Sheep Shearing DONE

The weather report for Sunday was a repeat of the last several weeks. Highs in the 60's, showers and overcast. Monday's forecast was sunny and in the 80's. Way too hot to be shearing sheep. They would be heat stressed and so would we. We had to get the sheep shearing completed before the warm weather got here. So that meant that we were up early Sunday morning and shearing till 5:30pm. Every sheep is shorn. Ted got into a rhythm and wouldn't let me shear. With the Premier shears the fleece was given up like an old winter coat. A wool coat!
I was keeper of the head and chief grain giver. It really helped get their sheep minds off of the sound of the clippers.

Ted wants the sheep to look nice. No tufts of wool left. I don't think a barber could leave a nicer coat.

Shearing serves so many purposes. It gives you a fleece to use, cools off the sheep, and lets you see what condition your sheep are in. It is difficult to tell how they wintered and lambed. I was very pleased with the condition of our sheep. I tried to feel through the wool but that can be a bit difficult.

Almost done.

Almost there....

Now that's a happy, healthy, and beautiful Icelandic ewe. Still working on a few tufts.

The combs get so mucked up with lanolin they have to be removed and cleaned after about 4 sheep. I think we will invest in a few more combs for this fall.

Truffles was such a gentleman. He was a bottle fed ram and I'm sure Lambert will have the same sweet and gentle disposition. Look at that face.

And now he is just handsome. How about that beauty spot.

This is one of our rams out of Emily and Fin (Red Brick Road Farm in Dixon, Ill.) He is going to have a beautiful set of horns when he becomes full grown. I am looking forward to seeing what his lambs out of Esther look like.

Now came the time for our MAN to get shorn. I don't mind saying that I was a bit hesitant. Echo is all RAM. Not pushy or in your face. He is just big. I wasn't sure he would fit onto the stand.

I didn't say there was a lot of room to spare!

All done. Well, Ted had to keep taking a little off of the top but he looks marvelous. The more we work with the Icelandic sheep the more we appreciate their personalities.

Not a bad days work.

About a week ago we took the hand shears to Baby our wether. He still needed a touch up.

Now that's nice wether! Sorry, I had to go there.

We are still a bit muddy but the boys club enjoyed spending the day in the girls pasture.

They were hanging out smoking cigars and talking about the good old days.

What have we learned? We learned that we could shear sheep. Sometimes you just have to pull up your sleeves and try it to know that you can. We don't have to depend on undependable shearers. We can shear when we need to, not when it fits into someone else's schedule.

Shears $300.00, stand (that saves our backs) $450.00. 18 shorn sheep, PRICELESS

Much Love and Prayers from Mainely Ewes Farm.