Handshearing

This year, rather than hiring a shearer to do all my sheep at once, I decided to shear them myself by hand using handshears. Even though I think my shearer is a lovely person, I would be heartbroken to have second cuts in my precious fibre, especially my shorter lamb's fleeces. By shearing myself, I would have no one else to blame but myself for the 2nd cuts. Also, I could sort the fleece as I was shearing, removing undersirable bits and second cuts along the way. I'm hoping that this will speed up my skirting process later, but I haven't started that yet and have my fleeces piling up in bags in the chicken coop. The process of shearing them is taking a long time, because I can only do 1 or 2 a day as it takes me an average of 1.5 hours to accomplish each one. I have 3 1/2 sheep left to go and I've already done 15 1/2 sheep. Bok Choy is my 1/2 done; half not done. I sheared him when the weather was very hope and he seemed to be suffering for overheating. I ran out of steam shearing him, but I managed to get the wool from his topline off and around the neck so that he'd be more comfortable and that did the trick.

To the left is Nessa Rose, Black Katmoget ewe with Gray fleece. She is the first ewe I sheared. She is rather ratty looking...such a bad haircut. Below is Morgan, my last shearing.

The sheep in the picture above is Morgan, a Black Iset, Blettet ewe. She is the most recently shorn girl and I'm so proud of her stunning haircut. Not just that, but I had a wonderful time shearing her fleece. It was very easy and the shears cut through her fleece easily, which I think is just a timing thing. Thelma, the ewe shorn the day before her was also very easy, but she fought me the whole time, head butting me constantly. Morgan on the other hand kept wagging her tail. I kept hearing her tail knocking against the back of the shearing stand. I thought she was swatting flies, but then I'd let go of her and then scratch her newly shorn neck or body and there would go her tail again. She was born here on my farm and her mother Meg is stand-off-ish, but Morgan would stand still so I could pick her up as a lamb. She'd almost cuddle with me. I called her my little "doll". I was talking to my friend Judy last week and she asked whether my shearing process was less stressful on my sheep (being upright on a shearing stand for 1 1/2 hours) versus 15 min on their butts with a shearer (using noisy electric shears). I told her that likely it was just as stressful, but a different kind of stress. My sheep know me very well and know that I won't hurt them. After shearing Morgan, I can say for certainty, that my method of shearing, for her specifically, was not stressful. I also remember that when she was shorn by the shearer for the first time, she kept struggling and he clipped her leg, so I think she was a happy camper that day.

I started handshearing this year by shearing last year's 3 ram lambs just before going to the butcher in early May ("haircuts" pictured at left). From that first shearing experience, I determined that I'd need a shearing stand. I modeled my stand on the Wooden Stanchion found on pg. 145 of the book "How to Build Animal Housing" by Carol Ekarius using some pieces of wood I had around. I'll take measurements, materials list and post comments in a later entry on my stand for those wanting to build one for themselves. It is pictured at the top. It is a neccessity for me because my back can't take the strain of being bent over.

Good byes

Lambs socializing around the water cooler prior to leaving: Winola (centre), black Giselle (back left), and Piper (front, right) prior to going to their new home. The other lambs rounding out the picture are Whitlock (white, centre left), Graydon (behind Giselle) and next to him Penelope (centre back), with Orion my big white ram lamb on the other side of the fence.

Last Friday I said good bye to 4 of my moms and their lambs: Dot and her 2 lambs Fiona & Faolan; Elphaba and her lamb Giselle; Natasha and her lamb Piper and Una and her lamb Winola. They have gone to a very good home where I'm sure they will be loved and well cared for. Thanks Deanna, enjoy them!

It was the first time I've really sold any of my babies and although it was tough, it was necessary and it feels better already. I now have 12 moms and 13 lambs. More will be sold throughout the summer and into the fall so that I can get closer to 9-10 ewes and no lambs.

Ursula...

I was out all day today giving a Fibre Preparation Workshop downtown at the Ottawa Valley Weavers and Spinners Guild. It was a fun workshop and I made some new converts to wool combing. By the end of the day, I felt I was needed at home rather than go out again to watch Brianna play her first soccer games. I had had a funny feeling that morning, that Ursula was close...I've been way wrong most of the time this year. Sure enough, as soon as I drove up, I looked for my 2 last girls still waiting to lamb. Thelma was out in the field eating what little grass she could find, but Ursula was nowhere to be seen. As I was about to walk into the door, I heard the telltale noise...someone in labour, and it didn't sound good. Its the same sound that I got from the ewes with badly presenting lambs. I started to panic and got in my farm clothes and rushed to the sheep barn. Ursula was already in the lambing pen (clever girl) and her water had broken, so definitely in labour. I put up the gate quickly and gave her some water. She wasn't pleased by anything. I kept looking to see if her lamb was coming out well, nothing yet. I couldn't stand waiting and watching, so I went into the house to refill the other water buckets. When I got back to the barn, I could see 2 feet...good!!! But Ursula was still in distress. I remember her mother Thelma was a real moaner too when she had her first few lambs. I tried not to panic again...I started trying to visual my sheep book's pictures of mispresenting lambs, and wondered if it could be 2 back feet...not good! Eventually I looked in again and thank you, I could see the nose. OK, she's not happy, but it will be over soon...looks like a big lamb. The head cleared, but she was lying down, so I helped guide that lamb all the way out. She changed her tone quickly after that and started cooing at her lamb. Her lamb is a white ram lamb with interesting facial markings. She is already proving to be a great mom, because he was up and I saw her nursing her lamb within an hour. She's also quite calm. I'll weigh him tomorrow and find a name for him (Whitlock). I can't wait to see him when he dries up some more. His fleece looks very nice and even.



Ursula and her ram lamb Whitlock, which is English for "white lock of hair"...this just fits. He came in at a nice big size of 2.84kg for a 1st time lambing.

One more girl yet...and I saw her pawing the ground and behaving bizarrely tonight...maybe I'll wake up to 2 more lambs and an end to this big lambing season.

Ebony

Late last night, as Hugh and I were putting the sheep and lambs in for the night, I noticed that Ebony was in labour. I quickly hustled her into a free lambing pen and went to work capturing errant lambs. About 15 minutes later, I was all done and mentioned to Hugh that I would look in on Ebony to see how she is progressing... Hugh says, "Well, there's a lamb!" Sure enough, a dark little Katmoget ram lamb that I've named Graydon which is English for Gray, as that is the colour of his fleece. That just shows you how quick and easy these sheep are. This little guy was born late in the evening and coupled with the fact that the temperature was dropping drastically to zero, with winds, we closed up all the doors. I put a little sweater on him to keep him warm as he was shivering and I didn't really want to hover over him all night, as Ebony seemed to have everything under control.

That leaves only Thelma (due to have twins) and her daughter from last year Ursula (with only 1 lamb expected). The lamb count is now 17 (7 rams; 10 ewes).

Dot's Two Little Lambs

After supper the night before, as I had hoped and predicted, 2 little lambs were in the pen with Dot. A white ewe lamb named Fiona (which means fair, white) and a black Katmoget ram lamb named Faolan (which means little wolf). They looked very wobbly, especially the ewe lamb and even later on, the little ewe lamb is still a bit wobbly, but Dot is a great mom and the lambs are being well taken care of. I weighed them this morning and the ram lamb weighs 3.0 kg and the ewe lamb weighs 2.7 kg. I decided to keep her in the lambing pen all day to make sure her wobbly lamb doesn't have to chase her all over the field. Its a good deal too, being in the lambing pen. You can eat without competition and you know your lambs are close by and safe. But, Dot had other ideas and I found her out in the field after supper with her 2 lambs close by her. The ewe lamb is quite cute...she doesn't seem white, but a definite cream colour, although it may change later on.

Earlier in the day I sprung Meg and her 2 lambs and allowed them to explore the field and make friends. By mid afternoon I spied Meg going head to head with Thelma, who is still waiting for her lambs. Thelma seemed the aggressor and Megs lambs were being "taught" manners by the other moms...its a tough world in the sheep herd.

Brianna and her friend Olivia helped me put the sheep and lambs safely to bed tonight and it sure was a scramble. There was 1 lamb on either side of the pasture that caused us much grief. I put Meg and her lambs back in a lambing pen for safety, since there is a vacancy and of course Dot stayed in her pen.

Finally for Meg

I've had quite the break in lambing, but finally this morning, Meg was found with 2 little lambs up and nursing already. It's been over a month and I've thought that Meg would be the first one to lamb and that possibly she'd have triplets because her udder was very big and she was the first to develop it, but I was wrong. And to my utter joy, another white lamb...please, please let it be a ewe lamb....Yes it is!!! I finally get a white ewe lamb. I think I'll name her Orianna, and she weighs 2.5 kg but has a large, light reddish brown patch above her back leg, a smaller one right at the top and the very tip of her tail is tipped with very light brown. She also has some spots on her left front leg, but I don't think anywhere else. The other one is a ram lamb that I am naming Osrick, weighing 3.0 kg displaying the Katmoget pattern with very light or white body fleece and spots. Meg is a mioget ewe out of Veliraf Nicholas Nickleby and Ellie, who was a moorit ewe.












On the left is Orianna and Meg, and in the picture on the right is Osrick, Meg's ram lamb.

Later on in the day, I noticed that Annie's little ram lamb Caspar was limping, so I put him and his sister Cassia with their mom Annie in the lambing pen, so that Caspar could rest his little leg and not chase after mom. He's not too good at following mom around. On the other hand, cutie Cassia follows mom like a shadow. I frequently find him away from mom and have to grab him and push him up to mom. Annie is blind in one eye from an eye injury when she was a lamb, so I wonder if sometimes she loses track that she's got 2 now, this being her first set of twins. She's a good mom though, because I frequently see her two lambs tucked up safely sleeping side by side, while Annie gets a bit to eat. Its almost like she urges them to sit there like good little lambs, and they are very obedient.

Annie wasn't in the lambing pen long, because I checked on everybody when Brianna got home from school and showed her Meg's two lambs. One minute the "girls in waiting" where fine, the next minute, Dot is starting in labour. I sent Annie out with her twins and put Dot in the lambing pen next to Meg. That means there are only 3 girls left to lamb after Dot. So I shuffled the barn again. This time, my young moms with single lambs that I am selling are now occupying a 1/3 of the barn and the girls I'm keeping for now and the girls that haven't lambed yet are in the other 2/3 of the barn which includes the 2 lambing pens. Should be a riot tonight trying to round up the 2 sets of lambs.

Now I'm off to check on Dot to see if she had her lambs...more to come.

Beautiful Sight

I tossed and turned all night. Every 2 hours or so, I'd get up to listen by my bathroom window...not a peep. As soon as morning broke and everyone's alarms went off, I got up and went to check in the barn. I had put Annie in a lambing pen the night before and I was sure she was in labour when I checked on her in the evening, but it seemed slow. All night I listened for her, because I had a bad feeling, which translated into lambing nightmares. Boy I'm being dramatic...

As I had hoped, there they were, 2 healthy looking little lambs in the lambing pen with Annie. This is Annie's 3rd lambing and she finally twinned, a ewe and a ram. I did a bit of a double take on the ram lamb, because he is very white, but with several black/gray spots...what is going on...oh, he's Katmoget...but its different looking from my other Katmoget lambs. Bill, if you are reading this, I'm going to need help on this one. He has the characteristic dark legs, but his belly is white with black-ish spots. We think he will be named Caspar, which is English for wealthy man (pronounced like Casper, the Friendly Ghost). He weighs 2.55kg. The ewe lamb weighs 1.9kg and is definitely Katmoget, but I've noticed that her chin is light coloured, similar to pictures I've seen as Light Badger Face. She has a lot of reddish pigment around her face and eyes, which I'm seeing in some of Twist's lambs. She an absolute cutey and is very calm and cuddly. We have decided to call her Cassia, which is Greek for cinnamon. Her fleece will likely end up being a light grey/musket like her mother. The reason I heard nothing last night is because everything was just fine. The 2 lambs were already dry by morning and obviously contentedly fed...like good Shetlands that they all are.