Thursday, May 07, 2009

"Just like sheep, only smaller."

That's what my shearer/farrier said today when he tipped Brava - ha! (He has "big whites.") Yes, Brava and Dinah were sheared today; I spared Inky the manhandling. Her fleece is rooing so I will work on her as I have time. I can feel the old gal's bones under her wool in spite of the extra concentrates she gets; I'm a little afraid to see what she really looks like underneath!

Back to my final two "sausages." Here's what they looked when I turned them out this morning:
What is under those coats? Why, clean, debris-free wool, of course!
Brava was a bit "sticky" to shear, but Dinah's fleece came off like butter. After the "after" photos, below, they got fresh (smaller) coats and went back to their confused lambs. I think everyone will agree now that Brava is musket, no? (And yes, both are "well fed." They should share with Inky!)

I took side samples from both girls before shearing; I now have samples from all my adults and will send them to Texas A&M tomorrow for micron testing. I am very interested to see what I have in my flock. Regardless of the numbers, however, I know how much I LOVE to spin fleeces like Dinah's and Brava's!

That's it for now at . . .

9 comments:

MiniKat said...

Wow. What a difference! It's like they were washed and put in the dryer. ;-)

ladyb1 said...

Now I can see why people use coats on their sheep, so much cleaner. Lovely fleeces, I bet you will have fun spinning them.

Karen said...

What a great quote by your shearer! And how old is Inky?

thecrazysheeplady said...

Wow! What brand of coats do you use?

Anonymous said...

What a difference the coat makes. It certainly is worthwhile to put a coat on the sheep's coat. LOL I bet it is much easier on them too as they will not get their wool tanngled on branches and things. I bet they will feel very frisky with all the weight of that wool gone.

Michelle said...

Karen, Inky is eight years old and has had lambs every year of her life - a total of 17. When I got her I knew she was in tough shape, but wanted to take a chance on her. She is such a sweetheart, with hardly any white fibers in her black, black fleece, and I love her head shape and big eyes. She gave me two fabulous lambs this year; hurray!

Sarah, I used Rocky Sheep Suits; they're the best!

Tina T-P said...

Nice fleeces =- are you going to enter them at Black Sheep? T.

Molly Bee said...

Gorgeous fibers!!! Looks like a dream to spin!

Kathy said...

Our shearer says to keep putting some apple cider vinegar in the water to help with that "stickiness" in the wool. We have a couple that have lovely fleeces, but hard to shear due to it. :)

I sure hope Miss Inky is OK - she's quite the ole Gal, isn't she. :)