Bridget The Ever-Milker

     "Tuffy"; Uber-Milker; "Our Lady of Perpetual Lactation"........

These are a few of the nicknames Bridget earned over the past 10 years with us.

Bridget was born at our Washington place in '03, on St Patrick's day.
She earned the name of our favorite Irish Saint, Bridget, who is patron of dairies and shepherdesses.
Bridget was the first lamb of Venus and Hank--our black ram, and first foray into natural colored dairy sheep.
Venus decided to reject her little black lamb. We raised the darling, black Bridget in the house, in diapers. She enjoyed old Marx brother's movies, the cats, the kitchen, the couch....you name it.  She made the most of her hard beginning!!
Bridget's first lamb was a premie and born dead. Another set-back.
Learning to get on the milk-stand was a trauma as Bridget seemed inclined to slip off....but she perserveared (and so did we) as she was an excellent milker.


Soon, the first commercial sheep dairy in Washington state, Black Sheep Creamery, was started by our friends, Meg and Brad Gregory. A jaunty drawing of Bridget became their logo. 
Bridget's next lambs were a set of 3 black  beauties.

The next year's lambing, she endured a bad bout with ketosis requiring 2 vet visits and expert lamb pulling. Triplets again. But.....as the vet said.... "she's a Tuffy".
Another set of lambs the following year and her abundant udder lost its ligature pinning and became pendulous. We decided against breeding her again.
This is when her career as "uber-milker" began.
We tried in vain to dry her off that fall. She kept making milk--enough that we could not ignore it.
Next spring she upped her production to match the ewes who had lambed. Amazing! Rob says, "Her "on switch" just got stuck!"

For the following 6 years she continued to lactate whether we wanted her to or not.
We became accustomed to, and grateful for her fresh creamy milk in the winters, when all else were dry.
We thought, surely moving her to Montana would "shut off the switch". But no.
As the oldest sheep we moved, we worried about her making climate transition and the trip. She did go down in the trailer part way here. We were unsure whether she'd make it.
But "Tuffy Bridget" sprang up and out of the trailer as soon as the door opened. She endured the first Montana winter in the drafty rented cow barn and came into glorious milk on the lush green grass here over the past 2 summers.
But, this fall Bridget lost condition rapidly in spite of our various attempts to keep her well. We knew she should not face another winter.
So did she. Two days ago she stopped eating, and the fight was gone from her eyes. It was time for her to leave us.
We will certainly miss her fresh winter milk. And her silvery fleeces. And her "flock-boss" presence in the barn.
Over 10 years of life, and 7 of it in continuous milk production, Bridget gave us 100's of pounds of milk and cheese and dozens of lbs of lovely wool.
It is fitting that the likeness of this "Ever Milker Ewe", who gave so very much to us, should grace countless sheep milk products from Black Sheep Creamery.
Rest in Peace Bridget