I included a few shots of Beatrice being shorn. She was the worse of the day, she always is! The shearers say ‘pet’ sheep are the worse. I guess it’s because they’re used to being handled, and it’s never manhandled. The shearers did over 80 total before noon. Other farms sell their fleece in bulk, that’s a photo of Brian packing it in. Our fleece came home in separate bags, I sell them individually. Champion border collie Brit helped keep everyone in line during the morning’s activities. It’s always a good feeling to have shearing over with for the year, and this team did an expert job of it. I hope they pass this way again next year.
Shearing Day
09 Mar 2013 4 Comments
Yesterday was shearing day. We have five purebred wool sheep (texel), the rest are either hair sheep or crosses. We took them to a neighbor’s farm to meet up with the shearers who drove all the way from Michigan. They had to spend the night in our trailer because it’s important they stay warm. It gets their lanolin flowing and makes shearing easier on them. Two of our texels had babies, one was just a day old. We took the lambs out of the trailer for the journey because we were worried they would be jostled during transport. Both fit snugly in a tub in the back seat of our truck.
Missing Willow Farm 
Mar 09, 2013 @ 11:45:53
Aww, the babies in the bucket are so sweet!! I’m sure they were happy to not be getting a hair cut :).
Mar 09, 2013 @ 13:15:13
Those are some great pics – and who wouldn’t want to travel with two lambs in a bucket? 🙂
Mar 10, 2013 @ 10:08:23
Connie, can you explain the difference between “wool sheep” and “hair sheep”? I thought all sheep had wool rather than hair.
Mar 10, 2013 @ 10:33:15
Hi Wulf! We raise two breeds of sheep. Texel (wool) and katahdin (hair). Their coats remind me of coarse dog fur, they shed it in the Spring. Hair sheep currently make up approx. 10% of the world’s sheep population. They have many advantages. They are more resistant to internal parasites (a huge problem), frequently have multiple lambs, don’t require the stress of finding a shearer and are quite tasty. It’s actually harder to sell raw fleece than you would think. A lot of sheep farms dock the tails of their wool breeds to prevent certain illnesses caused by feces being caught in their wool. It’s not required in hair sheep. We’re Animal Welfare Approved and don’t dock any tails and luckily haven’t had any problems.