Juniper just wants a little off the sides and a cute flip on the top.
When you have sheep, you usually have fleece. At least, when you have wool sheep and that is what our gang is. Shetland, Finn and a few Shetland-Finn crosses. And they were well ready for hairdo day! We had a little trouble finding a shearer. The fellow from last year had gotten way too busy and we were once again up against the deadlines. We really like to shear in May or at the very latest, June. And with our serious flood this spring, it had just pushed things back to June… 
All the cute little baby gang were confused. What the heck was going on? Why where all the mommas hanging out in this little bit of the screen porch? Why were the food ladies all standing around and waiting? Who was the new fellow with the clippers and such? They pretty quickly learned that something exciting was about to happen!
Little Freya learning from Uncle Angus all about the activities of the day!
Looks like Maggie is taking haircut orders from the ladies!
Jessy loves to hold the baby lambs and she has a hold of big old baby Gary! He was born on my dad’s birthday and just about the same time he was born, so it was an easy name for him… Gary the sheep! He was a surprise baby from his mommy Linden. Apparently, she had snuck out on a date with Lukkus that we had not planned!!! That was a crazy day… We were like, where the heck did this lamb come from? Linden wasn’t talking… she was too frazzled herself as a first time momma!
Pixie with her triplets! She raised the two big boys, Loki and Thor… and we raised her daughter, Freya since Pixie had refused to keep more than two. It was okay, it’s always interesting to raise a bottle baby. A lot of work, but it builds memories for sure. And we made sure that Freya got lots of visitation time with her brothers and mom…
Lukkus was the first one and he let all his flock know that it was just okay to get this done. Five minutes later and he was clean shaven and popped out into the middle yard to itch and rub and frolic without his heavy fleece!!
The rest were sheared in decent time and by 45 minutes to the dot, we were all finished up! I love to have a professional shearer come to the farm. They are worth their weight in gold! Just about an hour with set up and take down and shearing and all is done. It took me like 3 hours to do one sheep with my inability to shear correctly and with confidence! And it’s really pretty reasonable as well… usually a farm fee of $50 to $75 and then $5 an animal! Can’t beat that with a stick! We always tip generously… it’s so worth it.
The babies are always so funny… They don’t recognize their moms after new hairdo day! And for an hour or so they wander about crying and trying to comfort each other as they search for their REAL moms… haha… eventually, they come to realize that that sexy clean shaven ewe is their own sweet momma! But it is kinda silly to watch them bob around and just not understand at ALL!
Goldie, one of our hens, had a good time watching and then went off to hang out in a garden box! Crazy little chicken… All in all a very successful shearing! We will have lots of wool to process and make into some beautiful yarns soon!!!
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