Summer Coats
Bobbie was shorn last Thursday and the sheep were shorn last Friday. Steven and I managed to get Bobbie into the trailer by ourselves. I couldn't have done it without Steve though, he was a wonderful help. I pulled Bobbie and Steven pushed. Then I had to get out of the trailer without Bobbie following me. Anyway, it's over for another year - and I have a beautiful bag of chocolate brown fleece.

I have so many garbage bags of sheep fleece that I think I will buy a proper wool bale from the wool buyers to put all the crossbreed fleeces together. This year I am keeping one of the merino fleeces (or part of one) to have a play spinning it raw - it is just so white and fine. This year I also bought some sample sheep covers of different sizes and put one on Ebony and one on her mum, Original Mum. Although, at crutching time I may have to put a bigger size on both of them as the fit seems a bit neat.
The shearers were making jokes about how fat our sheep are compared to the merinos they usually shear. I thought the wool was making them look fat but it was also their big tummies. I think I will have to go easy on the sheep pellets next winter. The lamb on the left in the picture is the one shorn in July when she was flystruck. I also have a large bag of lovely black fleece too. So much wool, so little time.