Nasty!

I've been washing fleece.  No, I have not had my flock sheared yet.  I'll wait until the end of May to do that again this year.  As much as I used to be a staunch believer in shearing before  lambing, I am most definitely a convert to the "wait longer and you'll get a nicer fleece that comes off much easier" camp.  For years, I was convinced that  having lambs would destroy the fleece and it would be so dirty that one could never get it clean.  The reality is, I've found it to be just the opposite.  By waiting until  the end of May to have the flock sheared, they have all been off of hay for a month.  Which means that all (well, at least many) of those bits of chafe have worked their way out of the fleece.  They've also been rained on (and then shook the water off) which certainly helps to clean the fleece!  Only  the wool directly under the ewe's external genitalia,  does  get dirtier from lambing. I clean that us with a bucket of soapy water.  I know my girls well enough that I have no problem telling who is getting close to lambing.    Anyway!  I was saying that I've been washing fleece.  LAST year's fleece!  And in the case of one, white fleece:  2009's fleece!  I know.  Isn't it terrible?    I found a big, plastic bag (with holes punched in it for air circulation) in my basement, the other day.  I looked inside and there was a big, white ~ or what had at one time been a white ~ fleece in it.  The entire cut side of the fleece was a deep, dark, yellowish gold.  Lanolin.  Yuck.  This was Flash Flood's 2009 fleece.  It had been a gorgeous fleece.  Now it looks ruined.  I know from past experience that no amount of hot water and detergent is going to remove that yellow crud.  I wish I had taken a picture of it so that you could see how the who fleece was discolored...

But, I didn't.  I did, however, decide to try another method of cleaning the fleece.  I filled a Rubbermaid tub with cold  water, in my back yard, and put the fleece into it:

Then,  I remembered my camera!  The water instantly turned a dark golden brown.  It was like the yellow stuff was just sucked out of the fleece.

I let the fleece soak for an hour or two.



Then I put the hose into one corner of the tub, under the fleece and let more cold water trickle slowly into the tub.  I didn't want to let the fleece soak in that dark water for TOO long!

After about a half-hour of the rinse water trickling into the tub, most of the dirty water had run out.  Flash's Fleece was white again!

And I didn't use a drop of hot water or detergent!  I'll probably do one wash with detergent & hot water, just to make sure all the dirt is out but I am absolutely amazed and thrilled at what a wonderful  job cold water soaking did on this fleece!

I now have one, lovely, "fawn" fleece (Chance's) drying on my skirting table in the backyard:

I love the soft, fluffy, silvery taupe color of fawn fleece!  It's a good thing too because I have plenty of them!

I also have more fleece soaking in buckets:

This is from Hunter!  How long ago did I sell him??? 

I've also got two more buckets of fleece soaking in cold water, in the back yard, one in the washer and several more bags of nasty stuff to go...

DREAM says...

"How come I look so green in this picture, Mom?"

I'm sorry Dreamer.  You were standing in the door to the barn and the light was behind you.   I know that my camera tends to give things a slightly yellow tint and I guess I overcompensated, trying to correct it.   I'll try to do better this afternoon...



After...

The same ewes

as in the previous post:

Well, not quite!
 Dream was not in the previous post, but Zest (left) and Angel (white) were.

I'm not sure how Dream snuck into this photo.

Here's Zest after  shearing:

The third ewe in the "Before" post was

Destiny:

Of course, that  is NOT Destiny!

I don't know what's gotten into Dream.

THIS:

is Destiny.

I love that photograph of Alice's beautiful daughter!

Dazzle was in the previous post as well...

That's my friend, Jean, visiting Dazzle after shearing.

Oh, oh.  I think I might know what the problem is.

DREAM says...

"I have absolutely nothing to say!"

(..."try leaving ME out of another post"...)

Before...

The weatherman promised sunshine and warm temperatures.

Perfect weather for finally shearing my Shetland sheep!

I do believe the girls will be quite happy to give up their lovely locks

Or what's left of them...

"Wake me when it's over..."

What A DAY...

Friday started off with visiting with 2 new friends (Jean and Lynn) at Lynn's House. Lynn and her husband have the most adorable little house guest living with them.

His name is "August" and he's a bottle baby, Cotswold (?) ~ please correct me if I'm wrong, Lynn! ~ lamb.

I've got to tell you: I've never met a "sheep in the house" before and I think I want one!!! OMG ~ he is just too cute!

I had to cut my visit with Lynn and Jean short because the SHEARER was coming to my place! As much as I hate shearing day (almost as much as lambing!), I have to admit, it went SO much more smoothly with the very much appreciated help of Jean, Virginia and Terry! I think that was the smoothest flowing and quickest shearing day we've ever had...

My beautiful "Highland Hollow ALICE"

Just look at the conformation on this nine year old ewe! Her fleece is almost white now (she's a registured musket) and still as soft as butter! I actually burried my face in her freshly shorn fleece and there is absoltely no "itch factor" what-so-ever! After taking a break in 2008, Alice will be bred again this fall...


I absolutely love the face (and just about everything else!) of "Bluff Country Zest". She is so refined and feminine.

Even when she's Chowing Down!

I think Cat Nap looks stunning freshly shorn! It really makes her horns more noticeable.

Talk about a Refined ewe!

And her fleece is like BLACK VELVET!!

DREAM says:

"That's MY Beautiful Baby Girl!!
Mom says us girls are looking quite well fed and I' don't want to lose my girlish figure so

I'm working out by running up and down the hill!"

DREAM gets a new "Do".......

My sweet Dreamer didn't look quite as bad as some of my 'Swamp Creatures' but still was in need of some tidying up.

I was able to roo the old wool off of her neck but she really didn't like me pulling on that on her body. So, hand shearing it was...

Dream's babies stayed close and watched the whole process. I hope they took notes!


DREAM says....

...."I feel MUCH better! Some nice people came to visit last night and Mom said two of my babies are going to go live with them ~ far, FAR away (in North Carolina!). I'm going to miss Sandman and Sleeping Beauty (especially Sleeping Beauty!) but the people they are going to go live with are very nice and Mom said they'll take VERY good care of my babies...."

The Hurrieder I go.........The Behinder I Get!!

I'll NEVER get caught up!

Shearing day dawned sunny and warm! It turned out a very good thing that we got delayed by a week. I fed the sheep early as the shearer wasn't coming until mid-afternoon and I didn't want to make them go hungry all day...

I had everyone either tied up or in pens when the shearer arrived. He was wonderful. No nicks and he let me walk each sheep back out to the pasture and give it cookies after it was done. Then I had to put the fleece on a skirting screen and sweep the area he was shearing in, before he could do the next animal, which I brought to him. It took us almost 4 hours to do 18 sheep and 3 Angora goats! I SO appreciate that Phil is willing to work slowly and let me "recover" between animals! ;-)

Terry and her granddaughter, Auna, came in time to help skirt fleeces and watch the last few sheep and the goats (which my shearer HATES to shear!) get sheared. I don't know how he could hate anything about Angora goats ~ they truly are the most adorable creatures I have ever encountered!!! (PLEASE don't tell Dream I said that!)

I didn't take a lot of pictures. I was too busy. Then I was too SORE!

A few surprises, which I'll post pictures of this weekend ~ I have 3 DAYS OFF! Alice's daughter, Destiny, is going to be SHAELA! I can clearly see the "pewter" color starting to show on her neck. Sara ("Little Red Oak Serendipity") is going to have twins! She is the cutest, little moorit & white, HST (bred to Kimberwood Hunter, fawn/HST) and she is just as round as she is tall! She is finally getting friendly too! She looks great. Has good weight on her but I think she'll be one of the first to go ~ she's huge!

Alice looks like she always looks, a couple of weeks before lambing. Pregnant. She's got lots of room to carry her babies and doesn't start looking humongous until the last week or so. I'll definitely get pictures this weekend.

Lots more news but I've got to get off the computer. I'm (finally!) taking my taxes in to get them prepared tomorrow morning! I just went ahead and made an appointment because I realized that if I didn't make an appointment, I'd never get everything together! That's my job tonight. Tuesday morning I have a doctor appointment. I'm Hoping that life will settle down ~ even just a little bit! ~ on Wednesday and Thursday. I worked this weekend (days) and go back to 1 pm to 10 pm tomorrow. I'm so tired!

I apologize for not responding to the comments or to any of the many wonderful lambing posts on the Shetlands' List! My back was so sore, after shearing, that I couldn't sit at the computer. Now, I just don't have time...

See ya Wednesday!

DREAM says....



...."you can't see me because I'm bare-NEKKED!! Boy, does that feel GOOD!"

BEFORE.....

ALICE and ZODIAK (Dream's mom)
At this time, my blog is running a day or so behind 'real' time. As I write this, tomorrow (Friday, 4/4) is shearing day. I did have everything set up for shearing LAST Friday ~ including two people (who took a half-day off work!) to come help. Unfortunately, my shearer's girlfriend had made plans and he couldn't risk angering her so he postponed. Friday morning!!! Let's just say that I was not particularly happy with my shearer.

Sheltering Pines SAVANNAH
However, this week was cold and damp and it may have been better for the sheep and goats that we waited. So, tomorrow is the big day. I thought I'd share a few pictures of my fluffy friends Before.

MC DREAMY
says "You're going to need this wheelbarrow to put all of my MOHAIR in!

The rams still have snow in their pasture!



OOPS! Gotta run....I just got an e-mail from my oldest daughter and she's trying to call me. (I only have one phone line and dial-up Internet.) More tomorrow!

Hand Shearing Zodiak & Zest...

It's that time of year again. Time for the annual hand shearing of my "swamp creatures". Zest and Zodiak almost always need to be re sheared during the summer as they have matted growth on the ends of their fleece from where they were sheared before the "rise". When the new fleece starts growing out, they truly do look like "swamp creatures"!If you click on this picture to enlarge it, you can see how the fleece along Zodiak's back is splitting off. You may notice how thrilled Zodiak is to be tied up so that I can hand shear her. "What are you looking at????"

Here you can see the smooth line between the fleece that I'm removing and the new coat, beneath it. I'm getting pretty darned GOOD at this!!

One down and one to go. You can see how thrilled Zodiak is to be finished. And ZEST is so anxious to have her turn that she's rubbing on the gate. Zest is an excellent example of what I mean when I say my girls look like SWAMP CREATURES! Isn't she gross????

Zest's beautiful daughter, "Bella Luna" keeps a close on on her mom... The clean area on Zest's back gives me a good place to start. The fleece comes off in large pieces but is fairly difficult to shear as the matted clumps really stick to the new growth. Zest does NOT like having her fleece hand sheared.

Fortunately, I'm getting fairly quick at it. I had both girls done in less than an hour. Don't they look better????

I have a little bit of "touching up" to do on Flash and Zaria but no one else that needs to be completely re sheared. I use the felted fleece that I removed as mulch, in my garden. It works great for keeping weeds down and holding in moisture!

DREAM says.... ..."Mom said I look beautiful and I don't even need a 'touch up!'. It's too bad those other girls aren't more like ME... "