Speechless, Stunned, Overwhelmed.........

Giddy, jaw dropping..........those are just a few of the words you could use to describe my experience from this past weekend at the Midwest Shetland Sheep Breeders Show in Jefferson, WI.   This was the 10th Anniversary of the Wi Sheep and Wool Festival and we are grateful that the organizers of this event work so hard to include us in this wonderful event.
Kate Sharp and Alan Hill could not have possibly been friendlier, and the wealth of information that we got from them was nothing short of inspiring.  We badgered them with questions every waking second that they were near and they were such good sports and just kept answering question after question for us without ever making it seem as if we were imposing in any way at all.
Friday's judging seminar was so interesting that nobody even wanted to take a break and it ran over the time we had allotted for it, which seemed to be the theme for the entire weekend.   Friday afternoon we each got a chance to get 2 sheep in for the ram/ewe inspections and both of our guests took their time explaining all the things that they look for when doing inspections.  The "hands on" seminar was so informational, I will use it to better evaluate my herd in the future.
All the events were videotaped and we are going to try to condense the content and have some dvd's available for others to share this wonderful educational opportunity.  Contact me via email with your name, address, phone and email address if you would like to be notified when the dvd is complete.   My email address is: okacres@hotmail.com

We had a good weekend with our sheep at this show.  I took 7 sheep to the show, Salcional, a  grey kat ewe, Cadillac a moorit, smirslet, sokket ram lamb, Sawyer, a black gully ram lamb, Vienna, a moorit ewe lamb, Alabama, a moorit ewe lamb, Seneca, a black, sokket, krunet ewe lamb and Sierra, a black ewe lamb.  We did ok in the lamb classes, but it was the Senior ewe class that had me reeling with surprise.  Salicional got 1st in Senior ewe, then she got got Champion ewe, then she helped me get Best Small Flock, which I never dreamed we'd win, and finally we got Supreme Champion. I would like to thank Stephen Rouse for selling this exceptional ewe to me, I loved her before this show, but now I really love her.  (grin)  So, congrats to Sheltering Pines and to Stephen for making that day such a fun day for me.

This year's MSSBA show was a huge success, due in large to the great exhibitors that made this show so much fun.  I met some new faces and now can attach a face to the names.   The potluck was  smashing success thanks to Briony and her wonderful culinary skills.  Thank you Briony.  Thank you to Lori for working so hard to get this all done on time.  Thank you to the judges for flying across the big pond and working like dogs to help us.  None of what was accomplished this last weekend could have been done without all of you helping.
We are surrounded by great people in this world.  Kudos to all of you.

As soon as I get the official show results, I will post them along with more pictures.

Toodles for now,


That which angers us, controls us.