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

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Shearing Spotted Sheep

~Hey, no, not HAY, I said "hey", girls....come on into the shed to get your wool done.A little clip and your coats will be like new...awww, come on in, please ? "In levying taxes and in shearing sheep it is well to stop when you get down to the skin." Austin O'Malley
~Dirt is here to shear 5 of my ewes who are due to lamb sometime soon, at least according to what my very own eyes spied them doing with Goth, January and February are the months my lambs should be arriving. Yes, it is cold, but they can take it!~"It is the duty of a good shepherd to shear his sheep, not skin them." Tiberius
~Dirt sheared 5 ewes and gave them their overeaters' shots. He sheared 5 of my sheep in an hour, it would have taken me all day to shear one. As he finished taking the fleece (wool) off a sheep, his daughter Bet and I would skirt the fleece. That is, we would take or pick out of the wool all the undesirable things, mats, clumps of manure, hay, etc., and then I would bag the fleece to be washed and dyed later. ~Oh the indignity of it all ! Naomi has her head right in a sensitive area of Dirt's anatomy. You can just imagine the uncomfortable position Dirt finds himself in when he shears Goth. Although, the ewes have some mighty pointed horns and they are sharp. Dirt has not been harmed by my sheep that I am aware of and he has been shearing my flock for quite a few years now. ~My naked flock of Jacob Sheep! I was glad to find that under all their wool they were in good shape, not too thin, not too fat. The ewes all have begun to udder up, which means their udders are filling with the colostrum and milk for their lambs. My poor naked girls, they are huddled under the heat lamp I hung for them.
~"He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before his shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth." Isaiah 53:7
~Blessings: sheep, wool, Dirt: friend AND shearer, Bet ~

17 comments:

Candy Duell said...

Oh what nice wool you will have! Opps, maybe I should of said, the poor cold sheep,,,, naa, they can take it :)

Anonymous said...

Well Miss Kathy, I never expected I would see naked girls on your blog! ha

Unknown said...

Can't wait to see what you do with all that wool :)

LindaSue said...

Brrr - I would be right there with those nekkid girls under the heat lamp.(I would so totally not be nekkid sorry if I put that visual in anyone's mind - ew)
They are so pretty all clean and spotty with their birthing haircuts. You have great friends with a multitude of skills. When I saw the scripture I re read your post to make sure nobody committed an offense which would take them to the slaughter!

Wilson Clan said...

Me and your girls have something in common. ;)

Connie said...

Oh my gosh! I never even thought about the fact that Goth would have to be sheared!! How on earth does one accomplish that with the horns he has on his head!! YIKES!!! Just shearing the girls seems like it would be difficult enough.

Lanny said...

hey Daisy, You know we stopped having children when Dirt started shearing sheep.. Just kidding.

Kathy your sheep are very nice for Dirt to shear, there are worse, far worse things than horns that he has to deal with. You are a good customer having everything clean and tidy, everything Dirt needs all set up. He is always eager to shear for you whenever you call. Some phone calls he has to build up the courage before he answers.

Your RE Broker said...

They all have a motherly glow cause they look extra pretty without all their wool...you are an excellent caretaker of your animals. I love that you put up heat lamps for them when it's so cold out. I think Goth's name should have been Goth the Reproducer???

KathyB. said...

Candy, your right, they can take it!

Mildred, Ha ha, naked girls!

Toni, right now the big bags of wool are sitting in my upstairs hall until I wash them. That is my incentive to get right to it though because the bags of wool smell like the sheep, and much as I love my sheep, I don't want my house to smell like them!

Linda Sue,Dirt and Lanny together are a formidable team in the talents' department, then add in their 4 daughters,husbands....well, lets just say it is good to have them on your team! And you know, Goth is pushing the envelope and at the rate he is going he just might be led to slaughter, but definitely not for being blameless !

Wilson clan, yes ! And all due around the same time. Hopefully yours won't be wooley and have 4 legs.

Daisy, once Dirt gets him on his back he is pretty helpless, but then when he turns his head or wiggles it is a little bit dicey..and

Lanny, you made me laugh!And thanks for the kind words. I was recalling some of Dirt's stories about his many shearing adventures at other places...those would be funny stories!

AMC,Goth the Reproducer ! Very good!

Anonymous said...

We used to raise Shetland sheep, I always thought Jacob's were neat looking but now we raise Mini-Nubian goats. I'm coming from Annie's Goat Hill blog.

KathyB. said...

Amy,thanks for visiting ! I just peeked at your blog and your web site ! This could be dangerous for me, little Nubian goats ...I still miss my herd of Nubians and here there are LITTLE, but perfectly Nubian goats...hmmm. milk, goats' milk soap, your web site has some very nice looking goats, Hubby just might not want me checking them out...but I will!....now where could I put a few new goats ?

Anonymous said...

Kathy,
You're welcome for visiting! Thanks for stopping by my blog and website. When we first got into goats and when we had our own milk source, the first thing we made was goat's milk soap and fudge, LOL but now I like to drink the Mini-Nubian milk plain or in hot chocolate, coffee, etc.
We started out with Nigerians which were just too small, my sister and myself were the only ones who could milk them then we just got a couple full sized Nubian does which were just too big for us to handle then we saw Mini-Nubians for the first time and fell in love with them, perfect medium sized goats, wonderful little milkers and have wonderful personalities, ahh perfect in both world's of Nigerians and Nubians and some of them have those nice floppy ears of Nubians! We used to have 72 goats here though but now we're down to just 49.

Jo said...

Omigoodness, they are so beautiful. Look at their gorgeous faces, all look at the camera. They seem to be saying, "Oh, please take my picture. I've just had my hair done. Don't I look gorgeous?"

I have never seen sheep with freckles!

Eggs In My Pocket said...

How interesting sheep farming is. Your sheep are so beautiful. How often do you have to sheer sheep? Do you have a spinning wheel, or do you send your wool off for processing? Can't wait to see the young ones when the time comes. blessings, Kathleen

Country Girl said...

Such interesting goings on in your neck of the woods. Always a pleasure stopping by here.

KathyB. said...

Amy, I do mis my Nubians and currently have 2 Pygmy-Nigerian dwarf cross wethers. They are cute and fun, but there is something about the Nubians, their long floppy ears, graceful long legs and necks, their busy body ways. Plus, their milk was pretty good too.

Jo, my ewes weren't too happy right away with their shearing, they shivered for a day or two, but now they are positively frisky...and I can see they are plenty healthy and uddered up, ready for lambing.And freckles, not especially desired in Jacob sheep, but I like them!

Kathleen, I have my sheep sheared only once a year. Some sheep need 2 shearings a year though not the Jacobs. I do spin up the wool and some of it I weave into fabric. A lot of my fleece is used by me for locker hooking rugs.

Country Girl, thank-you!

Anonymous said...

Oh the naked girls...LOL! I wonder if they do feel so strange about it. I think I would. And looking forward to what you will make with their wool!