamb in mid to late March, and a small group will lamb in early April.
We have had 38 Shetland lambs born so far- 22 ewe lambs and 16 ram lambs. We have a nice variety of colors, patterns, and fleece types represented. Lambs have been born out of Lost Lake Aragon, Windswept Titanium, Red Ram Billy Joel, and Windswept Great White Shark. We are expecting another 20 to 25 Shetland lambs on the ground by mid April.
We have a large waiting list for our lambs this year, and we do expect to be able to fill it. Anyone interested in purchasing 2012 lambs should contact Heather as soon as possible and we will put you on our list. If you have any specific color/pattern/fleece requests we will make every effort to meet your needs.
We will be evaluating lambs over the next 6 to 8 weeks. March lambs should be ready to go to new homes by the end of May or early June. April lambs will be ready to go to new homes by the end of June.
The kids have had a busy winter and early spring. Besides helping around the farm, they have been working hard in school and participating in their extracurricular activities.
Joe is finishing up in Cub Scouts as a Webelo 2. His pack held an Open Pinewood Derby in January as a fundraiser, and it was a great community event. In February, Joe and Heather camped out overnight at the Kalamazoo Air Zoo with the scouts and built and launched model rockets! Joe will be crossing over to Boy Scouts at the end of March.
Sammy and Alex participated in FFA Leadership contests as their "winter sport." The both made it through Districts and Regionals and went on to compete at the State FFA Convention. Alex ended up Third in the state with a Gold Award in Junior High Public Speaking. Sammy ended up Ninth in the state with a Silver in Creed Speaking. We are extremely proud of the girls' accomplishments in FFA!
We are starting to plan for the summer's 4H projects- market lambs, market swine, chickens, breeding sheep, and horse shows. We are also looking forward to spring sports- both girls have track season starting in March and Joe should start 5K training soon.
Looking forward to warmer days, "the great lamb races," and the green grass starting to grow.....
Don't forget- we now have wool socks for sale! The socks are made with our Shetland wool that was grown right here on Windswept Farms. These were knitted for us by another small business right here in Michigan.
100% Made in Michigan
WE NOW HAVE OUR ROVING PAGE UPDATED!!
FLEECES ARE BEING SKIRTED AND WILL BE UP SOON!
