Shearing day

Shearing came off without a hitch, it was a beautiful day, high 40's and calm. We got the sheep gathered in the big barn, got their coats off, got their regular barn cleaned and stocked with water and hay for their return. The shearer arrived just in time and we began shearing at 9:30 and were finished by 11:30. After David left, Jack and I re-coated most of the sheep. I had a few coats to clean and so I did that during lunch and we put the rest back on by 2PM. Most of the sheep dropped down 3 coat sizes after shearing! We took them all back to their barn where they spent the afternoon lounging around in the sun. I do believe they feel so much better with their fleeces off. Crystal, as usual, was the big winner fleeceweight-wise; her fleece weighed in at 17.5#! Most of the rest weighed between 7-9#, with the exception of a few in the 10's. So begins the skirting and prepping of each fleece for sale and show by the end of April. I also need to get fleece samples from the yearlings to send to Yokum-McColl for micron tests. www.ymccoll.com

Regretably I can't get these pictures in the right order but here they are top to bottom:

Charlotte, shearing complete; Half the flock sheared; David bringing a ewe out to the shearing area; me bagging a fleece; flock heads back to the barn after shearing; David Hinman, the shearer upon arrival, caught him just before a smile!; David setting up the shearer; Getting the blades set in the shearer; the flock just before shearing started; Peach getting sheared.