Tilly! Tilly came to me with her 3rd cria at her side, and so she doesn't look quite as glamorous as she did when she was younger. Still, Tilly is an outstanding dam, and an ideal foundation female. She births easily and her cria so far are robust and gorgeous. Her 2013 cria was born in September, and Tilly raised her through the harshest winter New Hampshire has seen in a couple of decades. By spring, that cria was not only solid and robust, but downright chubby, and Tilly herself still in excellent condition for a late lactation female. Now THAT is a dam! Tilly herself is compact, with balanced proportions. She is confident and quiet, though a bit on the shy side. Tilly is a truly true black, with not the slightest hint of UV fading. Her first cria, by a grey sire, was a silver grey. Her two daughters, both sired by Edgewood's Nitro Gold, are both true black. Her 2012 daughter, Dobie, is a "black and tan," with a solid true black blanket and very faintly brown underbelly. Her 2013 cria is a truly true, non-fading, "don't make 'em any blacker" black, and is developing into a really eye-catching little girl. While Tilly has sacrificed her staple length during her career as a dam, she has not grown hairy. Her 2014 (sixth) shearing yielded a surprisingly fine fiber for her age and color, with an AFD of 23.7 and an SD of 4.9. Not too bad for a third-lactation black dam!

Nomad! What wonderful luck that I stumbled across this guy. I found him because I was interested in his best friend for life, Alpine's Catoctin. He looked great, though, and his pedigree was pretty cool, and he was very bonded to Catoctin, so I took a chance and brought him here as well. Oh, what a great decision that was! Nomad has quickly become a farm favorite here, and has become one of my top males in breeding rotation. He has so many things that I was looking for in a grey male. Pedigree-wise, Nomad boasts a tidy stack of "impact" greys -- minus Inca Legend, making him an excellent outcross for that line -- with Orlando Cloud his grandsire, and Lanark's Silver Charm and Danko his great-grandsires. His sire, Rainer's Exodus, is an under-used male who counts multiple-champion Alpine's Carderock among his 24 (mostly grey) registered offspring. Also among these are two of Nomad's full siblings -- Alpine's Calais Cloud, a 16.6-AFD / 3.9-SD blue ribbon winner, and Alpine's Volt, an absolutely stunning male, likewise with multiple blues. Volt was, in fact, a male that I had strongly considered buying. I am so glad I waited, because his full brother Nomad has everything that Volt has -- and then some. Nomad is ideal in size and stature. He is perfectly compact -- the exact size we are breeding for -- with excellent substance of bone. He is very square and arrow-straight, with a level topline. His neck displays the beautiful, graceful curvature that seems strongly associated with the Orlando Cloud line; his head, likewise, is a beautiful example of Orlando "type." Nomad's fiber coverage is massive, with perfect, thick, "bell-bottom" legs. Then, there is his fleece. Nomad offers a grey fleece that is not only outstanding, but compliments our herd beautifully in what it has to offer. For one thing, he is dense ... Really, really dense. He has an outstanding staple length -- 4.5" at his 3rd shearing -- and a superb, tight, high-frequency crimp. He has very good fineness and uniformity as well, with a 19.4 AFD and 4.3 SD on his first shearing. He has not had a histogram run since, but his current fleece still looks to be in the low 20's. All of these traits should be an excellent compliment to many of our dams. Last but not least, though, is the real reason that Nomad has so quickly become a favorite: his personality. This is the sweetest, friendliest, gentlest male we have ever encountered. He loves neck rubs and attention, yet allows himself to be haltered and led like a gentleman. His disposition -- like so much else about him -- is truly ideal. After a couple of confused days, Nomad has enthusiastically begun his breeding career. I am confident that this male will have a tremendous impact on our herd. Well, Nomad didn't wind up getting much work in 2017 -- until now. His first cria was just born on our farm, and OH MY GOODNESS she is better than I ever imagined.