Sarah Jane Humke

Today was shearing day.  It was probably six weeks overdue, but I never planned on the shearing handset to crap out on me while shearing the first sheep.  So I had to scramble to find a shearer and then find a time that worked for both of us to do it, and well, you know how it goes I am sure…

Today was almost entirely over by 1pm.  The shearer was lovely and fast.  He had about as much in travel time as he did in shearing time here.  I did manage to shoot some photos of him sharing the sheep.

My brother and sister-in-law came out with my young niece (I can’t say little as she’s only a few months over a year old and weighs over thirty pounds already.  She’s a BIG little girl!  She enjoyed the lambs and the shearing and as usual, Herbert was a favorite.  My sister-in-law gets credit for these photos.  Thanks Heather!

After the shearing was over, Kendra and I went to work vaccinating, deworming, and hoof trimming all the adults.  Then we corralled all the little ones (they could get out through the fencing) and vaccinated them as well as banded the little boys.  The banding was trickier than either of us expected it to be, but we muddled through ok.  The lambs were NOT happy about some of the violations to their bodies, one went so far as to throw a tantrum by going limp on the floor for a little while, but all seem to have gotten over it soon enough with a little liquid courage from mama’s teat.

When we were done with everyone, we herded them back to their current grassy enclosure.  You have not seen a happier group of sheep than that flock hightailing it back to grass.  I’ve checked on everyone once already as this was a stressful day for everyone, sheep and human alike.  They are all trying to figure out who’s who right now as sheep are very visual creatures and they have all gotten rather extreme haircuts.  I’m having to figure this out as well as many of them are a completely different color under all of older wool.  I think that the lambs are about the only ones at an advantage here as they tend to identify their mothers by smell.  Some of them went to the freshly shorn fleeces thinking that they were mama, rather than just mama’s wool.