Shepherdwoods Farm Flett Shetlands
It has been a long road to get to this point, but we now seem to have a really nice small flock of Flett Shetland Ewes that we are keeping and breeding with the Flett Manson straws that were obtained from Kathy Baker back in 2005.
At present the Flock includes -
Sheltering Pines Hazel S11485, DOB 3/01. Musket with a dark brown face. Very friendly. 25% Flett
Sheltering Pines Wilhelmina S26015, DOB 3/06. Black ewe Friendly.
Shepherdwds Mousa S22203, DOB 3/06. Dark Moorit out of Stone Haven Ian and Cherry Rose Sunny. 30% Flett
Shepherdwds Flotta S25828, DOB 3/07, Moorit with Mioget background. Out of Shepherdwds Fiona and Flett Manson. 50% Flett
Shepherdwds Bunny S30177, DOB 4/09. Musket, out of Sheltering Pines Lena and Underhill Cirrus. 12% Flett
Shepherdwds Sophie S30178, DOB 4/24/09 Black out of Sheltrg Pines Wilhelmina and Underhill Jonathan Swift 3% Flett.
In 2010 Perie Bard had, Eina, a black ewe lamb out of Shepherdwds Sammy that we will be keeping.
Some info about our Partial Flett Ewes
Three of our partial Flett ewes were AI -ed to Flett Manson in 2010 at the AI session at Hidden Valley Farm and Fiber Mill, Valders, WI, on Saturday, October 30th. The resulting lambs will will range from 60- 80% Flett.
We downsized the Flock in 2009 to consentrate on the Flett Bloodline.
If you are interested in AI-ing your registered Shetland ewes with the Flett Genetics contact us for information about this AI session.
Picture - Jean Flett and Chris Greene discussing wool (what else) outside Flett house 2004.
History of the Flett Shetlands
In July1948, George A. Flett of Fort Qu’Appelle, Saskatchewan, Canada imported three moorit ewes and one moorit ram from Shetland by way of the Orkney’s with the help of G. E. Anderson, a livestock agent in Lerwick, Shetland and a family friend John T. Flett in Orkney. They sailed on the SS Laurentia to Montreal, Quebec, Canada and then were moved by train to Fort Qu’Appelle where George and his son Peter went to pick them up.
Peter and his wife Jean took over the farm after Peter’s parents retired and Jean took over the raising of the Shetland sheep. She would keep a ram that showed the best characteristics and breed him to the flock till he got too old then she would pick another ram. The flock remained closed, until 1991 when Jean was able to buy a moorit Dailley Shetland ram from Doreen McLean in Alberta, Canada. In pedigrees this ram is known as Dailley Flett.
It took Jean some time to convince the Rare Breeds Trust and NASSA that her flock was indeed pure Shetland sheep as the Dailley importation was so well known and her flock was not. With the help of many people like Dr. Stanley Bowie, Ingrid Painter, Dr. Roy Crawford, Lawrence Alderson and Dr. Phil Sponenberg, Jean’s flock was finally registered in the North American Shetland Sheep Association.
Some concerns were raised about the 50 years of inbreeding of the flock but it was noted by Lawrence Alderson that inbreeding does not cause defects or deformities it simply concentrates the characteristics of the founder animals. It was also concluded by Dr. Phil Sponenberg that inbreeding of the Flett Shetlands did not pose any danger to the rest of the Shetland population rather "these inbred groups of animals are of great use in animal breeding, since there is great confidence that there are no hidden weaknesses. The inbreeding would have detected any weakness, and they are simply not there."
This is the way it went until the year 2002 when Jean sold the last remaining ewes and rams to Kathy Baker, Nier Lakes Shetlands, in Crossfield, Alberta, Canada. Kathy already had a flock of Shetland sheep. The ewes she got from Jean, a lot of them were already bred. The first lambs didn’t do so well because the ewes from Jean were in poor condition. But, Kathy had a “bumper crop” of lambs in 2004 that I saw Summer 2004 and they are doing quite well. She changed her breeding program so that the Flett rams were bred to her Dailley ewes and not the Flett ewes.
Added Note - The ram that the semen importation came from was LHE Flett Manson, NASSA #14420, born 5/13/02. He is 100% Flett.
Pictures - Left - Flett Family Home, added on to through many years. Right - Flett farm buildings - gray barn is where the sheep were housed.
