Spring time is certainly the busiest time for us- we lamb and shear all around the same time! Making sure all goes well with lambing as well as managing all the lambs, tagging, vaccinating and keeping accurate records make April pretty busy. Since lambing is the biggest stress on an otherwise healthy ewe, we try to shear right around lambing because stress can create weakness in the fiber, so the ideal time for that weakness would be when you shear because you are cutting it anyway! I am always excited for shearing but relived when it is over because it can be a lot of work to organize. Sheep have to be penned up the night before and they must be dry. When are sheep are finally naked, that means I am skirting, photographing and storing fleeces!
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AuthorLeah Saltzman of Shepherdess Wool talks about sheep, farming and fiber. Archives
May 2018
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