OR
NAIS NONAIS
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In the summer of 2005 on the day before Hurricane Rita visited the Louisiana Gulf Coast, the buildings and land that were to become Telemark Farm were purchased outside Church Point, Louisiana. Below are pictures of the land that was to become the pastures of the farm (Click to enlarge):
Buildings
Side pasture
Back Pastures
In an effort to move our fibre arts efforts to the next level, we have created Telemark Farm. Telemark Farm now has a small flock of Gulf Coast Native Sheep. These sheep are direct descendants of sheep brought to the new world by Spanish and French explorers in the 16th Century. The explorers either died or moved to other areas, leaving the sheep to fend for themselves along the Gulf Coast in what is now Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. These feral sheep evolved into a rugged self sufficient breed that sported both horned males and females. Along with the horns strong resistances to both huff rot and internal parasites appeared in the genetic code of this breed of sheep. Understandably this breed of sheep has developed the ability to flourish in the warm and humid climate of the Gulf Coast. It was not until the early 20th century that these sheep began to be re-domesticated on farms along the Gulf Coast. Telemark Farm's sheep are registered with the Gulf Coast Sheep Breeder's Association (GCSBA) and are part of an effort to keep bloodlines of Gulf Coast Sheep pure and therefore will not be crossbred with any sheep other than GCSBA registered sheep.
Being isolated for so long this breed is as close to its 16th century ancestors as nature's natural selection will allow. GC sheep evolved naturally and untampered by any human efforts to improve or alter the breed. This fact makes GC sheep as close to a medieval period breed of sheep as could be successfully raised in the Gulf Coast area.
Below are pictures of our sheep (Click to enlarge.):
"EVE"
born 2002
"GA"
born 2004
"Angel" born summer 2005
"Frost born Winter 2007
"Snowball" born Winter 2007
I have added a link to the Gulf Coast Sheep Breeder's Association (GCSBA) newsletter archive. There are over 170 jpeg thumbnails of pages from the past newsletters. Hope you enjoy.