With Jackets On
Before the shearer arrives we lock all
the sheep into a tiny pen. It's easier to work with them when they can't go tearing
around the barn!

Off come the jackets! Legs first.

Waiting to be Shorn
The crew is waiting for Dave to come
and give them their annual haircut.

Making sure the floor is as clean as possible, not that after going to the trouble of jacketing the sheep all winter we accidently
get "stuff" in the fleece as we're shearing.

Each fleece gets put in its own box. We let the fleeces sit in the boxes for about a month to let the fleeces dry out. When they come off the sheep they are somewhat damp because of the heat/sweat of the sheep. If we processed them right away and put them in bags there is a chance that they could mold or mildew, which would ruin the fleece.

Shearing Sheep
Dave is shearing our smallest sheep, Hannah.

"Your sheep shearer does agreat job - no second cuts and so perfectly even." -Alice

Read more from our customers.

Kirstie's Fleece ready to Go
We carefully wrap up each fleece
and then put it in its box.

Getting to Know You, Again
Every year after the sheep have been shorn they go through a period where they have to figure out who everybody is! So they run around butting each other. In this picture Snowball has just blasted Hannah -
you can see her feet flying!

The Crew after Shearing
Everybody with their new haircuts.

The Fleece
Hannah's fleece laid out ready to skirt it. Skirting means to take off all of the wool that has vegetable matter and other "stuff" in it.

Skirting the Fleece
Removing the wool that was around Hannah's neck where the jacket didn't
protect it from the hay, etc.

As you can see, depending how much dirt is in the fleece, we take out quite a bit so that the customer gets the cleanest fleece possible. We do offer the "second class" wool for a much reduced price if people aren't concerned about chaff, etc. in the wool. The really dirty bits (manure, etc.) gets thrown away.

You can see the vegetable matter
in this chunk of fleece.

Folding the Fleece
Then we begin folding or rolling the fleece up into a compact bundle.

We bag the cleaned fleece, put the sheep's name and the year the fleece was
from on the bag.