Donna, our gorgeous light mioget Shetland ewe, died today. She was born April 27, 2010 to the combination of our best mioget (golden brown) sheep, Bitterroot Ansel (AKA Jocko) and Bing Bang Wink. Here she is just after birth. I named her Tinkerbell and her sister was Pixiedust.
Here she is in front of her sister in June. You can see how much her color is changing.
She and her sister went to go live with our sheepy friends John and Tina. They renamed her Donna, after me. Her sister was named Vanessa after our dog.
Then in 2018, I got them back as they were downsizing. Here she is coming back to us.
Here she is being sheared the following spring.
I just love her wool. Even at 9 years old she had lovely structure, color and crimp.
Here she is in 2020.
And in 2021.
Here she is with her darker brown sister after shearing this spring.
I am not sure what happened with her. She just started separating herself from the flock but was walking well and in good condition. Her color was good, her lungs sounded clear, and she wasn’t bloated. She wasn’t chilled and hadn’t had diarrhea either. I had given her an antibiotic injection in case it was pneumonia that I couldn’t hear, but she passed away regardless. She was a nice sheep with gorgeous wool. Her last fleece I will now keep for myself as a tribute. I will wash, card and spin it then decided what it wants to be. I will miss her.
Oh, Donna! I’m so sorry your dear sheepie Donna died! That’s so tough, having to lose a dear, sweet animal. I loved seeing her pictures. Her fleece was beautiful! I hope you can post pictures of her fleece as you work with it.
Thanks Jeanne! It will probably be a while before I do much with her fleece except wash it.
She was a pretty sheep. That brown is a really unique color.
It was a unique and gorgeous color. I will preserve the last of it in some form. Her last gift.
It’s bad enough when they are clearly declining; this sounds like much more of a shock. I’m so sorry.
It was more of a shock. She wasn’t one of the ones I had been worrying about.
Lucky sheep. It got to come back home for the balance of its life.
Thanks Dad.
So sorry, Donna. It’s really hard, not knowing what went wrong. I’m glad you still have her last fleece.
It is. I wish I could have figured out how to help her. But I do have her wool. Less farm sales but a comfort for me. I also saved Diddley’s.