Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Sheep shearing. Done!
This morning at 10:30, the shearers came. I had the sheep all ready to go. They got all set up and grabbed a sheep.
It was Cara. She did so good too. Her wool is really nice.
She went back in with the other sheep. All was fine.
Then Campbelle left. When she came back in, Cara thought she looked a little different, so she started head butting her. A lot. It was kind of funny that Cara thought Campbelle looked different when she did too. But she didn't know that.
The alpacas hung out with the goats during shearing. They'd check in with them from time to time, just to make sure their girls were ok. When the guys would go in to grab another sheep, there would be a little ruckus and the boys would come running over to make sure no one got hurt. They are such good boys. They love their girls.
This was Darla. Her front hooves were really bad. We had to use Koppertox on them. Poor girl.
Now 3 nekked sheep!
Here's Annabelle. She did so good. Just laid there and let them shear off all her wool. Good girl.
This is Adalaide. Her wool had always been really tight and crimpy. Well, it was all matted and I just threw most of it away. It wasn't usable at all. There was a little bit that could be used. But look at her after being sheared. She's so pretty.
7 down, 1 to go. The little black sheep, Cameron. She might not look black, but she is.
Just look at this. I have got to get coats for these guys. Especially her. Her wool would be totally black with a coat.
All done and back out with the boys. They had to sniff them all to make sure they were their girls. Just in case.
All is well!
8 nekked sheep, grazing on the green hill. Happy sheep! They might not think it at the time, but I do believe they like being sheared. And they are all in good health. Did not need to be wormed at all. All had very pink eyelids. I really think constantly moving them from place to place has kept the parasites at bay.
And here are the full bags of wool. That little white bag is Adalaide's. The rest are very full. I am happy with it. Now, to skirt it and then I'll think about sending all this to a mill to be made into roving. Because I still have a lot of last year's wool!
And it just took 5 hours this time!! Matt is getting better. Last year, it took him 8 hours to shear 6 sheep, then had to come back to do the other 6 sheep and it took about that long again. So 8 sheep in 5 hours. And while shearing Darla, he had to stop at least 20 times to change the blade out. She has SO much lanolin. So she took about 45 minutes. And only 1 little tiny nick. Little bitty tiny one. So he has greatly improved.
I'm a new spinner, about six weeks, so this does fascinate me. I spun some raw wool about three weeks ago. It felt a bit different from the roving that I was used too; however, I enjoyed it immensely. Your sheep look so much cooler now and they are adorable!
ReplyDeleteI love spinning! I have Finn sheep and some crosses. Plus the alpacas. They get sheared April 15th. I'm so glad you enjoy spinning! It's so fun. I just learned a few years ago. I do think the sheep like all that heavy wool off of them. And this was 2 months earlier than last year. Almost the end of May when they finally got sheared.
ReplyDeleteWow, that's a lot of sheep wool. Nice job!
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