Archives for shearing

Easter Morning – lamb video

April 24, 2011 | 6 Comments

Yesterday brought an inch of snow and a steady patter of sleet. The sheep huddled in their sheds. The lambs and mommas stayed indoors. The finches, chickadees, juncos and sparrows fought duked it out over the feeders. Today: a glorious sunrise over the trees that haven't yet leafed but have a fuzzy red halo of new buds. The snow has vanished except for a few freckles here and there in the pasture. The sheep are content lounging in the field. It is a perfect Easter morning. I'm wishing everyone a happy holiday and sharing a video clip from earlier this
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Shearing Scenes

March 29, 2011 | 4 Comments

Come on, And bid us welcome to your sheep-shearing, As your good flock shall prosper. The Winter's Tale We worked all day on Friday, grateful for the mild weather and sunshine. Can you believe, we didn't finish? By 5 everyone was tired and even though there were just a dozen left, it's better not to push. Beautiful fleeces. Lots of Cocoa's daughters (black and speckled) in this group. I'm off to the barn right now to check on the mothers-to-be. No "little apples" yet, but all signs point to any time now. I wish the temperatures were more
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Lovely Llama

June 4, 2010 | 10 Comments

Just remembered – you haven't seen Caitlyn's new haircut! I found her in a quiet, meditative moment in the upper pasture the other morning, enjoying the warmth of the sun. I love her regal posture, like a monarch surveying her domain. Did you know she was a show llama before she came to us? She came from Heritage Llama Farm in East Longmeadow, MA. Her former owner, Jan, gave me a photo of her sporting a blue ribbon at a show many years ago. Caitlyn's glory days. If you compare her midriff to her brisket, neck and hind quarters,
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Llama Minus Pajamas

May 20, 2010 | 23 Comments

Shearing llamas is different from shearing sheep. The llamas are haltered and tied in a pen where there's not much room to dance around (but they dance anyway). They stand the entire time. Sheep are seated on their fannies for the whole thing. Andy can shear anything that grows fiber. For the llamas he usually does a "barrel cut" – which means just shearing the midriff from behind the shoulders to the waistband. It kind of looks like a poodle cut. Caitlyn got a barrel cut. I forgot to take my camera to pasture today but will try to remember
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Shearing Day and Some Good News

May 16, 2010 | 16 Comments

Friday was a monster work day. And since I was preoccupied with Mishka's progress at the animal hospital and getting the last of Sheep Shares finally out the door, Holly and Andy tackled everything on their own: shearing (border leicesters, llamas, goats), deworming everyone, hoof trimming. All the spring flock maintenance tasks that could possibly get rolled into one day. I'm so grateful for their help, since I'm both physically and emotionally drained after the events of the last four weeks. Ben Barnhart was on hand to snap some photos for future projects. The border leicester fleeces are spectacular. I
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As the wool spins. . .

March 13, 2010 | 8 Comments

Moving right along, an update on the fiber front: I'm about half way through sorting the fleeces from shearing. The wool for the spring and summer Sheep Shares is in process at the mills – which means U.P.S. will begin delivering boxes of deliciously fresh yarn and fiber right around mid-lambing season. I'm immensely relieved to have yarn perking along as we await lambs. The show fleeces are carefully wrapped like burritos in paper and tied with twine – stowed away for the first round of competitions in May. Except for Teaberry and Cilantro's fleeces which are huge and wouldn't
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Shearing Day 3 – Contest: Name the Lambs

March 3, 2010 | 119 Comments

The pregnant ewes are now all shorn. Whew! It's the group I fret over the most so I am hugely relieved that they're all now freshly coiffed and dressed in clean frocks. Without their ten pound fleeces, it's much easier to see if any ewes are over conditioned or under conditioned. The group looks just right. Carrera is the only one who looks as though she might possibly be eating pickles and ice cream on the sly. This afternoon as Andy finished shearing Galveston and while she was still seated on the board, Holly and I patted her tummy to
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Brown and White and Wooly all Over

March 2, 2010 | 10 Comments

I am so enjoying the different colored fleeces in the wool clip this year! Thought you'd like to see these photos of Latte's first shearing. Such a peanut, Gabriel scooped him right out of the holding pen and sat him down on the board. He and his sister Bailey have the finest wool of the four moorit yearlings. I am loving every second of comparing the shades of brown, the different textures and varying lengths of the wool staples. Since the fleeces are now snugly wrapped like "wool burritos", I haven't snatched any lock samples for close-up shots, but
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Men at Work

March 2, 2010 | 10 Comments

Day two of shearing and we're still not done. Finished the boys today and made good progress with the bred ewes. Will finish that group on Wednesday and then on to more ewes next Monday. Looks like shearing will span more than a week this year. A little bit like the winter Olympics, minus spandex tights . . . Decided to change things up a bit with a new skirting technique this year. I hate bagging fresh fleece in plastic. A steamy, freshly shorn fleece exudes sheepy moisture and needs a chance to breathe. And I hate the way a
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Cilantro’s Awesome Fleece

February 28, 2010 | 20 Comments

Cilantro is a handful. If you're a regular here, I'm not telling you anything you haven't heard before. Although he was wethered at an early age, he is just as combative as any ram. The bad boy of the big boys, we give him plenty of room. One of the things I like about shearing day is working closely with each animal. In the confines of the holding pen, there's no room for a ram to draw a bead on you. I enjoyed wrapping my arms around Cilantro's wooly head to extract him from the pen, and he didn't give
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