In the early days of Shepherdess at WoollyShire, which was technically 92 days ago, I called upon a local Shepherdess for her real hands on experience with sheep. The first couple of weeks of Project Keep the New Sheep Alive had a lot of roller coaster hills. With Shepherdess, Nichole Stewart's, encouragement and advice, I slept better at night. The best part of it all, she had never met me in person and offered me her hand in friendship through the great world of Facebook.
She said, "We Shepherdess' need to stick together." And well, I agreed to this new friendship and finally after conversing online for months, I visited her farm, Brown Chicken Brown Cow Farm.
Sweet Accolade
First on my tour was a visit to Accolade. Accolade is a seven year old Lamancha goat. Lamancha goats are easily recognizable by their short ears. These goats are high milk producers and as you can see Accolade is a friendly old gal.
Once Accolade was content with her pets and treats, we visited where the bunnies and chicken littles lived. I wouldn't say the bunnies and chicken littles wanted me to get too close to them but I did manage to snap a few photos of them. Then I had a few bunny and chicken wranglers to help with the photos!
We walked the property and I learned about the future plans of turning land that was used for crops into lush pastures. All the chemicals used from growing crops damages the earth but the damage is not irreversible. Next came the dairy cows...
The dairy cows were only mildly interested in me. Their coats appeared to be velvet.
And for the grand finale, the Icelandic Sheep. Fresh from the cover of National Geographic, Icelandics appear exotic to me only gracing the covers of magazines. I did not have to travel to a far and distant land to meet these horned beauties. I actually barely traveled five miles. And one of them actually wanted to meet me. Never mind the shaking of the treat can.
Timmy is the brown fella who was most interested in us and our treat can. Icelandic Sheep are the trifecta in sheep products. Not only can you get milk from them but they are treasured for their meat and fiber. They are hardy sheep and noted for being one of the world's oldest and purest breeds of sheep.
Thank you my new Shepherdess friend, Nichole, for extending your sheep knowledge and allowing me to ask questions endlessly.
For my readers, you can follow Brown Chicken Brown Cow Farm's journey by following their page at Brown Chicken Brown Cow Farm VA.