Drowning in Wool

About five years ago my flock of sheep was small in numbers consisting of two natural colored Romneys. Of course I ended up expanding I earned the Oregon Romney Breeds Association's Starter flock and was given a small flock of Dorsets. Since then the flock has continued to grow and with the growing numbers fleece production has also gone up.

The original plan was to shear in November,that never happened. Yesterday finally all thirty-three sheep that needed to be shorn got shorn. Shearing went a bit faster because we had two shearers. Wool was coming off so fast I hardly had a chance to take pictures or bag up one fleece before another needed bagging.

The only picture of shearing I got.

Our house is now filled with fleeces, and I mean wall to wall fleeces. One unfortunate fact about shearing in November in the Willamette Valley is the rain. The day before we have to bring all the sheep being shorn into the barn so that they might dry off a little. But really how much can a wet sheep dry after being outside in the rain for days upon days. Dry fleeces are easier for the shearing to shear and it also is easier for us to store. Most of our fleeces are not dry we are madly trying to dry and skirt fleeces.

Merry Christmas?

There are fleeces spread on sheets throughout the house in attempts for them to start drying as they wait in line to be skirted. Fleeces that are already dry because the sheep was in the barn for a longer time get put at the end of this line. Having fleeces lying on the floor can be fun and a big inconvenience. For instance walking across and dry fleece in bare feet is soft and squishy that is until you step on a wet spot or a piece of poky vegetable matter. But then you can't always walk where you need to go and did I mention the lanolin makes the dining room floor slippery. My mom says we need a wool house and a lot of skirting tables.

Sorting wool by color.

I am very excited for all of you to see some of the gorgeous fleeces we have this year.I want to play with some so bad!

 Also this coming year we are having a bunch of Dorset products made that include: roving both white and natural colored, white and natural colored yarn, and felt. To get a chance to play with our Moorit (brown) Dorset roving join our 2013 Dorset Roving CSA.

All CSAs for this coming year are now available.

Snow Sheep

Yesterday was a busy day here on the farm. It was shearing day...WHAT?!?! You're shearing in January! Are you crazy? It may sound crazy, but there is some logic behind it. We shear our sheep every January right before lambing season hits since a full fleece on a ewe can cause some problems, which shearing can help with. When lambs are born, they don't have a 4 inch fleece on them to keep warm, so if the mother has no fleece, she can feel the cold the baby lamb feels and will take it to shelter. Sometimes lambs get confused and suck on locks of wool when they try to get milk. Shearing also lets us, as the shepherd, to keep an eye on the ewes to see how close they are to lambing. And finally, taking the wool off also lets the younger sheep have a chance to grow.

Now our house is over-run by fleeces, and we are slowly making our way through skirting the fleeces. We had to keep part of our flock inside the barn, because we ran out of blankets that fit everyone. It is too cold out for them to not be wearing coats, because as soon as shearing was over the snow hit as the forecast said it would.