Saturday, March 21st, was a beautiful sunny day and a fine day for shearing the flock.  The work crew assembled for lunch prior to the activity and final set-up for the maturnity pens was completed.  We had a crew of six plus the shearer himself.  One person fetched the sheep, one shut opened and shut the gate, one flipped the sheep on their rump, one scooped up the fleece, one folded and bagged the fleece, and the final one swept up the belly wool between animals.  It was quite the circus.  I was the one fetching the sheep, which also entailed removing and, when time permitted, replacing coats on the yearling ewes.  The fleeces look wonderful and I’m hoping for some time between Lamb Watches to get some skirting done. Preliminary weights of unskirted greasy fleece are: 35 pounds off-white Babydoll, 31 pounds colored Babydoll, 2.5 pounds silver Shetland and 2.75 pounds black Shetland.

Fred with Noir on deck for shearing.

Mature ewes awaiting shearing.

Sara with newly completed runs for expectant ewes and new families.

The harvesting of J.C.’s megafleece.

The newly shorn yearling ewes with coats reapplied.

Yours Truly with bags of fleece hung for drying in the greenhouse.