Tuesday, April 10, 2007

A mutton-bustin' morning

The bigger Rocky Sheep Suits I ordered arrived yesterday, so this morning I swapped out Rechel's, Dinah's and Bella's too-tight suits for roomier garb. You know what? Those suits come in handy for catching wary ovines! Just reach out and snag someone! Holding them still while changing their suits was another matter. After Rechel and I both ended up on the floor of the fold (just remember, girls: the shepherd ALWAYS wins :-), I learned an important technique. Put the head of the ewe between your knees from front to back, with said head IN A CORNER. Harrumph.

While changing coats, I got to admire the clean fleece growing underneath. Here's Rechel's:Dinah's:and Bella's:
I suppose you noticed that my Shetlands have turned into 4-H market lamb look-alikes. I didn't think Shetlands could achieve a body condition score this high! "This little piggy went to market...."

Here are the three chubs in their fresh frocks. (Well, Bella's isn't really fresh, since I used Rechel's first coat as her second coat.)
That's it for now at . . .

5 comments:

Kathy said...

What sizes did you finally end up with? I have to order larger ones too and my DH would like me to order the ones for horned sheep as they are so much easier to put on, take off.

I think a few of mine are with yours in that market class. :) You can sure tell who doesn't miss any meals - but it's also hard to break up flakes of hay that small, too.

Michelle said...

I bought two in size E and two in size F. Rechel and Dinah are in the Es now; I HOPE the Fs will be big enough for them in full fleece, and the Es will be big enough for Valentine and Bella in full fleece (they are both comfortable in Ds right now).

I may have to start breeding every year just to keep the chubs' weight down!

Tina T-P said...

Those coats sure do keep everyone clean! Ours were covered with hay bits an hour after they were sheared! Are you thinking of taking anyone to Black Sheep in June? T.

Michelle said...

No, Val's lamblets will be less than a month old then, so Bella would have to go solo -- a crazy-maker for all of us!

shepherdchik said...

Now you just need some numbers on the sides of the coats and the neighbors will think you are raising Serta sheep!