Welcome to Valais at Plumpys Peaceful Pastures

We started our flock in 2021 using registered Scottish Blackface Sheep breed as our foundation sheep to begin our breed - up program.  We have one remaining Scottish Blackface ewe ( Florence ) that we have retired from breeding and she lives on our farm currently as a pet. We continue to give the highest quality care  and attention to all of the sheep on our farm regardless of breed.   They are loved and pampered while on our farm and are considered a part of our family. 

We are currently members of the Indiana Sheep Association (ISA), Valais Blacknose Sheep Society (VBSS), Valais Blacknose Sheep Association of North America (VBSANA) & Valais Blacknose International Sheep Breeders Association & Registry (VBISBAR). While following the Swiss standards for Valais Blacknose Sheep is very important to us, all three registries above, follow them as well. As breeders we remain committed to following the Swiss standards for this breed to respect their country of origin and their heritage.  We remain very active & involved in these groups by communicating on a regular basis with members from the 3 Valais groups above.  By remaining involved with these groups and forming friendships within the groups of United States and International breeders this gives us the knowledge and education we need to constantly strive to give the best care to our sheep. While remaining active in the registries is important we have recently formed Valais Blacknose Flock USA Facebook group. 

Striving to expand our knowledge of this amazing breed we have traveled internationally over the years to broaden our knowledge bringing it back to the US. 

In 2022 we were given the opportunity to visit the UK with other US breeders where we would visit the farm of Jamie Wood, who along with his wife Nicola, own Prendwick Farms, Valais Blacknose Sheep Northumberland. It is here we were greeted with kindness, respect and laughter which ultimately brought friendship from Jamie and his family as we were guided and taught the correct way to wash the Valais Blacknose Sheep. We followed along with Jamie and his family  attending  the Blacknose Beauties in Carlise, England to further our education while meeting other international  breeders of this lovely breed. 

2024 would take us Sweden, including the farm of Marita Tauni DVM, Certified Swiss trained grader & judge.  Marita and her husband Kåre owned and managed a very large flock of Valais Blacknose sheep in Sweden when we visited.  We had the honor of staying at their beloved family farm that was handed down from generations before them.  I had the opportunity to take an educational course at Marita’s farm with other US breeders on the introduction to grading and judging the Valais Blacknose Breed while gaining more hands on experience with the Valais breed. 

In 2025 Rich and I visited Switzerland, including the lovely Canton of Valais where the Valais Blacknose Sheep originate from and still graze the Gornergrat mountains today in the Swiss Alps.  While there we stayed in various locations throughout Switzerland but the areas most known for the Valais Blacknose are Zermatt,  Visperterminen & Visp, where we also had the privilege of visiting. It was in Zermatt that we would meet Paul Julen and his son Marc Paul Julen while staying at the traditional Julen hotel. Paul Julen owns one of the largest flocks of Valais Blacknose Sheep in the area of which he allows the sheep to graze in the Swiss Alps during the summer months. Visitors come from all over the world to visit his flock of sheep. We were honored to visit his flock while there, as well as meet and visit with him and his son. We then made our way to the small village of Visperterminen where we would meet up with the rest of our US group as well as Marita Tauni & Kåre Knudson (her husband), Emma Collison from the UK (another Certified Swiss trained grader and Judge) In addition to  Sue Zimmerman who lives in the small village of Visperterminen and was intrurmental along with Marita & Emma in making sure this event was possible .  It is here we would experience the life of a true  Swiss shepherd as they gathered in their village slaughterhouse to wash their sheep for the upcoming well known ram market called Widdermarkt in Visp.  Our time in this region was spent with 2 course days following and learning from the experts of Oberwalliser Schwarznasen Schafzuchtverband . It was on the 3rd day that I would follow the experts as they graded over 300 Valais Blacknose Rams. I, along with other US breeders received  certification from the experts for the course taken over the 3 day period . 

The Valais Blacknose Breed is a unique breed of sheep and the Swiss highly value these sheep . It is important in our opinion that these sheep be bred , raised and shown to the Swiss standards  as to respect the Swiss for allowing a few of their sheep to be exported from their country to the UK in 2014.   These sheep need to remain unique and we intend to follow the Swiss standards regarding this unique & rare breed.