"It is well to remember that the entire population of the universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others." A.Holmes

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Sheep Shearing Time~ Valentine Surprise !

It is shearing time for my flock of Jacob sheep.I have them sheared, feet clipped, vaccinated, and if they are not pregnant, wormed at this time.Here is Thora, enduring the indignity of being turned onto her back for the process.
My sheep shearers are a father/daughter duo, and also our good friends, Dirt * and one of his 4 daughters, Bet*.
This is Tilda, she is 2 months shy of her 1 year birthday and a very small Jacob sheep lamb.
My oldest grandson & I love her. She is petite, very feminine looking, and over all an appealing sheep. She has 4 horns, and if she can refrain from head-butting her sister sheep, she might have a beautiful and well balanced set. She gets feisty about where she wants to sleep and if any other sheep are in HER place she takes them on paying no mind to extreme size differences, forgetting she is one of the smallest sheep in my flock.
Bet does a very fine job of shearing. Since Bet showed sheep for many years in 4H she tries to shear so as to preserve the fleece for those of us who process our wool for spinning.
Timmy, my wethered lamb is being sheared.Did I just spot something surprising? No Way !

Look at this! Can you believe it? I am trying to be careful how I word these pictures because so much comes to mind....
..so I'll leave it at this, Happy Valentine's Day!

I am linking up to a Valentine's Day Farm Blog-Hop, please join me!

24 comments:

JC said...

Happy Heart Day to you and all the animals on your farm.

Elizabeth Edwards said...

hey, i hopped over from Boost-My-Blog Party! nice to meet ya. have a great <3 Day!! big hugs. ( :

Nancy said...

It was fun watching the sheep shearing process...great story! Visiting from the Valentine's Boost-My-Blog Party...have a great Valentine's Day!

Jan Hermann said...

Oh that's adorable - the HEART!! I enjoyed seeing them all sheared. When I was a child, we would go to our Great-Grandmother's farm in northern Wisconsin and one of her relatives had a sheep farm and I got to see them sheared in person. It was amazing, especially to a young girl of about 7 years of age.

Happy Valentine's Day...
Jan ♥

Black Fox Homestead said...

I'm just enjoying your lovely blog! I've dropped in from the Boost Your Blog Party. My name is Jenny, and my husband and I just recently moved to a spot in the country in hopes of leading a much simpler lifestyle. We have no livestock yet, but I really enjoyed the photos of your sheep. We have chickens coming in the summer and something (goats? maybe) before the end of the year. I look forward to following along through my Google Reader. Many blessings!

~Black Fox Homestead.com

Lisa @ Two Bears Farm said...

That belly heart is SO cool! Thanks for participating in the Boost My Blog party. I'm your 200th follower!

Connie said...

Oh my gosh! That is so cool! What a fun surprise. Happy Valentine's Day, Kathy. ♥

Buttons Thoughts said...

Well that looks like fun. Wow that last pic says a lot:)
Happy Valentines Day. Visiting from Valentine Blog Hop party. B

Unknown said...

Hey! I just popped over from the Valentines BMB party hosted by Lisa & Nancy! And WOW, look at the 2nd to last picture, it really looks like a heart on the belly! Too cute and perfect for Valentine's Day! Thanks for sharing.

Thistle Cove Farm said...

Kathy, that is SO funny and "just like a man"! Makes me remember some decades ago, a calf was born on a PA farm; had the Mickey Mouse ears on her side and DisneyWorld bought her for $200K. What a payday for those farmers!

Marie at Rural Living Today said...

How amazing to find that heart for Valentine's Day! I'm visiting from Boost My Blog. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE your wee little sheep in your Etsy shop!

Kim said...

That heart is hilarious! And Tilda is such a pretty Jacob.

Anonymous said...

Thoroughly enjoyed this insiders look at sheep shearing! I'm been all about sheep and Psalm 23 for some months now - and just completed co-writing our church's spring drama - Psalm 23 set in an art gallery. Yep - you read that right. My sheep reading for research and inspiration has led me to some vintage titles by actual 19th century shepherds from Galilee - believer - with such depth of insight! Will be sharing more on this soon!
Joy!
Kathy

Nancy said...

What an amazing tummy heart! That's too funny.


Thanks so much for joining us at the BMB party. :)

Vickie said...

Oh. My. Goodness.

That is the funniest Valentine photo I've seen all day!

Did you shear Miss Bluebonnet Vickie? I hope she was a good little lamb and cooperated... :)

Happy Valentines Day, Kathy B!

Vickie said...

Oh. My. Goodness.

That is the funniest Valentine photo I've seen all day!

Did you shear Miss Bluebonnet Vickie? I hope she was a good little lamb and cooperated... :)

Happy Valentines Day, Kathy B!

Eggs In My Pocket said...

How perfect is that for a Valentine's Day shearing! You need to keep her sheared just to show she has heart!! Love all of the photos!

KathyB. said...

Vickie, yes, Bluebonnet Vickie was sheared too and she has an amazing fleece! Well worth her feed around here. I am going to post more pictures of the sheep as lambing season progresses.

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy said...

LOL!!! Oh my gosh. That is totally a great Valentine's Day picture, Kathy.

It was fun to watch the shearing process too.

Kathy M.

A. Joy said...

That's too funny! Great to see Bet in on the shearing!

xinex said...

Very interesting!How cute!...Christine

Lisa Lynn said...

Love your little black heart on the sheep belly! So cute! Thanks for sharing this on The HomeAcre Hop!

I also saw you on the Boost my Blog Hop! So much fun :) Glad to meet you!

Jo said...

Kathy, it was wonderful to see you on my blog yesterday. I haven't visited blogs for so long, I have been too busy. Argh. But the strange thing is, I was thinking about you just yesterday morning, and admiring my little black and white sheep, et voila! there you were. Great minds think alike.

Cheers!

Jo

Paula said...

*hahahaha* A perfectly placed heart!! This was a wonderful post, Kathy~ I enjoyed seeing Bet and Dirt at work.