The Riesbergs: New Lambs!!!

Thursday as we were traveling back to the frozen tundra, we got a call telling us that our sheep had had twins. But too our surprise by the time we actually got home we had a set of triplets. And I must say an odd combination of triplets. We have one white lamb, one mixed white and black and one all black lamb. CRAZY if you ask me. And to be honest, I've never seen a Black Montadale. Yes I've seen black sheep but not a Montadale, which is a certain type of breed.

Wikipedia says:

Montadale is the name of a breed of domestic sheep developed in the 1930s by E. H. Mattingly. Mattingly was a Midwestern commercial lamb buyer who had a dream of developing the ideal sheep. He had been told that the best start to that goal would be to bring together the best characteristics of Midwestern mutton-type sheep and the big Western range sheep. The Montadale is considered a dual-purpose breed, raised for both wool and meat.^[1]

Mattingly selected the Cheviot and Columbia breeds as the basis for his project. The Cheviot is a small, hardy sheep developed in Scotland. It is known for its style, correctness, and muscling. The Columbia was developed in Wyoming and Idaho in the early 1900s. It is a large, big bodied sheep with heavy, good quality fleeces.

The first cross of Columbia rams on Cheviot ewes proved to Mattingly that his project was on track. However, he also tried breeding Cheviot rams to Columbia ewes. This cross was even more successful, and was chosen as the foundation for the new breed.

For 9 years, the first Montadales were selected and linebred to develop uniformity in breed characteristics and type. Then, the sheep were exhibited in competitions across the country. The breed quickly attracted the attention of progressive sheep producers. The growth and progress of the breed has been remarkably rapid ever since