A while back, I answered an ad on social media offering some coloured ewe lambs. They were Romney Merino cross with Merino fleece. Then her husband changed his mind and wanted to keep them.
Recently, she got in touch with me again, to see if I was still keen for two now hogget ewes. The brown one, she said, had Merino fleece but she thought the motley one had Romney fleece.
I went and had a look at them. The brown one is only brown on the outside. Once you got past the tips, her fleece was black. Right down to the skin. It was glorious. Then I looked at the other ewe. She's kind of off-white with brown legs. She also has Merino fleece. I took them both.
Then she contacted me last week. Did I want her ram? He's the father of the two I've got, but since I have another ram, that's manageable. They are having to move unexpectedly and rather quickly. The price was extremely reasonable, so I said yes.
Then a few days later, she contacted me again. Did I want a ewe with her two lambs for free?
We were planning to reduce our numbers after having so many feed issues last year. Well, there are a few more that we could probably cull out and if it means improving the wool I'm getting, then it's worth it.
They were going to be shorn and drenched over the weekend, ready for me to pick them up the following weekend. Did I also want the fleece?
We've not long had our sheep shorn, I've got three full fadges of fleece waiting for me to wash, spin and process. How much more could I deal with? Hubby was rolling his eyes at me and pointing out how much space I've gained recently by having a clean out and how much I would be losing by taking this.
I asked how many sheep we were talking about. Eight. Eight I can do. Eight is easy. If we're being totally honest, I was given some Merino to spin recently and immediately fell in love with it. It's been hard going back to my Texel fleece, it feels so coarse. I was dying to get some more. Yes please I'll take it.
After the weekend, I got another message. The ram broke out of the enclosure before the shearer got to him and they couldn't get him back in. The shearer is coming back to get him shorn before we pick him up. Oh and by the way, there are ten ewes, not eight, don't ask how they got miscounted, did I want another two for free?
So, for about what you'd pay for a lamb, I'm getting 3 ewes, 2 lambs, a ram and a heap of good fleeces.