The 2025 Tour de Fleece

Against my better judgement, I'm putting Murphy in as our Team Leader this year.  What could go wrong...

Hopefully he'll just lead us to good grazing and some grand fiber adventures...but he could also lead us into trouble, so everyone should be prepared.  I have a small stash of bail money.  20 knows where to find it.

The Tour de France and Tour de Fleece start Saturday, July 5 and run through July 27.  The women's race starts July 26 and finishes August 3. This is primarily a spinning challenge, but any fiber work counts on our team.  You can officially join our team on Ravelry or just spin along on your own.  Feel free to tag me on IG if you'd like to share your progress.

I think I'm going to once again do a sampler of some of my favorite sheep, but this year I'll also be including some processing as well.  I have several fleeces already washed and ready to card or comb, but I'll be washing a few more and hopefully I'll take some pictures of the entire process from sheep to spinning.  

Air up your bike tires and get ready to ride :-D.

Solstice Sheep Of The Day - Levi

This might seem like an odd picture to post, but it actually tells part of Levi's story.  Levi is known to fiber artists as one the most popular spinning fleeces in our flock, but he's known around here as the most dangerous sheep on the farm...but there is not a mean bone in his body.  

Jacob sheep tend to be feral and flighty.  They are a primitive breed and that's just part of the package.  They panic and scoot away, but they aren't hard to handle once you get used to that and have a good working pen.  Levi just panics and a sheep his size (275+ pounds) in a panic can easily send someone to the hospital.

He's lived here since he was weaned (2016) so I know nothing awful has ever happened to him.  His mother was a friend's bottle lamb and I don't remember her being nutty.  His dad is a Rocky son, so again, nothing to raise any red flags.  It's just who he is...but it's maybe not who he really wants to be.

When we "work" our sheep here we bring them into the barn and then funnel them into the outside stall and then tighten them down to a 14' x 14' catch pen at the end of the stall.  Once in there they are pretty tightly packed and there's not so much room for someone to try to get away.  It's always much better to be able to catch your sheep quietly and calmly.

For a sheep like Levi I wait until I see him in a good spot, either in a corner or blocked in near the wall by some other large sheep.  I then sidle over to him without making eye contact and try to scoop under his chin to keep his head up (even a tiny Jacob can get away from you if they can get their head down) and then gather him around the neck with my arms.  Never try to catch sheep by grabbing their wool.  

All Levi has ever had done to him is routine exams, vaccinations and foot trims.  Shearing is done through the working chutes and pens, but again that is a time where everyone watches what they are doing.  You never want to get run over by a sheep in a panic. 

Once caught everything is usually okay.  Sometimes he still loses his courage and tries to bolt, but I just remain calm (and hang on tight) and he calms back down and we carry on and here is why I think he doesn't really want to be "that sheep".  

He's scared of me, but we actually have a good relationship and he trusts me as much as he's ever going to trust anyone. Once he settles down he always looks up at me and lets me scratch around his ears and rub his face and I can feel him relax and I can tell that he'd really like to be "that sheep".  Maybe someday.

Levi might not be brave enough to come all the way up to you, but he loves to stand with the safety of a fence between you and him and he'll try to quickly grab any treats you hand out. He especially loves the chopped alfalfa :-).

Eating Hay While The Sun Shines

The Kentucky Shepherd's Market went really well and was well worth all the effort, but I have to say I'm glad to be able to catch my breath and catch up with things I've been missing, like pictures.  

Krista

Thelma

Biscuit and Murphy

Maggie and Christopher

Thelma

Levi

Biscuit and Murphy

I love to watch my sheep eating, especially on cold, but sunny mornings.  I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I am Not Ready for spring yet.

Silly Boys

"Looks like we're going to have some entertainment today, girls."

"Think Pinto can take those big boys, Muffin?"

"Are they going to get hurt?"

"Nah.  There's probably only one shared brain cell in the whole bunch."

"You two think you're tough, but you're just big and fat!"

"You're getting pretty big and fat too, Pinto!"

"Okay, them's fightin' words!"

"We hope you enjoyed the show!"

And That's A Wrap...For Now

This is the last fleece I'm washing for awhile! *

I actually thought I was finished yesterday.  I took down the pre-rinse table, swept the wash room floor, stacked up all the laundry baskets, went into the skirting area just to inventory what was left...and found one more fleece. 

I'd looked at it last week when I was gathering up Ewen McTeagle fleeces, but didn't see a card with it and thought it felt too soft to be Ewen, so I set it aside thinking it was probably Burrnie.  I still felt like it was not likely to be Ewen, but something made me pick the bag up once again and turn it over.  The tag had fallen to the bottom.

Since the tag has a question mark on it, it was obviously not his original tag from skirting.  The Ewen fleeces are old and after several years of cats and chickens climbing in them and wind blowing them around, it's not impossible to lose a tag. When I'd rebagged this fleece, I must have questioned the sheep just as I was again yesterday.

But then I saw this tiny cluster of dark hairs.  That's a great clue, but sometimes stray hairs get picked up from the shearing board.  I dug a little deeper...

...and found this.  If you click to biggify, you'll see a little gray wool with some dark hair mixed in.  It's Ewen McTeagle :-).  This wool and hair was shorn from just around his face, where the dark hair from his head turns into the white wool on his body.  If it had been Burrnie, the only other short wooled sheep here, the hair would have been red.  

As far as the extra softness, I'm guessing this was one of his earlier fleeces.  I sheared him myself in 2019 so I know I didn't save that fleece.  I sent the nicest one of his fleeces off for the Lamb Camp bottle lamb yarn.  There were five fleeces left here.  Counting back I think this might have been his 2013 shear when he was just six years old.  

So Ewen wasn't the softest sheep on the farm.  It sure didn't matter.  I loved that dear sheep just the way he was.  And while he might not make a fancy knitted garment, he's going to be great fluffed into a couple of cozy comforters that we can tuck around ourselves this winter. 

* * * * *

* Why does it sound like I'm tired of washing wool?  Because I might be a little tired of washing wool ;-).

Normally I try to sell as many raw fleeces after shearing as I can.  This brings in some quick cash to cover spring vet work and shearing bills and clears a shelf or two.  With Covid throwing a wrench into that plan, I had a huge stash of wool here.  Some sheep had three years of fleeces stockpiled.  

I knew I needed to do something and decided it would be much more fun to market fresh roving than raw wool so I started washing.  I have washed 34 fleeces this summer!  220 pounds of raw wool, averaging 6.47 pounds per sheep.  11 of the fleeces weighed at least 9.5 pounds.  

While they were all fun to handle, there were a few special treats.  I've never washed some of those sheep before...the ones who get snatched up right away at the festivals - Murphy, Spud, Levi, Rocky, Big Moose, Mini Moose...  I knew they were nice fleeces, but now I know exactly how nice they are.  

Big Moose was so beautiful I couldn't even bring myself to send him off to be processed into roving.  I'll just keep looking at and playing with those curls for a bit longer.  

Of the 34 fleeces, 28 are being processed.  The five Ewen fleeces are going into quilt batting and everyone else will be ready to spin roving.  That's a lot of roving, so if you are thinking about gearing up for some fall spinning, I hope you'll keep our flock in mind.  

I think a fall farm spinning day and sale (in person and virtual) would be fun.  Stay tuned :-).

Spinning With Friends

I recently finished painting a spinning contrast apron for a good friend who's been a good friend to my flock for many years now.  These are all sheep she's spun except for some Lila she gifted back to me when I was collecting fleeces for the bottle lamb yarn.  

Well, all except one.  How we missed Blossom/Baba when we were counting up sheep...  I'm looking forward to her bringing it back so I can add her in.  

Jared and Rocky

Maisie and Hank

Levi, Andy and Woody

Rebecca Boone, Beanie Baby, Elizabeth, Lila.  Wait...  Holy smokes, I think we forgot Buddy, too! :-o

Snow Warriors

This was just a split second standing still shot, but I have to laugh at how those two silly boys look like they are the bravest of warriors standing tall as a huge attacker charges their way.

Really, Levi was just bouncing around in front of them trying to get them to play tag or chase or whatever sheep play when they don't have a space ship to defend.

This is a new puzzle!  I hope you have as much working it as Mini Moose had creating it :-D.

View this post on Instagram

Snow Day! 😀

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady) on Nov 13, 2019 at 12:15pm PST

And a fun snow video from yesterday.  That's Big Moose chewing over the background music :-).

Spring Shearing

Our favorite shearer, Bill Haudenschield, was in town for a few days last week (with his nephew Dustin :-) so we decided to go ahead and shear a week or so early this year.  It was a beautiful day, the company was excellent, the sheep all behaved (mostly ;-) and the fleeces look good.  Here are some of my favorite pictures.

Lila

Rebecca Boone

Woody

Muffin

Biscuit...all those pretty curls :'-(.

The video.

Renny

Daniel Note Liddy in the background.  Just after I took this picture, she stuck her head through the gate and grabbed a packet of french fries!

Murphy

Clover Belly

Levi 

Levi 

Chocula

The Little Darlin'...

...who actually behaved quite well this year!

This is the extended version of the video I posted the other day.  Instagram has a 60 second limit.  This is 30 seconds longer...and cuter.  I just love these!

You'll notice a few sheep didn't get shorn.  They are the oldies who don't have enough fat on them (Allie, Annabelly, Billy Belly and Mrs. Pepperpot) for me to feel comfortable taking away their woolly jumpers before we are certain the cold is over for the year. 

After a couple weeks of 70s and 80s, we have now, of course, turned a bit colder, but with the barn shut up when it's windy and plenty of hay in front of them, everyone is doing okay.  The warm sunshine has been appreciated though for sure.  And look at that green grass and bright blue sky!  It matches my hat :-D.

And here's a new puzzle!  Enjoy :-).

Sheeps...

The sheep have had access to the recently repaired and then replaced water tank all winter. Before it was replaced, I'd frequently find them out there trying to "repair" it themselves, so I assumed once it was back operational it would be their favorite water spot. That would be no.

Yesterday I found B. Willard pawing around on the old plastic water tank we'd used up next to the barn while the automatic water was not operational.  I decided to go ahead and fill it back up since we have a few warm days coming.

As soon as I did that...

Oh you know it.

Warm Winter Sun

It can be way down in the teens, even single digits, and as long as it's not windy and the sun is shining, it feels warm to me. Some more pictures from the Del Boca Vista Distraction Party the other day.

Maisie

Heidi - who's foot is all better now since I popped a big mud ball from between her toes after the Boxing Day cookie party :-).

That is Muffin (!) standing just to the right of Levi in the foreground.

Renny

Bullwinkle, Levi and Spud

Biscuit

The Sheep Chicken and Woolliam

A little slice of heaven...and two new puzzles :-).  

Enjoy!