Oreo apparently wanted a better view.
After Brian and I finished morning chores, I decided to salvage Blake's neck wool. Before my Texas trip it was firmly attached; by the time I got back, he looked half-rooed! (I couldn't find any wool around his pen; either he was rubbing it off and then eating it, or his half-brother Browning was grazing on him.) From the looks of him I thought the fleece would come off more easily than it did, but he didn't seem to mind the pulling. I wasn't sure I was up to another rooing marathon, though, so after pulling a mid-side sample for micron testing, I left the rest for the shearer.
(That was a mistake; more on that tomorrow.)
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| Mid-side ON the sheep |
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| Mid-side OFF the sheep |
Love that polled noggin . . . along with his lovely fleece, and nice structure, and attractive head. ;-)
That's it for today from . . .
7 comments:
Absolutely lovely fleece, Michelle!
Sandra at Thistle Cove Farm
In your second picture, is that a woven electrified fence? I am interested in using something like that for a small flock of shetlands I am planning for and I would like to rotate their grazing.
Thanks,
Heather in PA
No, that's no-climb horse wire, Heather. I've never used the woven electric fence and probably never will. It is quite an investment, and I've heard of it causing fatalities, which I've never experienced from the fencing I have.
Thank-you, Sandra!
What is "rooing". Do you pull the fleece off with your hands? It's beautiful fleece. Worth the doing, but will wait to hear more.
Hope you never change that header photo. I look forward to seeing this photo every time I visit.
You've got it, farmlady; rooing is harvesting the wool by hand. It comes off more or less easily from sheep who go through a distinct "rise," which means there is a weak spot at the line of demarcation between old growth and new growth. I had more sheep show a "rise" this spring, but none rooed easily.
Thank you for explaining "rooing". I had never heard of it. I've learned something very interesting.
Love your blog.
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