Naked

Compare this picture to last post, they look so different, and take up a lot less room!

The sheep that is! Shearing was this afternoon. Brian was able to shear 13 sheep in 2 hours. Gently, carefully, with just a couple of nicks. Nate and I are so relieved to have them sheared. "I feel like I just took a roll of Rolaids!" Relief.

I was worried about shearing so close to lambing. Brian shared that one year they had 200 sheep to shear in his dad's lot during lambing time. They sheared 100. That night three UNSHEARED sheep lambed. None of the sheared sheep lambed. Watching Brian I was again relieved that we were able to get him again this year. He is so careful and gentle as he stands on the sheet of OSB in his socks. Even with an audience of my grandma, grandpa, mom and great aunt.

The process was much smoother and calmer this year. Brian sheared right in the garage in the pen with the ewes. It made it a simple thing to catch one and move her to the sheet of plywood.

I didn't make it home until 1/3 of the way through. Since I wasn't here to skirt immediately, my mom and Linda laid sheets on a sheet of plywood and then laid down a fleece, another sheet, another fleece... After a couple of fleeces they rolled the bundle up. This will make skirting much easier. I'll wait till a decent day, pull out the table, and start unrolling my fleece burritos. I'm excited about the condition of the fleece compared to last year. They are dirty with VM (vegetable matter-hay, grass, and stuff for those readers that aren't intimate with sheep!) but soft, and look good.

Overall, I'm happy with the condition of the girls. I was concerned that they would be too thin, but only Kizzy looks a bit rough. I'll start giving her some grain. Her belly is plenty big so I know that there's at least one babe in there! Jacobs did not lamb last night, thank goodness. Though she is looking by far the most ready. Brian, our short on words shearer, said that it looked like she would go soon. How soon? I guess I'll let you know when I know! At least it's the weekend now so the nighttime checks won't have as big of an impact on me.

If you want to compare this year's shearing with last's check out this post. Ironically, I posted a picture of Jacob's being sheared for this post, and also posted a picture of her last year, along with her ram lamb from last year. Perhaps I'll have more of the spotted babes this weekend!