Getting Nekkid

I didn't get great shearing pics this time. The sun was so bright shining in the back of the barn that it complicated things for me and the camera. It was perfect weather for shearing though and the sheep are glad to be rid of their hot, itchy fleeces.



This is Peabody. The whack. He's been written up before for his, um, interesting personality. He's also been written up for his big fleece. Even the shearers were impressed with the amount of wool that came off him and spread it out for everyone to see. Saint Tim and I are pretty sure that when you turn him upside down and sideways, most of that wool flows out of his ears ;-).



I'm always amazed at how clean they are underneath all that dirty looking wool.

For the last couple of years I've sent Peabody and Popcorn PeePee Pants off to OVNF be processed into fluffy quilt batting. I still have several batts left from last year though so I think Peabody will be a spinning fleece this year. He has a very easy to spin, sproingy fleece - not super soft though, typical of a down breed. He's a Border Cheviot. You could probably get three sweaters from him (if he knew how to knit) so he'll keep someone busy for awhile ;-).



The other sheep we love to see sitting on his butt, calm and submissive, is Graham Lamb. He's actually an easy sheep to shear, well behaved, unlike Petunia who again was very, very naughty. Graham was an early shear, but stuck around for most of the rest of the haircuts. The shearers thought that was interesting until I explained his fascination with power tools, electricity and anything pointy.



Speaking of big sheep, there is a lot of Boudreaux to love.



His roll of fleece is almost as big as his rolls of fat.



We wrap every fleece in a separate bed sheet. Sheets are handy for quickly picking up the fleeces and are breathable so any dampness doesn't cause trouble like it would if they were stored in plastic bags. You can use plastic, but should poke a bunch of holes around the bag to let the fleece breathe.

This particular sheet is special and was saved for a very special girl. This was the sheet the animal shelter used to drag Renny from their truck into my car the day I picked her up. It smelled so bad that my first thought was to toss it. I washed it though and kept it knowing it would mean a lot to me in case she made it.






Even being shorn halfway through winter, she still yielded quite a bit of wool. I can't wait to see what she grows for next year. For now I can't get over how pretty she looks.

A huge thanks to everyone who came over and helped with everything yesterday. What goes around, comes around, especially in farming communities.

Everybody take care of each other.