Let Us Tell You Something "About Us"
Hello, my name is Lone Star Annie. I am a Barbados Blackbelly sheep that was born at Lone Star Farm. Now I live in Minnesota on Nate Teig's farm. My sister Lone Star Agnes moved to Wisconsin to live with June Wilharm and her family. We are hair sheep, not wool sheep, but we adjust to all kinds of climates.
About Us
Our farm started as a hobby for us, a place to relax after living in a busy city. Both
of us are animal lovers, and my husband, Mike, being raised on a dairy farm in
Wisconsin, and I, a retired veterinary technician raised in central Kansas, could
hardly wait to retire and move to our own "Green Acres". Actually, I retired while
Mike was still hard at work in the city.
I love to mow, it's like therapy to me, so I began to mow our five acres, and mow,
and mow, and mow. Soon I was ready to cross-fence and get something that would
eat grass. Sheep, they will do the trick, but what kind? Hmmm? With Mike still
working, it had to be a breed that was easy to care for.
BB sheep need occasional hoof trimming (if you have rocky ground, once or twice a
year will probably do). They are hair sheep so there is no shearing to be done. They
grow wool to keep warm in winter and come spring they shed it off in dreadlocks, or
long ringlets. However, some stock (particularly ewes) will hold onto their wool and
not shed all of it in spring until after they have their first lamb/s. Many of our ewes
have twins, and even triplets the first time, but some first time moms only have a
single. Maybe they're playing their cards close to the vest so they can check it out
before they get too involved. Who knows? BB sheep are such good mothers we
have never had one that didn't go on to have multiple births after that single, so I
wouldn't let that be a concern. BB sheep are also parasite resistant, but put in a
pressure cooker climate like southeast Texas where we can go from drought to
tropical rains, lambs must be de-wormed or you will lose them. Adults are a different
story. They seem to be capable of coping with rugged conditions, parasites, and
climate extremes that are harder on lambs. Through our years of trying to raise the
hardiest and healthiest lambs possible, we have never bottle fed a lamb. We do
have a friend who loves to take them off our hands and bottle feed to her hearts
content, which is fine with us. Bottle fed rams, in our estimation can be a danger if
not handled properly and they are not a problem that we feel should be passed on to
the average sheep buyer. We don't sell rams for pets.
Something we have enjoyed is watching sheep behavior. Jesus often refers to us
as sheep in the bible. We wanted to find out firsthand why He did that. We not only
found out why, we found out that He truly loves His sheep. We've grown in our own
relationships with God through learning to care for them. Caring for them has
given us many rewards including learning to love our fellow man the way God would
have us love one another just by looking at people through His eyes. So our
sheep started out as a hobby that we thought might grow into a business, but
instead grew into a passion. I hope you can find as much enjoyment out of life
as we have in our sheep.
Lone Star Farm | Barbados Blackbelly Sheep
Our farm started as a hobby for us, a place to relax after living in a busy city. Both
of us are animal lovers, and my husband, Mike, being raised on a dairy farm in
Wisconsin, and I, a retired veterinary technician raised in central Kansas, could
hardly wait to retire and move to our own "Green Acres". Actually, I retired while
Mike was still hard at work in the city.
I love to mow, it's like therapy to me, so I began to mow our five acres, and mow,
and mow, and mow. Soon I was ready to cross-fence and get something that would
eat grass. Sheep, they will do the trick, but what kind? Hmmm? With Mike still
working, it had to be a breed that was easy to care for.
BB sheep need occasional hoof trimming (if you have rocky ground, once or twice a
year will probably do). They are hair sheep so there is no shearing to be done. They
grow wool to keep warm in winter and come spring they shed it off in dreadlocks, or
long ringlets. However, some stock (particularly ewes) will hold onto their wool and
not shed all of it in spring until after they have their first lamb/s. Many of our ewes
have twins, and even triplets the first time, but some first time moms only have a
single. Maybe they're playing their cards close to the vest so they can check it out
before they get too involved. Who knows? BB sheep are such good mothers we
have never had one that didn't go on to have multiple births after that single, so I
wouldn't let that be a concern. BB sheep are also parasite resistant, but put in a
pressure cooker climate like southeast Texas where we can go from drought to
tropical rains, lambs must be de-wormed or you will lose them. Adults are a different
story. They seem to be capable of coping with rugged conditions, parasites, and
climate extremes that are harder on lambs. Through our years of trying to raise the
hardiest and healthiest lambs possible, we have never bottle fed a lamb. We do
have a friend who loves to take them off our hands and bottle feed to her hearts
content, which is fine with us. Bottle fed rams, in our estimation can be a danger if
not handled properly and they are not a problem that we feel should be passed on to
the average sheep buyer. We don't sell rams for pets.
Something we have enjoyed is watching sheep behavior. Jesus often refers to us
as sheep in the bible. We wanted to find out firsthand why He did that. We not only
found out why, we found out that He truly loves His sheep. We've grown in our own
relationships with God through learning to care for them. Caring for them has
given us many rewards including learning to love our fellow man the way God would
have us love one another just by looking at people through His eyes. So our
sheep started out as a hobby that we thought might grow into a business, but
instead grew into a passion. I hope you can find as much enjoyment out of life
as we have in our sheep.
Lone Star Farm | Barbados Blackbelly Sheep