Today was shearing day ! Of course it also turned out to be the coolest day in the past 3 weeks. It also threatened to rain. Since most mornings lately have been very damp as well, we decided to put the girls in the barn for the night on Monday. This was no easy task as they gave us quite a run for our money. Seems lately they have been satisfied enough with the pasture grasses and have not wanted to go in the barn for the grain we’ve been putting out. So they did not come to the barn when they heard the grain in the pans. It was not until after dark that we were finally able to coerce Judith and Ilsa to come in for grain. Sunspot and Chardonnay soon followed.

The morning brought us cool cloudy skies and some sprinkles. The shearers showed up right on time at 7:45. We decided to do Dreamweaver and Trueno first since they were out in the open and getting wet. As the shearer set up in the barn Paul and I went for the pasture to get the boys. It took us a few minutes to get them corralled in the shelter, but once we got the halters on, they were easy to walk right into the barn. After a little drying off with a towel, Trueno became the first victim. He screamed a bit, but was not too bad. When it was all done he had shed 6 lbs 12oz of fiber.

Next up was Dreamweaver. He also was pretty good and relaxed while shedding his 8lb contribution to the fiber pile.

Next we did 3 other fiber boys from a neighboring farm. Otis, Elmer and Jasper !! They were pretty good boys and were done in out to go home pretty quickly. Jan and Greg were thankful to have a place to bring them for shearing.

After a quick break we moved on to working on the girls. First up was Ilsa. She was calm but needed to be carried to the mats. Once on the mats she was a good girl. She’s so skinny under all that fleece !!! We also took some time to do a little dental work on her that was badly needed.

Sunspot was next and she was the one in every crowd that gives you are hard time. There was no way she was going down easy and she fought the whole way… and did not give up. After three men wrestled her down on the mat she continued to spit, scream, pee AND poop the whole time. Thank goodness this is a once a year event !!! She contributed 4lbs 10 oz of fleece. I really thought she had more, but her body frame is quite large.

Judith also was a screamer, but was not as bad as Sunspot. Judith contributed 4lbs 2 oz

Chardonnay was last and she was a dream. We haltered her and she walked calmly to the mats. She was down easy and lay there QUIETLY while don gently worked his blades to remove her dense fiber. Chardonnay contributed 6 lbs of fleece !!!

All in all it was a good day. We were finished by noon, everyone got a nice haircut and will now be more comfortable in the warmer weather. Since Dreamweaver and Trueno’s fleeces were a little damp I took them into my office and spread them out on the skirting table and floor and put the fan on to help dry them off. They are very nice looking fleeces and I can’t wait to get busy skirting them for the spin offs this year !!!