Welcome to our website to promote registered Shetland Sheep, an expanding segment of Wisconsin farming. We also offer fleeces, batting and other sheep farm links.
Memengwa Hill farm is located on the Mississippi River bluffs in Pierce county in West-Central Wisconsin. The nearest city is Red Wing, Minnesota. Our name comes from an Ojibewe word for butterfly. When we arrived at our farm, we were greeted by hundreds of Monarchs resting in the trees, before beginning their annual migration. Along with the name, we embrace the opportunity for growth and change symbolized by the butterfly. Besides our flock of registered Shetland sheep, we presently have sixty acres of hilly Wisconsin land. We carve out pastures as the sheep flock increases. "Carving" is a pretty word for the heavy work of digging post-holes and carrying eight-foot posts down a four-hundred foot slope. The rest of our land is presently rented for corn, and there is little space to move in the summer fields. It took until July to fence the new pastures. The backs of the ewes weren't visible over the top of the oat crop, but the sheep seemed happy with the oats and alfalfa. Our farm also has a lot of chickens , Mallard ducks, over a dozen cats, and Molly the goose. Thanks for visiting, and greetings from the green hills of Wisconsin. Mary had a little lamb Kelly
Winter started in November. It is still with us. It took us two days in November to put the sheep in their breeding groups. The first day we were working in rain and mud...deep mud. The rain turned to snow and the mud turned to slush, then it froze in deep furrows across the sheep run. I still pull my sled up and across these mounds buried under the snow. Yes, winter came early.
Early in November it seemed like breeding was going well. A few of the ram lambs were acting interested. The ewes in the breeding groups were getting along, the rams staying put. By the end of the month, however, our head ram grew restless. The term battering ram comes to mind. Taking the boards off the shelter wasn't enough. He began flattening gates. We caught him as he was working on the third gate, and chased him back with his own five ewes. We reattached the gates, adding double chains to both sides. That held him for two days. I came home with a load of hay to hear a new pounding noise. This time there were two rams, one on either side of the fence. Their crashing horns had ripped 15 feet of holes into my fence. I grabbed the closest ram by the horn. This technique is no longer recommended. Although I succeeded in stopping the fight, it took me some time to get the ram into a place where I could safely let him go. My battering ram was culled, immediately. I sewed the fence back together for the ewes. Perhaps, I should have reacted more strongly to the story about his sire-killed in a fight. Some rams batter, some don't. Maybe ram lambs are better, at least their horns are smaller.
As the winter snows got deeper, I started using my long red sled for carrying hay. Our farm isn't flat, so one has to step lively to avoid being in front of the sled as it careens down the narrow luge run called a path. A bale of hay on a down-slope gathers alot of speed. Christmas morning was the lowest temperature (so far)...24 below. It seems that the sheep are energised by the cold. As the temperature drops and dusk arrives, the sheep start bouncing and running, chasing each-other around their pastures. In December, I put the widowed ewes in with the oldest ram lamb. He was enjoying their company one cold day, when my neighbor knocked at my door. "Did you know a dog is running your sheep?" PANIC! I ran out with no shoes and no coat. Actually, my ram did look like a dog as he chased the ewe with much ardor. The other ewes were in head-long flight to avoid his attention...and technique.
Our rams are still with their ewes as we start February. Although I would love to stop hauling hay all over the farm, I'm still wary. Everytime I pass a breeding pen and see a ram chase a ewe, my breath catches. Maybe she isn't bred. I form a cheering squad of one...get her! We still have new lambing pens to build, repairs to be made, and feeders to chop out of the snow. However, nothing can be done until some of this snow melts. We just had an ice storm, whatever isn't under snow is now iced. The red sled is really picking up speed. It's below zero again, and the coming months could be the snowiest. I am already shoveling to get gates open. If we get much more snow I will be shoveling paths along the fences, where it has drifted. Wouldn't want the sheep to roll over in their sleep and fall out of their pastures. The sheep may be happy, but I am definitely tired of winter.
Our further mishaps during February can be found in sheepbiz.com under Links. Winter is not over yet.
At the present time, all flocks of American Shetland sheep came from two Canadian importations. The best known herd was started by Colonel Dailley. The Colonel was encouraged to help preserve the primitive Shetland breed, by moving a representative flock from England to Canada in 1980. There were 28 ewes and 4 rams in his original flock. The Flett flock was a Canadian flock of moorit (brown) Shetlands, which were eventually cross bred with the Dailley sheep. There has also been a recent effort to cross breed the original Dailley lines with Artificial Insemination of Semen from Shetland rams from England. I don't endorse AI breeding of Shetland sheep or any other primitive or endangered breeds. For a well stated opinion from an experienced Shetland breeder, please read Maple Ridge Farm's website. Because of the increasing numbers of registered Shetland sheep, the breed is no longer considered endangered. In fact, the biggest danger to Shetlands may be culling the older and more primitive-looking Shetlands in favor of more uniformity in their wool.
Our breeding program is based on the belief that the Dailley importation contained a large genetic base, that can be utilized to produce all of the colors, and perhaps all the patterns known in Shetland sheep. Although the beauty and charm of a primitive breed, and the Shetland breed in particular, is found in their unpredictability. Certain primary lines of Dailley sheep will produce patterns with more frequency than other lines. Our flock was started with beautiful long wooled dainty sheep, but we have added many older ewes in an effort to extend the primitive hardiness of the Shetlands. We also want to preserve the broader genetic base, and breed patterns back from the Dailley lines into our flock. Wisconsin is a good place for sheep farming, because of the hilly terrain and the lush vegetation. Quality hay is easy to find. Our flock is rotationally grazed on improved pasture, with free-choice minerals and pelletized sea kelp. We do pet our sheep and feed snacks in an effort to improve their interaction with us. The sheep are sheared once a year, and last year they were wormed twice. Our flock is not yet closed, but we will do OPP testing before a purchase.
You really need to touch a Shetland to understand a spinner's love for these beautiful sheep. The wool has a light grease, lovely crimping, and sometimes color variations right down to the skin. Shetland wool is highly resistant to felting, and is machine washable. When I spin in the grease, I preshrink the yarn before knitting. Extra care before, during and after shearing can provide excellent wool for spinning. The wool length can vary on each sheep, just as colors can differ. Contact me for a sample of Shetland fleece.
Shetlands are small friendly woolly sheep with short tails. They are very intelligent sheep, a land-race from the Shetland Islands. This breed does not have a strong flocking instinct. One sheep running away from the flock will encourage all to run, but often, five will run one direction...and five another. The full grown ewes range in size from around 50 to 90 pounds, with the rams not much larger. Ewes are most often polled(hornless) while the rams have impressive spiral horns. They are known as a wool breed, because of the fineness of the wool.....which is a joy to spin. The breed has 11 catagories of colors, with variations in each catagory. There are 32 different patterns recorded, many called by their Shetland Island names. The Shetlands are called a primitive breed of sheep. My understanding of the term primitive is: first, that breeding results can be unpredictable; and second, that the sheep maintain the ability to breed and survive with minimal human intervention.
Many of our ewes are great granddaughters or great-great granddaughters of Duncan. Duncan was one of the two blue-grey, Emsket rams first imported by Col. Dailley. We also have one great-great granddaughter of Pierre--the white ram, and two from Hartland--the moorit ram imported by Col. Dailley. Our ewes descend from about 1/3 of the original 28 ewes, and ten of the original 35 lambs born in 1981 on the Dailley farm.
| EWE LAMB | DAME | SIRE | COLOR | MARKINGS | BORN | PRICE |
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We are breeding six different Shetland rams from five different blood-lines this year. Each group has a different pasture and shelter. We did expose all our ewes and ewe lambs, and expect to have alot of ram lambs in the spring. Contact us for genetic information about our breeding groups.
| RAM LAMB | DAME | SIRE | COLOR | MARKINGS | BORN | PRICE |
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I am personally fond of spinning in the grease, but our spinning group has been working with batting and roving this year. Our batting is commercially prepared by a small mill in Minnesota. We are presently working on some roving from our fleeces. Contact me now for a sample of our batting. Just click on e-mail.
All fleeces are unwashed-in the grease....but skirted.
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