In the spring of 2009 we made a multipurpose trip to Virginia.  We had a great family vacation at Williamsburg where we visited Colonial Williamsburg and Historic Jamestown, to name a few.  Colonial Williamsburg was responsible for reintroducing the Leicester Longwools back to the US, so it was fun to see their sheep and talk to Elaine Shirley, the director of the rare breed animals programs there.  Living here in MN the selection of local Leicester Longwools is quite limited.  In fact, most of the breeders I talked to had some of the same bloodlines I already had in my flock, and availability of ewes or ewe lambs was very slim.  Before our trip I searched for breeders who would be in the vicinity of Williamsburg and who might have a combination of ewes and rams available.  The only farm that I was able to find that had the animals and availability at that time of year to supply me with both a few ewes and a ram was The Old Gjerpen Farm.  Richard and Donna Larson were great to work with and were good to point out some things to look for when purchasing sheep, especially considering I am still relatively new.  I was ultimately able to purchase 2 pregnant ewes and 1 ram from their flock.  If you are looking for a starter flock, I would highly recommend talking to Richard and Donna as they have many beautiful sheep and have been great to work with, not to mention they have a highly successful breeding program as evidenced by all the awards they have won the last several years.

To eventually add some color to my flock I went with one of their flock rams, Oscar.  Oscar was the Reserve Champion Colored Longwool Ram & Best Fleece in Show at the 2008 Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.  This gave me confidence in the quality of his fleece and conformation, and he is unrelated to the ewes in my flock.  I ended up having one lamb born here at the farm out of Oscar (one of the pregnant ewes I purchased from the Lars ons had been bred to Oscar) and am excited to have more next spring.  The ewe lamb out of Oscar is by far the prettiest on our place and I am hoping that is a sign of things to come.  To verify the quality of his fleece here in MN, I entered his spring fleece in a wool festival here in MN.  As you would expect, his fleece was judged best in his category.  I expect great things from his offspring in the years to come.