Fred was here!
	The picture is of Fred DePaul shearing one of our ram lambs. Once again we enjoyed his visit. Shearing day is very labor intensive, but well worth the effort. The sheep are sheared, the fleeces are exceptional and it is time to get ready for breeding season.

Shearing day fall 2006
	Once again we had a great day to shear sheep! Spanky realizes she is naked and is trying to do a little "cover-up" with some hay.

skirting the fleece
	Joanne kept busy by helping catch sheep and then skirting the fleeces as they came off from the sheep. This is the inital skirting and the idea is to remove all soiled and otherwise unwanted material from the fleece. The fleece will be skirted once again before processing the fleece to make sure that nothing was missed on the initial skirting.

waiting to be sheared

A year ago, we began looking for some sort of transportation for our sheep so that we could attend local events with them. My son, Ian devised something that he called the "EWE-HAUL". It is the box of a truck with a pull welded to the front that can fit on the ball of a truck or tractor. He put plywood sides on so that we had no escapees and cut vent holes in the front to provide some air to the sheep as they travelled. Walt and I gathered up sheep for shearing and decided it would be easier to take the sheep off the ewe-haul when it was their time to be sheared instead of penning them. We were all busy working and when we looked up we just had to laugh. It looks as though the sheep are on vacation behind one of the screens for picture taking. Spanky, Annabelle, and Oscar are peering out of the vent holes watching the shearing. I think for a winter project I'll paint some hair and hats around the holes for another photo-op next year!

Shearing day spring 2007

As with the human species, sheep occasionally enjoy (or not) the time honored new haircut and pedicure just prior to delivering babies. Our sheep utilized the expertise of Fred DePaul in their new pre-lambing hair-dos. Don't believe for one minute the time and effort was wasted on the rams, who, until shearing day hadn't seen the girls since breeding season! One look at bachelorette number one with her lovely do and bulging udder and it was more than the boys could take. They busted out of their enclosure and went searching for love. After a few moments of utter bedlam, Walt had gotten a hold of Fred (the ram, not the shearer) and I dove for Hamish and caught him while off balance. Down on the ground I went. Let me tell you, I wasn't letting go of that ram, but you have never really lived until you have been dragged a little bit by a ram that needed slowing down and then, after getting up, picking sheep poopers out of your ear and hair. For those of you who have never experienced this, it is an over rated experience, and I would not try it again.This is the best it has been for us with shearing and organization. Except for the ram incidents, we did well and finished in record time, even being able to have some chili, and birthday cake to celebrate Walt's birthday. I think Fred (the shearer not the ram) comes to visit us more for the entertainment value than the cash. We clearly are not a run-of-the-mill place to be at shearing time.

Not a great picture, we couldn't really get things straight with the haybale so we could all be in the picture. Shearing crew front row: Ben Steele, Josh Steele, Douglas Hall Back row: Walt, Beth Ann Cope, Joanne and Fred