Flock History

Our love for Suffolk sheep began in the late 70’s when we purchased our first ewes while living in north central Iowa. At the time, we were fortunate to live near the Wayne Skartvedt family who helped us get started with several Suffolk ewes along with lots of technical assistance. Our experience and our flock size grew over the next few years, with most of our lamb crop sold as club lambs. When we left Iowa for New York in 1982, we found it necessary to sell our flock.

Twenty years later after living on both coasts, we settled on a small farm in the north woods of New Hampshire. Our thoughts again turned to Suffolks when our daughter, Alison, started in 4-H. Her first sheep project began with a single bred Suffolk ewe in 1999.

Over the next four years, we began to slowly purchase more breeding stock and build the foundation of the Angel’s Nest flock.

In 2000, we began to concentrate on scrapie resistant sheep. Angel’s Nest Farm was the third flock in New Hampshire to register with the federal scrapie program. At the same time, we began to focus on genotyping for scrapie resistance. With the consistent use of RR rams, all of our lamb crop and replacement stock are either QR or RR.

Special thanks to Jay and Barb Mariacher who continue to help us immeasureably both in and out of the show ring.