This is Cedar Pond's Valkyrie [ B083-08 ]. She has 5 distinct and broad horns. Valkyrie is a ewe who , with the exception of her horns, looks very, very much like her mother and her mother's half sister. They both came from Bide-a-wee Jacobs in Oregon.
Here is Cedar Pond's Goth,[ D021-06 ] the father of Valkyrie. He has 4 very large and strong horns and is himself the son of a ewe who had 5 distinct and large horns. Her name is Cedar Pond's Tiara.[ C048-03 ]
Here is a picture of Valkyrie's mother, Bide-a-wee Buttercup [A088-06 ] pictured with last spring's lamb, sibling to Valkyrie. Both Buttercup and her half sister Chicory are the daughters of a ram ( Huntsberger Royal [FF095-03 ]) Karen Lobb and Doug Montgomery purchased from a flock of sheep that have a very interesting history . There is an article in a JSBA newsletter about this flock being rounded up on an island , Butter Island, off the coast of Maine after living there for a few years. They subsisted and thrived solely on what was growing on the island, proving to me that this primitive breed is well suited to living on land that could not adequately feed most modern and "improved" breeds of sheep today. Anyway, I digress, but hope to get back soon to post about this interesting bit of history regarding my favorite breed of sheep, and particularly MY sheep.
Here is Valkyrie at a few months of age.
As you can see, the last two photos show her distinct 5 horns, and the first photo was taken last month showing the horns are broadening and getting longer.As she is not yet 2 years old I think her horns are very large for a ewe and am curious about how the horns will fill her head and possibly fuse as the years go by.I love the diversity of horns, spots, wool type and texture my flock of Jacob Sheep provide. After having Jacob sheep for almost 20 years now I am still not tired of having them and look forward to 20 more years with this remarkable breed of sheep.
