Valais at Plumpys Peaceful Pastures

05/31/2026

05/29/2026

SHARING FOR

05/29/2026

SHARING ……… for

05/28/2026

I have a question for anyone who raises sheep or has in the past ?

We recently lost our most dominant ewe in the flock ! She was the leader of the pack as they say !
She always led the flock out to the pastures and back in to the barns when SHE was ready ( they all followed her ) Whenever she marched out ( and believe me her strut was like a heavy march ) 😂 they followed . She was here before any of the other sheep on the farm. She was the oldest , the matriarch! They all have learned to follow her as they all came after her!

Since she has been gone ( one week ago today ) they have all layed around in the barn almost the entire day and evening ! They only go outside when I put grain out for them in the morning or if I lead them out !
We lead them out to the pastures but they are very reluctant to come out ! Finally they do and graze for a very short time and if we leave and go back in the house they make their way back to the barn and go inside again and stand around and then lay back down . They truly seem lost , like they do not know what to do !

Has anyone else had this happen before with their flock if they lost the leader?

Any ideas on how to help them find their new leader or how to get the out grazing again by themselves where it doesn’t require us to lead them out and stay with them !

I have never seen this before 🤔

Please share your ideas and opinions ?

Pictured below was Florence ( the leader of our flock )

05/24/2026

05/24/2026

We still see the foxes almost daily. This is a kit.

They make their rounds around our property, house and barns. We watch our lambs very closely in the spring keeping them in the barn until they get a bit larger and keeping the them near the barn until they are older . This little kit just sat there as I talked to him and ask him where his momma was ? LOL

They trot right past us many times within 50 ft, this one had trotted past us and by the time I got the camera ready he was around the other side of the house. The other day as we sat on the screen porch we saw either the mom or dad with a prey hanging from its mouth as it came within 5 feet of the screen porch where we were sitting. We didn’t scare it , it just looked around and then trotted away.

They make almost the same pathway around our property multiple times a day. Oftentimes just ignoring the sheep , although the sheep are all usually staring at the foxes , watching their every move.

05/23/2026

What a LOOKER……. LOL

A few weeks ago we trimmed a section of the inside of one of our Valais Blacknose ram’s horn because they are growing too close to his head. Today we did the other horn. I used a new rotary tool that someone recommended to me called a dremmel . It worked great but it doesn’t go very deep so I still had to use the hacksaw to get deeper to saw the section off. The hacksaw is very very difficult and it’s like using a butter knife to cut leather . Exhausting, but both horns have now been trimmed on the inside. I can’t say he has a lot of room in there but at least it’s better than it was . We will continue to monitor his horns and take further measures if necessary .

The cover is for his eyes as they recommended to avoid any dust . I also put a soft cloth in his ear where I was sawing to help soften the sound a bit. He is such a sweet boy .

05/21/2026

RIP Miss Florence !

Florence was one of our Scottish Blackface foundation ewes that we purchased in 2021 at the age of 3 months old to start our breed -up program !
She was the only Scottish Blackface still on our farm !

2024 Dec small tumor noted on Florence’s lower gum ! Size of quarter in diameter , bone involvement noted on X-rays poss osteosarcoma diagnosis .
Vet recommended no removal or biopsy for fear of aggressive spreading and she was pregnant with a purebred Valais Blacknose embryo ! So we waited and held our breath while giving high doses of Vit D !
Something was better than nothing !

2025 March the tumor had grown to the size of a large apple !
It ripped off accidentally on the stand when I sheared her , it started shrinking and she had her lamb ( we named the lamb Miracle ) , the tumor necrosed completely and fell off after that . She remained tumor free the entire year 2025!

2026 March the tumor was back again , now the size of a nickel.

2026 April 27th we took her to another vet for second opinion and we were told the same thing !
The tumor was inoperable and would return again !
The only treatment would have been a lower mandible resection !
We were given opinions to try some conservative treatments and we did

2026 May 9th Rich and I are taking pictures with Florence and the tumor has grown significantly ( almost doubled in size )

2026 May 21st the tumor has now almost doubled in size again !
We euthanized Florence today as we have seen how fast this tumor grew in the past and when it reached the apple size her eating became impaired ! It was a miracle last year that it ripped off and didn’t grow back so she could care for her baby lamb !

But we knew we needed to euthanize her before it grew to that stage again !

Florence had a very peaceful morning !
She had a great breakfast eating her grain without anyone bothering her !
She grazed outside in the sun until the vet called and said they were on their way !
I walked her to the stand and gave her a lot of cookies , scratches , massages and hugs !
Then we walked her across the yard to our trailer !
The vet gave her a sedative and she walked onto the trailer very calmly !
She enjoyed a lot more cookies and scratches and then slowly became relaxed and layed down !
We comforted her and then the vet euthanized her on our trailer outside in the sunshine !
We drove Florence to a crematorium after this !

Florence is at peace and will not have to suffer the tumor getting large enough to impair her eating or have any pain !

RIP Florence we will miss you !

05/21/2026

DID YOU MISS THE WEBINAR ?

Do you want to learn more on how to properly prepare your fleece for judging ?

Do you want to learn more about wool ?

Would you like to learn from the two top leading experts in the USA wool industry ?

Dr. Travis Hoffman Ph.D & Heather Pearce

IF you said YES to the questions above then check out the webinar below :

sponsored and hosted by :

Kelly Weddle (Valais at Plumpys Peaceful Pastures ) Valais Blacknose Flock USA
Anne Davis ( Davis Family Livestock )

This webinar recording can also be found under the featured tab located in the group :

Valais Blacknose Flock USA