Holland Hilltop Sheep

09/03/2026

The sheep got out just before sunrise in this heat to graze.

08/29/2026

Pegasus is a wonderful FP generation RAM. Unfortunately, his days is a ram will be short if he does not find his own home. I’m happy to keep him here. He has a wonderful personality. Calm loves to eat from your hand even allows a chin scratch. He’s just the right amount of friendly. Able to be handled doesn’t need to be all up in your business every minute if you’re still looking for a ram contact me.

08/28/2026

SHEEP SELFIES!!!

08/27/2026

I worked on breeding pairings today. I can announce we will be breeding ewes for the following generation births.
AP 5, B 5, A 1, FP 2, F2 3 F1BD 6. As you can see we will have lambs across the full Harlequin Generation spectrum. This is not a lamb number, this is a pairing for exposure. There are no ewe lambs in my herd this year and only 3 1st time mommas.

I will start taking reservations at the 1st of October. Watch here for the announcement of that.

I will also be donating 1 or 2 wethers to a 4H or FFA student who want to show Harlequin Sheep in an effort to promote the breed. I will be taking applications for that in October as well. The animals will be free to the student, but will require pick up here. More to come.

Breeding season approaches….

08/25/2026

Herd management is a year round venture. While the boys say it’s breeding season and are closely watching the girls, begging for me to open the gate, we aren’t there yet. But that doesn’t mean there is nothing to do to prepare for a successful breeding season.

I am a proponent of flushing, increasing nutrition for 3-4 weeks prior to breeding. This tells the body, it’s a great year, we have lots of resources, we can reproduce lots of lambs. Last year I had 25 lambs from 15 ewes, 1.67 lambs per delivery, including the 1st set of quads in the Harlequin registry. Several of those ewes were ewe lambs. Getting your sheep ready to breed nutritionally is just part of the equation.

I will be completing crutching, hooves and a full herd health exam of every sheep just before I turn in the rams. This includes the rams. Rams will also get breeding marking harnesses this year, something I did not do last year.

Finally in the next month breeding pairings will be completed. Watching for close relationships, traits desired, generations, among other things all come into play.

Breeding may be a month away, but there is a lot of work to be done before then.

08/18/2026

Well I only thought my herd was complete. Today I made the drive to Arkansas, Black Sparrow Ranch, to pick up Skye and Star the second. A Generation twins and 1/2 sisters to my boy Rocket. Great spotting and blue eyes. It took a lot to pry the wallet back open, but these 2 beauties were definitely worth it.

08/12/2026

I never thought I’d be mowing pasture in August because the grass is to tall, thick and green. The sheep won’t go into it because they can’t see there, so they are only eating in small areas.

08/11/2026

08/09/2026

I thought my herd was set. Then Black Sparrow decided to sell some young experienced ewes. I was very picky and have decided to add 2 Gen A twin ewes, 2 years old, to bring more blue eyes to the herd. These girls are 1/2 siblings to Rocket, my ram. If they are 1/2 his quality and temperament they will be excellent. I have no doubt they are.

These girls will breed to Memphis my blue eyed Gen A ram. I see spots and blue eyes on the horizon.

This puts me at the size herd I hoped to get to, 22 ewes, 3 rams.

Star will get renamed and called Storm here since I already have a Star.