I recently had a couple of reminders about why I don't leave the farm much in February & March. Here's Janey, due to lamb next month. I went out to feed the sheep last week and found poor Janey on her back with all four feet in the air, unable to right herself. I quickly rolled her over and helped her get up. After watching her for awhile, I was glad to see she was ok as she could have had some life threatening effects from "turning turtle" - a thankfully fairly rare hazard of late pregnancy in ewes when they somehow wind up on their back and can't get their legs under them to get right side up again.
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Then last Saturday, I noticed Ivy didn't want to eat and had separated herself from the flock. I didn't observe any other symptoms but the first thought in late pregnancy is toxemia. I started treating her for that but realized Sunday morning, that with ice & snow forecast for Monday, I'd best have the vet come out just in case I was wrong in my diagnosis. The vet agreed with me, however, and told me to continue the treatment I was giving Ivy. Even though I had been right in guessing pregnancy toxemia, it's always reassuring to get confirmation from the vet.
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Then last Saturday, I noticed Ivy didn't want to eat and had separated herself from the flock. I didn't observe any other symptoms but the first thought in late pregnancy is toxemia. I started treating her for that but realized Sunday morning, that with ice & snow forecast for Monday, I'd best have the vet come out just in case I was wrong in my diagnosis. The vet agreed with me, however, and told me to continue the treatment I was giving Ivy. Even though I had been right in guessing pregnancy toxemia, it's always reassuring to get confirmation from the vet.
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As we were due to get heavy rains after the freezing weather, it meant I had to move and keep all the sheep under shelter until Wednesday when my shearer was coming. It's not good to shear wet wool! By Wednesday morning all was ready for the shearer to come: sheep in the barn, shearing platform set up,
bags with labels to hold the fleeces, broom to sweep the platform, and a tarp to hold the bags of wool.
It's always great to see Kevin who has been shearing my sheep for 14 years. Kevin Ford: a Master Blade Shearer (using the old timey hand blades) who has been shearing for 40 years, taught many shearing workshops, and represented our country in international shearing competitions. It is a privilege to have him shear my sheep.
Kevin gently rolls the sheep around between his legs as he uses the blades to clip the wool off. It always amazes me to see how the sheep go completely limp as he shears them. There is no noise from electric shearing machines, only the sounds of us quietly talking and the occasional baa from a sheep.
It was nice having the help of these young people with shearing; it takes about 4 people to efficiently move a sheep from the stall to Kevin, to let the newly sheared sheep out, to sweep the platform in between sheep and to put the fleece in a bag with its label.
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 I feel rich with the lustrous wool my sheep give me. |  |
The sheep have to butt heads a few times as they figure out who these new sheep are; they don't recognize each other without all that wool. People ask me if the sheep get cold after shearing. Unlike electric shears, hand blades leave about an inch of wool on the sheep which keeps them warm. And luckily, in North Carolina, spring is just around the corner.
As Kevin finished up the last sheep, the rest of the flock was happily eating their hay out in the sun, their short wool clean and shining.
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