April Fools?

So much for planting peas this weekend. We have a foot of wet spring snow and it is still coming down hard. I am not laughing. Neither are our sheep, who were just shorn last weekend. I have closed them in the barn with the goats, but the poor things are still shivering.



Young Shetland ewes before shearing



Young Shetland ewes after shearing

I had been focused on getting the shearing done before the ewes were too close to lambing, and the weather seemed to be finally turning seasonable.
Also, shearers are busy at this time of year, and you have to take the dates you can get. Next year I will have to rethink the timing of both shearing and lambing. For now, all I can do is make sure that the sheep have shelter and plenty to eat, so that the microbial activity of their rumens will help maintain their body heat.

The shearer was excellent, and interesting to watch. I had heard that a good shearer will remove the fleece all in one piece, and she did. She also had no trouble grabbing our ram by the horns and setting him on his backside. Since we have not yet figured out a winter feeding strategy that keeps the sheep fleeces clean of vegetable matter (hay bits), these fleeces are not of spinning quality. I am contemplating using them to trial sheep's wool insulation in some of our walls: it is non-flammable, nontoxic, and natural, with acoustic and thermal properties.

Foula being shorn. Notice that the shearer is keeping the fleece in one piece.

Once the sheep is sitting on her backside, she rests against the shearer's legs and stops strugging (mostly)

While lambs aren't due until later this month, we are expecting Nigerian Dwarf goat kids any day now. El is due tomorrow, and Phlox and Rhondi are due around the middle of next week. We may have some adorable goat kids for sale, so check the goat page in a couple of weeks.


A very pregnant Phlox