Shearing

Bianca losing her fleece, there was a lot of lanolin in the fleece close to the skin so although the sheep were shedding their wool round their necks it was a couple of weeks too soon to shear them. Shearer’s talk about the grease ‘rising’ up the fleece away from the body so the clippers can get underneath, the temperature has stayed low at night so that will have made a difference. They were all finished within an hour and let out into the paddock to graze. A cool start to a warm sunny day with light winds.

Shearing

Nola, in the process of losing her fleece, it was sheared off in one piece and is in very good condition, the lengths of wool have crinkled and when the strands are rolled they are impossible to pull apart, so this will result in a high quality spun product. The three white and three black fleeces will remain separate, wrapped in paper sacks and sent to the Pocket House Studio on the Isle of Lewis for making into a rug, there’s a waiting list so the rug should arrive within the year! The sheep were soon back in their paddock grazing happily and weighing slightly less. A fine start to a cold day with increasing winds and heavy showers. Lit the woodburner.