The Shearing of the Sheep

I love shearing time! I always laugh, thinking back to my first day of shearing.....leg crooking the sheep out of a big holding area. It was hard work made more complicated by lack of knowledge and experience. Thank goodness for one very patient, understanding shearer!

Over the years, I have gotten a little smarter and have purchased movable sheep-handling equipment that makes many jobs easier. This year, I made a sweep and alley to have the sheep close to the shearing area.

My shearer is a young, fit gal. We've become friends over the years and I love catching up on her life. She comes from the sheep industry and is involved in 4-H, running the Turner Lamb Festival, and an assortment of other "sheepy" adventures. We need more like her to keep America thinking sheep.

I love watching the shearing process. I always think "I could do that" until a sheep jumps and she magically pulls the blades away....where as I might be leaving shearing war wounds!

And then I see her stand up.......and I think..."oh my aching back".......and I remember to tip her well so I don't have to do this myself!

It also takes a small village to get the sheep and wool handled. Adele and Beau were in charge of moving the girls sporting new hair cuts around the barn to their pasture. Sounds easy but the sheep are very squirrelly from the shearing....and singles are not easy to work on the best of days. Adele had her work cut out for her.....and Beau did real fine.Traci and Natch Kant filled the holding chutes and then skirted and bagged the fleeces. Kant's job was to shred the skirted off wool........well, she thought that was her job! The skirting and bagging job was a little different this year as many of the fleeces were WET! We have been having an unusually wet spring and 24 hours in the barn was not enough time to dry the girls out. So my work is not done just yet......half of the fleeces are drying up in my playroom much to my family's chagrin! Hubby says our house smells like the fair. I thought I would compliment that statement by having corn dogs and elephant ears for supper tonight!

Seize the day!!!!