Shearing Again

Big Jim Baldwin came over from Freeville (yes, I found out he lives in the same town as Carol Crayonbox!) to shear 30 more sheep and goats. He has to come back one more time, but we decided to wait until two weeks after Maryland. My hired man was a no-show, so it was Jim, Matt and myself working our tails off. Matt chased down the victim and gave it to Jim. After shearing, I took up the fleece, swept the platform, then took the sheep off and held it while Matt ran down another one, gave it to Jim, then held my sheep while I clipped hoofs, shot wormer in the mouth, then gave vaccinations and the injectable wormer. Many hoofs were in bad shape and my clippers were not as sharp as I needed them to be. After 120 hoofs I am in desperate need of my Shepherd's Friend Hand Creme! I have some luscious fleeces, particularly my black cross-breds. My purebred BFL ewe gave a measly two pound fleece after 7 months of growth. Very disappointed. I'm tempted to put Othello, my Morehouse Merino ram on her next year, but I haven't decided if Merino/BFL is the best cross. Their fleece types are very different. Jim was here from 10-4, after which we were all thoroughly exhausted. Three old shepherds doing their best to get the flock in shape. Jim is SO funny, patient, and easy to work with. He's a spinner and knitter, and has a flock of Merinos at home. When Jim left we piled all the bags into the F150, along with a mound of the black fleeces I did not want to stuff into bags. I would like to sort through them first. I wanted to shear Othello but Jim advised against it. I have two giant black Merino fleeces I am combining with the black BFL. I hope to get it picked in time to bring it to the mill people at Md. Sheep and Wool. Days are growing short and I go back to work on Monday. Anyway, we crawled back into the apt. to get the coffee pot going, sat down to sip some of the reviving brew, then realized it had started to rain. What a frantic run to get the wool out of the pick up truck. Some of it I stuffed into the back of the Jeep, and some into the milk room to be hoisted up the hay mow ladder and into the grain room for storage. I dream of a real sheep shearing with lots of helping hands and pickers ready to sort through the fleeces as they come off the sheep, and pots of stew simmering in the kitchen for the after-shearing buffet and celebration. After all these years it is still a fantasy. Maybe someday...