Wednesday, November 19, 2008

This one’s for you Danny Boy

Our brother-in-law Daniel, whom we love dearly, had but one special request of us while we tour the wonderful land of New Zealand.

“Touch a Merino Sheep!”

Well Daniel, not only did we touch a Merino Sheep on our brief visit to the South Island, but we talked to it, fed it, got to know it’s owners, and…took plenty of pictures.

Beau here is a 2-year old de-horned ram whom the owner is keeping as a pet while grooming him for a wool competition. The rest of the 2,000-head flock is up on a nearby mountain.

This sheep’s fleece makes some of the highest quality wool in the world- worth a fine sum!

It’s a known fact that sheep occupy most NZ’s land. However, these curly-horned rugged sheep live only on the highest, driest mountains mainly on the South Island. Lowell discovered “Isolation Merino” farm online and randomly contacted them. Their business wasn’t open during the hours that we’d be passing through, but Sally & Rob invited us to their home/farm as their guests—out of the goodness of their fine Kiwi hearts. And because of them, dear Daniel, your wish has come true!

7 comments :

Mama Bear said...

ha! great post julie! I love sheep...although they are weird looking and smell. I still love 'em!

Anonymous said...

Sweet:) That sheep is super bushy. Good to see that you guys are enjoying yourselves in NZ! (btw. I think its mErino:)

Anonymous said...

Hey Julie and Lowell that is great! just great I love how thick the fleece I would love to run my fingers through it maybe someday. I strongly suggest that you buy a piece of marino while in NZ I mean how can you not.

Anonymous said...

My goal in life is to one day own a merino sheep, a cashmere goat, and an angorra bunny. Or at least something furry that I can make yarn out of and knit. National Geographic has a fantastic picture of a merino sheep that got sheered on only one half - it's a great visual on how thick their wool is. However - when they were trying to take the picture - the sheep kept falling to the wool side cause the sheering made them lose their balance. Funny eh?

P.S. My word verification starts off with... implu... which is almost the beginning of the word impulse. And I agree with Dan - you should impulsively buy merino. As yarn and knit socks out of it, or as fleece and then you could spin it and then knit socks out of it!

m+K said...

Holy Hairy Sheep Batman!!!!

ps word verification boterb

Anonymous said...

blyme, that's a thick coat

word verification: blyme

Bloggy Mama said...

That's a beautiful sheep!!