I was born and raised in Switzerland on goats' milk, goat cheese and lots of vegetables. In the early 1960's I immigrated to the United States, met my husband, and we raised three children.

In 1978 we moved to the Silicon Valley and I enjoyed a successful real estate career. In 2002 we moved to Grass Valley, California to follow my dream of raising animals. We purchased a 32-acre ranch, and I purchased several Shetland Sheep, but soon realized that they were hard to handle and needed shearing.

We did a lot of research, and then decided on the Katahdin Sheep. We purchased a pregnant ewe and a wether lamb to keep her company. After she delivered twins, we processed one for our freezer, and the meat was delicious. From that day we fell in love with the breed. Katahdins have a sweet and friendly personality, they require no shearing, they're easy lambing, excellent mothers and are parasite tolerant.

We wanted to expand our bloodlines, and purchased 30 ewes and six rams from the top breeders all over the US. In the spring of 2006 we lambed 50 lambs from four different bloodlines. Today we maintain five different bloodlines of Katahdins, and all of our sheep are bred for RR and QR disease resistance. The ranch participates in the Volunteer Scrapies program. All of our sheep and goats are free of OPP, CAE & CL. We now have a closed herd.

We thoroughly enjoy our Nubian Goats and Friesian Dairy Sheep for their delicious milk. As of this writing, Ruth is milking 10 goats, 8 sheep and one Jersey Cow. All of this variety of milk has made Ruth into quite the cheesemaker!

We also enjoy our Boer Goats as "brushers", our Lowline Cattle to do clean-up duty, and our American Guinea Hogs love the whey.

Come visit us at the ranch. We can supply you with top quality healthy animals to expand your flock or herd or create a starter package for you.

-Ruth Bleau