Saturday Fun: The Shearing

Yesterday was a busy and productive day for us. We took last Saturday "off" for Valentine's Day. For us, that means running away from the property and all its attendant chores. The only way we can really have a day off is to distance ourselves physically. So we did. But that meant some catching up to be done this weekend. Fun!

We didn't exactly hit the ground running at dawn, though. Unless "dawn" is at 8 a.m. and it counts that we hit the ground and ran down to the kitchen to eat blueberry pancakes and drink our coffee by the woodstove. So let's say we moseyed out the door well after the sun came up and hauled all the trash to the dump. Then we went to the feed store to get corn. When we got home, A. powered up the chainsaw and cut up a bunch of tree limbs that have been sitting around blocking paths for the whole winter. Then we hauled them to the burn pile. And then we commenced The Shearing.

Shearing is not one of my favorite chores. Not that I DO a lot other than hold the sheep and clean up afterwards. A. does most of the work. And it's a LOT of work, because he uses non-electric hand shears. But the awkward, hunched positions we're in for the hour or so it takes to shear one sheep leave both of us tired and sore, him more so than me. Those people that shear whole flocks of sheep in mere days must be a race of superhumans.

BUT ANYWAY.

We last sheared the sheep in late April, so it's been almost a year. A. decided not to do it in the fall again, as we normally would, but to wait until just before lambing. This way the ewes are cleaned up and everything is more, um, accessible for him if he needs to help them, and for the lambs when they're nursing. We're expecting the lambs at the beginning of April, so we figured right about now is a good time to shear, before the ewes get too pregnant and while it's still cold, so the ground is frozen and not muddy.

Because it's still cold, he didn't worry much about getting the wool very short. Last weekend, we sheared Bonnie the Sheep. (And I didn't tell you about it--I KNOW. How could I keep such a thing from you?) Yesterday it was her sister Coco's turn. These are the two Cotswold ewes. Their wool is very long and very hard to cut. It was particularly long this time, because it's been so long since the last shearing.

Even though I was supposed to be holding the sheep, I ran off to get the camera, leaving A. swearing and struggling with an agitated sheep that thought that since I had run off, she should get to run off, too. Whoops. But I got the photos. For you.

The bright blue tarp is our shearing platform. Professional.

And a close-up of the wool:

That bright white patch there is the bald spot that's been sheared so far.

Coco had a lot of good, clean wool on her. We ended up with a kitchen garbage bag stuffed full, which will be washed and eventually brought to the woolen mill to be carded and then spun into yarn for knitting.

We only did the one sheep yesterday, because there was another chore waiting. And that brings me to the teaser for tomorrow's post . . .

Tomorrow on Going Country: A roll in the hay with Kristin. Stay tuned!