Shearing Day 2020

Things were a little different this year.  My pictures from shearing day are always terrible, and this year I'm happy to report they are ever-so-slightly better.  Friday also was the warmest shearing day that we've had since we've moved to Pennsylvania.  There were no pregnant ewes that shouldn't have been pregnant (whew!), but I think our due dates are a little later than I originally estimated.  One thing was the same, though: Budgie had one of the very best fleeces.

Yeti baaed all day long.

Quality time with Hazel

Quality time with a Brahma

The pregnant ewes might be due later than we thought.

Mojito, Dr. Pepper, and Cisco are still BFFs.

Beryl had a long, long wait.

Everyone is Fluffy ... But Not for Long

Shearing day is coming soon, so the sheep will look a lot smaller soon.

The rams and wethers tend to keep their fleeces cleaner, and all of their fleeces look good.

Wethers Peat and Spruce

All the sheep, though, are acting hot and itchy.  Some are even losing chunks of fleece.  They should appreciate being sheared, but for the most part, they will not be happy about it.

Vanilla

Adelie

Barack O'Llama has a while to wait before his annual shearing.  He's probably thinking of ways to "entertain" people on shearing day and enlisting the help of the chickens in his plans.

Champagne is going to be a show sheep once again....at least that's the plan.

Just Pictures

Adelie

Barack O'Llama

Cashew

Sprite

Sprite again

Elvira & the ewes

Pawlonia & Henrietta

Pawlonia

Pina Colada

Sassy

Snow

Tiffany

Cisco & Mojito

Cisco loves hanging out with his best pals, Dr. Pepper and Mojito.  They've been a good influence on his as he is no longer so skittish.  Now that he's not so terrified every time he sees me I took a few better pictures of him. 

Cisco

Cisco

Cisco with Spruce

His buddy, Mojito, is going to be a show sheep again this year.  While he was practicing yesterday, he escaped.  He was as scared as we all were, but eventually, he rejoined the rest of the boys.

Mojito

Mojito (with Cisco)

Big Days Ahead

Busy season--shearing and lambing--is approaching. Right now is usually the calmest time of the year, but we have a had a little drama this winter.  Happily, it's just been sheep with minor injuries (who are all better now), a pest in the barn (that we caught), and the usual issues with coats. 

Cashew

Vanilla and Sassy

Sky and Pistachio

Also, we now have an  Instagram page!  Follow us here to see more pictures like the ones below.

Elsie

Peat

Barack O'Llama

Snow Pictures

Cisco Goes on Vacation

Cisco has finished his job for the year.  Even though we were concerned about his young age, we're fairly certain all the ewes who were in the pen with him are bred.  We won't know for sure until the end of April. 

Cisco moved into the ram pen with the other rams (Cormorant, Mojito, and Dr. Pepper) and the adult wethers.  He is not happy about the move.  We humans have seen much, much worse ram introductions, but Cisco thinks it's bad enough to baa about it and act skittish around the larger guys.

Cisco meets his new friends.

Barack sniffs Cisco for the first time.

The ewes are back together.  Hopefully, we're settling in for uneventful winter. 

Elsie, Cashew, & friends

Iced Tea

Myrtle

Pawlonia, Peanut, and Elvira know something is going on.