River Oaks Farm & Studio
Shetland & Bluefaced Leicester Sheep, Fleece and Heritage Crafts
All text and images on these pages are copyright Becky Utecht, Mora, MN USA.
We added Bluefaced Leicester sheep to our flock in June, 2006. Then in 2007, we went back and purchased a pair of natural colored Blufaced Leicesters from Beechtree Farm in Coopersville, Michigan. In addition to purebred Bluefaced Leicester lambs in spring 2008, we eagerly anticipate some stunning colors and patterns in our Bluefaced Leicester/Shetland crosses. Check out our Bluefaced Leicester Flock Page for more information about the individual sheep in our BFL flock.
The female progeny of a Bluefaced Leicester ram on a Shetland ewe are known as “Shetland mules” in the UK. They are part of a three tier system in the UK and mules of the various hill breeds are the most popular commercial ewes there. The mules retain the hardiness of their hardy hill breed mothers (Shetland in this case) with increased carcass size and improved wool quality of their BFL sire. Our crossbred ram lambs will be available as market lambs and our Mule lambs will be available as breeding ewes to be bred to even larger terminal sires (meat breeds) to produce even better sized market lambs.
For more information on the three-tiered breeding scheme using hardy hill breed ewes and Blue Faced Leicester rams, check out the North American Mule Sheep Society, www.mulesheep.com
We originally chose two white BFL lambs who carry colored genetics. We hoped to get some natural colored lambs from them. This year with the addition of natural colored stock, our chances of colored lambs are even better. All of our BFL’s carry British bloodlines from Brenda’s extensive AI breeding program. This has resulted in sound conformation and wonderful fleece. I was nervous about the large size of BFL’s after raising the smaller Shetland breed, but they are gentle sheep and quite friendly. I love the fact that the rams are polled and I’m hoping the crossbred ram lambs will be polled also.
For more information on Bluefaced Leicesters, please check out the following sites:
Bluefaced Leicester Breeders Association
c/o 17496 88th Ave.
Coopersville, MI 49404
info@BluefacedBreeders.com
Bluefaced Leicester Union Breed Registry
760 West V.W. Ave
Schoolcraft, MI 49087
269-679-5497
Bluefaced Leicester Sheep
Above Beechtree Dougal and Lanora grazing in July, 2006.
Below, Beechtree Granite and Rhyn
in August, 2007.
Two Shetland mule lambs born in April 2007.
Both singles and good size, 7 lbs. and 10 lbs.
After accidentally being crossbred as a ewe lamb, this Shetland yearling delivers a nice Shetland mule lamb without difficulty.
