When we bought the new Dorset ewes, we knew that shearing them would be sooner rather than later, as they had 18 months of baby wool and could hardly see where they were going... it also made them quite skittish as they couldn't see us properly and to trust us they need to see us and know who we are... they were also going to be put to the tup with the rest so that we can lamb again at the beginning of November..... blimey.. that'll be 4 lambings in a year!
So a friend came in at fairly sort notice to clip... Nigel has done the job before, but he was 16 the last time he did it which is rather too many years ago to mention!! We did all the Dorsets and most of last years hogs.... Nigel gathered each fleece and passed it over to me... my job was to take off all the doddings and then wrap the fleeces before packing them into the wool sacks...
They are so big that I can't see where I'm going and feel as soft and warm as the sheep they came from and they are slightly sweaty.. and smell wonderful... if you like that sort of thing.. Each is thrown out onto a makeshift table, with the outside ends uppermost, then they are folded into the middle along their length, skin side out and rolled up.
The wool from the young dorsets is really soft and long so I'll keep one fleece for myself to spin and share another with a friend who's eye's lit up when she heard my description..... they are beautiful!
So a friend came in at fairly sort notice to clip... Nigel has done the job before, but he was 16 the last time he did it which is rather too many years ago to mention!! We did all the Dorsets and most of last years hogs.... Nigel gathered each fleece and passed it over to me... my job was to take off all the doddings and then wrap the fleeces before packing them into the wool sacks...
They are so big that I can't see where I'm going and feel as soft and warm as the sheep they came from and they are slightly sweaty.. and smell wonderful... if you like that sort of thing.. Each is thrown out onto a makeshift table, with the outside ends uppermost, then they are folded into the middle along their length, skin side out and rolled up.
The wool from the young dorsets is really soft and long so I'll keep one fleece for myself to spin and share another with a friend who's eye's lit up when she heard my description..... they are beautiful!
We had an extremely windy day on Saturday, so the hogs spent most of it hiding under the wall to keep warm... today has been warmer so they have been out and about again and seem much happier to be free of their long coats.. it takes a few hours for them to get covered with grease again, but 2-3 days to get a new later of wool, even the tiniest layer will make all the difference.
The Dorset ewes were put out onto fresh pasture with their new bow... who has a permanent grin on his face! 3 have already been tupped and have bright yellow bottoms from the first colour of raddle.. the red and green dots are our farm mark and the blue stripe is to keep any flies away... it disappears within a few hours but protects for a couple of weeks before we do the main fly protection which will last until September when the danger of being struck is much reduced.... can't have my girls being uncomfortable!
The Dorset ewes were put out onto fresh pasture with their new bow... who has a permanent grin on his face! 3 have already been tupped and have bright yellow bottoms from the first colour of raddle.. the red and green dots are our farm mark and the blue stripe is to keep any flies away... it disappears within a few hours but protects for a couple of weeks before we do the main fly protection which will last until September when the danger of being struck is much reduced.... can't have my girls being uncomfortable!
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