Anticipation!

The countdown has begun.  We are less than 30 days from the reason we have sheep, from the day that just about beats Christmas for me – Shearing Day! On Friday March 20^th we’ll shear all 24 sheep and be up to our eyeballs in the softest fleece in natural colors of browns, silver, chocolate, bright white and creamy white. I cannot explain why wool fiber gives me such a thrill, but it does. Oh so soft, with tiny crimping from end to end, these 24 fleeces will be sold as is or turned into roving for hand spinners, or yarn for knitters. 

Two weeks ago before the wind kicked up, we put larger jackets on Jackie and Louise and we loosened Hillary’s jacket which was too big when we got it on her and solved that by cinching the jacket up with two golf balls tucked under the canvas and strapping them in place with a mini bungy cord tied tightly from the outside. Nine of our twenty four sheep have been wearing jackets year round to keep their fleece free of any hay or dirt and to prevent the colored fleece from bleaching out in the sun because hand spinners who like to work with raw fleece will pay a premium for this kind of pristine wool.   

At least three times during the course of the year as the fleece grows out we replace the jackets in order to prevent the tips of the fleece from felting against a jacket that is too tight.  The jacket is a large rectangle of medium weight canvas which covers the top and sides of the animal and is held in place in the back with a loop of black nylon strapping on either side for the hind legs to slip through and a smaller rectangle of canvas across the animal’s chest that connects to the front edge of the large rectangle on either side.

To switch out the jacket Todd first has to get his hands on the sheep, not always an easy task. Once Todd has his arms around a sheep’s neck, I go to a hind leg and grip the ankle right above the hoof and put a steady pull on the foot, waiting for the animal to get the message and lift up her leg a few inches off the ground.  The moment the leg comes up voluntarily, and it eventually does, I slide my hand to the hoof and with the other hand work the black strap down the back side of the leg and hopefully slip it right under the hoof, freeing one side of the jacket.  I get around to the other side of the animal to free the other hind leg. The hoofs are always covered in shit and because the strap is narrow I can’t do the work with gloves on, but I’ve long since gotten over any issues with getting smeared in wet dung. Until I can get in the house I wipe off what I can on my Carhartts.

Because it has been so bitterly cold both Jackie and Louise’s jackets had frozen to the fleece. We slowly, gently peeled the jackets back revealing gorgeous, soft, immaculate fleece! This sneak peak has me all the more anxious for Shearing Day.  As Carly Simon sings in her song, Anticipation, waiting is hard but, “stay right here, ’cause these are the good old days.”