Shearing Day

  Shearing Day was yesterday. What a wonderful time. Farm Club came through (as always) and handled all the various tasks of the day. (Except for Rusty's job, which he describes in his blog so I am not duplicating his photos here). I am grateful to the great shearer who has come for the last few years. He does a wonderful job--the sheep look good and the fleeces look good. John is so fast that he finished with 64 sheep in about 2 1/2 hours.

One important job is making sure that the shearer always has a sheep to shear as soon as he finishes with the last one.

I took some videos too but it will take me awhile to get those edited. You can sign up on the Meridian Jacobs YouTube Channel and see them when they are ready.

This is the BFL/Jacob crossbred ewe. I probably could have started a bidding war on her fleece, but I'm keeping it.

A couple of people bagged fleeces after shearing and  then each fleece was weighed.

Alison and Linda helped many new Farm Club members and other visitors evaluate fleeces at the skirting table.

The warm afternoon sun was welcome after the cold morning.

Good friendships and sharing the work make a day like this extra fun.

Want a Hug?

How exciting! Thanks to Dona, who photographed us, we made the Hug A Sheep Day blog with this photo of Farm Club. It was a great day to Hug a Sheep and we hugged several! If you want to read about the other things we did yesterday (from Rusty's perspective) read Rusty's blog.

It's been a week since Meet the Sheep, our spring open house. My internet service has been sketchy and every time I started to add photos it was too slow and I gave up. I think technology has been upgraded and hopefully all is well with our internet tower. I can see that tower on the mountain several miles away (one of many--I don't really know which it is--do you think they could put a ribbon on it so I can pick it out?) and if I can see it, shouldn't the little thing on the roof be able to pick up the signal? The Saturday of Meet the Sheep we had gorgeous weather and I know that was one reason we seemed to be so popular. Dozens of people came and enjoyed the sheep, the goats, fiber, fresh air, and a wonderfully sunny (dry) day. As always Farm Club members were a huge help.

 

Paulette always enjoys a good scratch.

This is an Angora kid owned by my friend, Julie, of Black Oak Ranch.

Julie brought kids and a bottle lamb, all of which were very popular.

 

She also did a dying demonstration.

Shelby brought her tame chickens.

Jackie demonstrated carding and...

...Alison taught a visitors how to spin.

First handspun yarn.

Photo opportunities

Fashion footwear

Checking out chickens

Fresh yarn

Of course it was all about Meeting the Sheep:

Farm Day

Last Saturday was Farm Day and 8 of the 10 Farm Club members were able to make it here. We caught all the lambs and checked for split eyelids (a condition that sometimes happens in 4-horn sheep) and number of horns.

With this many people here it went quickly. Everyone else caught sheep and I weighed them. I don't usually weigh lambs as they grow, but I'm interested in finding out if my BLF cross lambs grow at a different rate than the Jacob lambs. I'll report back on that.

After working with the lambs everyone grabbed pitchforks and shovels and, with 3 wheelbarrows going, they made quick work of cleaning the barn.

What a great group of friends!