Friday, June 01, 2012

A watched pot...

...never boils.


Apparently, Penny's two yearling ewes are not going to have lambs this year either.


I'm not really surprised


They were only in with a ram lamb for a very short time, fairly early in the breeding season.


That's OK
They'll get to be babies for another year!

Hopefully, that fleece is coming off next week.
I can't wait to get my hands on it!

9 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:27 AM

    What do you do with the fleece once you've shorn them? Do you spin?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. YES! I love spinning the fleece into yarn and knitting soft, warm, snuggly stuff for myself and my family.

      Delete
  2. Hi Nancy and Penny,

    Their fleece is absolutely gorgeous! Both look so silky and both are such a pretty. pale golden/cream color. I can see why you are excited about getting your hands on those fleeces! Did you rinse them before the photo was taken, were they washed by rain water, did you photograph in a certain lighting, or is that just the way they always look? They just gleam! Pretty soon that should that should all just roo right off if you wait just a bit. We sheared April 5 which was pretty early, and the shearer could not follow the natural break at the rise (it was still below the skin surface or too close to it), so he cut above it instead and left a bit of the old wool on the sheep for extra protection from cold and sun, esp. on their backs. Next year we'll just cruth the ewes prior to lambing, leave their nylon coats on if they still fit when they are so pregnant, and shear after the wool rises so he can easily follow the natural break --it will be easier on the shearing and his equipment, and I'll get longer fleeces, although the ones we have this year were also of sufficient length. As is was in early April, the fleece was so dense, fine, and thick that he had a harder time getting through it than he would have if we had waited, but we wanted the ewes fully sheared so we could monitor the lambs dropping during our first lambing season better. I think now we have enough experience with lambing that we can just go by the other lambing indicators next year--they proved to be reasonably reliable, although seeing hollows in the ewes loins when the lambs drop was the easiest one to follow for us, and very, very reliable.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No special lighting, Terry ~ they were in the barn! The fleece is starting to tangle and hang in cumps and drag on the ground so it needs to come off. It would probably roo nicely but Penny set up an appointment to have the shearer come.

      I didn't get any pictures of the lambs you have for sale!

      Delete
    2. Oh, oh, I'd better get busy. I've been gone two days taking my mom to my nephew's graduation party in Rochester. She was exhausted by the time we got back to Eau Claire, but had a great time there seeing everyone. I tucked her in and then I had to take back a rental car and drive almost two more hours to get back home. My car will be back from the shop late next week and that means another trip to Eau Claire. I probably won't get to the most recent lamb photos until this Monday at the earliest, but will keep plugging away at it.

      Delete
  3. So cute!!! That first photo - oh my! I'm glad that the yearlings get to be babies for another year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As am I, KB.
      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  4. Just stopping by to tell you that I passed on the One Lovely Bloggers Award to you! Check out the url for the post: http://dogsnpawz.com/our-first-blog-award.html

    Have a great weekend!

    Wags and Woofs,
    Dogs N Pawz

    ReplyDelete
  5. Those are some gorgeous fleeces!

    ReplyDelete

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