Shearing Day

Friday was shearing day!  I love shearing day.  It's just exciting and even though I've seen sheep sheared hundreds of times, I still love watching.   I used to shear my sheep myself, but lately I've learned it's better to spend the money to have them done than to stress out my bad back.  

I had to keep the sheep in the barn overnight before shearing, because we got some rain and wet sheep are no good for shearing.  Right before the shearer came, I put them in a jug so they'd be easy to catch.  It's not polite to keep your shearer waiting while you run around after loose sheep.  

The shearing itself didn't take long at all.  

And then the girls and their lambs went back outside.  The lambs always get confused when they don't recognize their moms.  After a while they all got it sorted out.  

Then I skirted the fleeces. I don't bother keeping the Southdown fleeces, since they're typically very short.  I do keep Barley and Bean's fleeces though. They're my Romney/Southdown girls, and they have pretty decent natural colored fleeces.

Here is Barley's fleece layed out for skirting (removing the nasty bits, like around the neck and legs).

Barley's fleece has pretty decent crimp (wave) I think.  I think I've got several years' worth of fleeces of hers.  I'm still planning on processing them myself, unless I find a decent mill where I can send them.  That'd be much faster....

Bean's fleece seems pretty decent too.

I better get busy washing, carding, and spinning!