About Shetland Sheep:

The Shetland Sheep is a primitive breed going back thousands of years, probably brought to the Shetland Islands by Viking Settlers. Shetlands are on of the smallest breeds of British Sheep. Rams weigh 90-125 lbs and ewes weigh 75-100 lbs. They are fine boned, agile and have naturally short tails. They are incredibly hardy, easy lambers, and require simple diets.


They are perfect sheep for the person who wants a small flock, has limited land, or for those that are involved with wool crafts. They have the beautiful wool that is great for spinning and comes in a glorious amount of colors.

We purchased our first Shetland Sheep in July of 2003 from Nancy Krohn at Bluff Country Shetlands. Actually, they are Roseanne's (Joe's mom) sheep. She is a spinner and spent quite a bit of time researching sheep breeds and decided that Shetlands were perfect for her and Elysian Farm. They are small, hardy, easy lambers, have gorgeous wool, with many colors, and let's face it! They are the cutest sheep in the world! (Of course we are kind of biased).

Roseanne and I drove 4 hours in my minivan to meet and choose the new additions to Elysian Farm. Nancy was wonderful. All of her Shetlands are "animal cracker" trained. They love animal crackers and will come to people who have them. It was quite an experience to be surrounded by pushy little Shetlands waiting for their treat! She had the most beautiful ewe lambs for sale. It was a difficult decision to make; we wanted to bring all the girls home. But, there is only so many sheep that can fit in a mini van. Roseanne chose a lovely moorit, Zoloft, Phoenix a pretty light gray, and Snickers (her birthday present) a beautiful musket ewe.

After playing with the ladies we went to meet the rams. They were very impressive with their horns and macho attitudes. We were not planning on purchasing a ram, until Zorba captured our hearts. He is a compact, sturdy, white ram with an awesome personality. He loves the underside of his chin scratched, wags his tail, and generally made himself quite adorable. We had to have him.

We loaded 3 ewes and 1 ram into my mini van, said good-bye to Nancy, and drove off. It took us 4 hours to get to her place and 3 hours 15 min. to get home. Zorba is now nick-named "Bam Bam Ram". He started to "butt" my car. When he wasn't being obnoxious he was looking contemptuously out the window at the "slow" drivers. If my windows weren't tinted, it would have been pretty distracting to the other motorists.

Once we got home, they settled in very nicely and quickly. We needed to enforce their shelter against "Bam Bam Ram" and added a tree trunk and barrel for his entertainment. He is quite content with his toys and "ladies". Phoenix enjoys sleeping in the feed trough and hangs her head over the side looking cute and innocent. Snickers is the lead ewe and quite taken with her position in the herd. Zoloft is our quiet one. She lets everyone else check things out and than comes out for more than her fair share of the "crackers".

Shetlands are very smart sheep, and you must make sure the pasture is escape proof. (We found that out the hard way.) The individual personalities are interesting to observe and when they play and fling themselves thru the air, you have a hard time not chuckling. It is difficult to have a bad day when you sit a field with Shetland Sheep.


If you would like to learn more about Shetland Sheep please visit the Midwest Shetland Sheep Breeders Assoc., North American Shetland Sheep Assoc. or Nancy with Bluff Country Shetlands.

We are planning on Spring 2005 lambs. Please stop back watch out for pictures of the babies!