Shetland Sheep

We feel very fortunate here at Willow Ridge Farm to be raising one of the most perfect breeds of sheep, the Shetland Sheep. Every year our flock continues to grow producing more and more color choices. We started with 5 ewes and a ram which has doubled many times over through the years.

Shetland Sheep are one of the smallest and hardiest breeds of sheep originating from the Shetland Islands, with rams weighing between 90 to 125 pounds and ewes 75 to 100 pounds. Shetland's legendary wool is known as one of the finest and softest with an average micron count of 23. This makes the perfect fleece for handspinners to create a soft luxurious yarn, perfect for all types of special projects. From the versatile wool of the Shetlands you can create anything from baby soft yarn to a more durable yarn to be used for such things as sweaters and socks.

Shetland Sheep come in the widest range of colors of any other breed of sheep with eleven main colors and over thirty different patterns and markings. Colored Shetlands are becoming harder to find due to selective breeding for white fleeces which are easier to dye a particular color. A Shetland fleece weighs about 2 to 5 pounds with an average staple length of 5 inches.

Here at Willow Ridge Farm we breed for a wide range of colors, with white being last on our list. We do not use commercial dyes on our wool; most of our products are the same color that came off the sheep. Any article that is of a different color has been processed using only natural products, so the color will seem muted and softer than those of chemical based dyes. We feel that Shetlands provide us with so many beautiful choices it seems wrong to cover it with another color.

Goats
	We are entertained daily by our herd of Nubian goats, anyone who has shared their life with a goat knows how both loving and frustrating they can be.  There is no fence tall enough or hole small enough, if they are looking to explore what  is beyond the fence row. We can't imagine how boring our lives would be without them though....
We hand milk 10-12 of our "girls" twice a day providing us with wonderful creamy rich milk that is used in all of our goats milk products. For years people have sworn by goats milk to help with dry and flaky skin. After xperimenting with numerous recipes we came up with our own recipe for a line of goats milk products.  We  think once you try them you will agree that goats milk is a wonderful and natural way to help with problem dry skin.