The Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival was the reason for this trip. I spent the first day and a half in Maryland sightseeing and hiking (see previous two posts). The Festival was on Saturday and Sunday. I think I have enough photos here for a dozen posts, but I'll try to limit myself to just a few. This post is devoted to the sheep. One of the cool things about this show is that there are examples of several rare sheep that may not be entered but are on display.             Scottish Blackface.                  Lincoln Longwool.            Kerry Hill.        Leicester Longwool.                Tunis.

           Herdwick.

            Hog Island.            Clun Forest.              Shropshire.              Border Leicester.                And of course, Jacob. This is not my ram. This one had never been shorn.               My sheep were shorn in February which put them at a disadvantage at this show.            This is Jolene and Saffron waiting for the show.            Andy, who drove the sheep filled trailer out here, offered to show one of the ewes.                                                   He is an experienced showman, but I'll bet this is the first Jacob he has shown.

                                                  My sheep place in the middle. The ram, Serrano, placed 4th out of 7 or 8. Jolene was 3rd and Saffron was 7th in a class of about 10.                     I hung around the Fine Natural Colored Wool show in case Andy needed help. This is one of Terri M's fleeces. Color like a Jacob, but much finer.                 Look who was also on display. Making their debut, these are 50% Valais Black Nose sheep, the first generation in a breed-up program with the goal of producing almost 100% purebred sheep.

           Elegant and cute at the same time!                  Seen in the parking lot!

More from the festival in the next post.