Shearing day dawned Sunny and 30 degrees, pretty promising day with a high of 60 degrees anticipated. The sheep gathered easily in their assigned spots, not quite sure what the fuss was about. Some of the transformations were astounding, and it is always amazing to try to recognize your favorite sheep once they have been sheared.
Before
After
The Shearing went well, and my very experienced Basque Shearer Greg eliminated any fears of shearing pregnant ewes. He was very gentle with them, and some of them seemed to enjoy their beauty treatments, while others made it quite difficult by refusing to hold still. Greg tells me that Jacob sheep are about the only sheep that don't seem to hold still once he has them down and in position. This does not surprise me, as they are such active and primitive sheep, very protective of their young, and wary of strangers and traps. It is one of the things I love about them, and one of the things that make them a little more difficult to handle, We always save the rams for last, and I can't blame them for being grouchy about being sheared
They look downright silly with their large horns and sheared bodies. Especially the yearling rams who are not totally filled out yet. The older rams are the hardest to shear, due to their size and disposition, even the nicest rams don't like being sheared much.
It is a lot of work to get everyone sheared, even though we don't actually do the shearing. I kind of forget to take photos after a while, as we are moving sheep, and handing each one to the shearer, bagging the wool and tagging it so we know which fleece belongs to which sheep. Because of the short notice, only one friend was able to come by and help, Thanks Molly! We got 37 sheep sheared in about 3 hours, and we were pretty exhausted.
It is a lot of work to get everyone sheared, even though we don't actually do the shearing. I kind of forget to take photos after a while, as we are moving sheep, and handing each one to the shearer, bagging the wool and tagging it so we know which fleece belongs to which sheep. Because of the short notice, only one friend was able to come by and help, Thanks Molly! We got 37 sheep sheared in about 3 hours, and we were pretty exhausted.
Some ewes look even better in short haircuts, like this Huntsberger ewe lamb out of Bide a Wee Glenda by Mud Ranch Vincent
Shadow Mountain Wind Dancer likes her new style!
And some of the ewes who thought being sheared felt good on a sunny day are in a hurry for me to finish bedding their barn with fresh straw because it isn't sunny or warm today. It will be near 50 degrees though, so I think it worked out pretty good. Still a bit muddy, but the grass is greening up, and only 6 more weeks until new lambs.
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