Wordless Wednesdays - The Home Stretch.

This past week the very pregnant sheep came home from their winter range. This was their home stretch.

Wordless Wednesdays - Summer and Sunbathing Sheep.

In honor of our Mexico trip I thought I would show you what sunbathing sheep look like! 

I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week and a fabulous weekend.

Wool Fit For a Prince.

Everyone is wondering and staying up late to see what Kate will wear on her wedding day.

I'm sure she will look absolutely gorgeous in her wedding gown, but can we please talk about what Prince William will be wearing?

Prince William will be wearing a wool suit on his wedding day.
Exciting stuff, right? Just humor me, will ya?

Source: Australian Woolgrower Innovation

I wish I can say our wool will be woven in there somewhere, but it won't be.

Still, very exciting that the Austrailian Woolgrower Innovation thought up such a clever idea and got local woolgrowers involved in the Wool Fit for a Prince project.

Prince William will be wearing wool donated by Australian woolgrowers as a thank you for his recent visit to Australia.

You can read more about the story here.

Happy Wedding Day Prince William and Kate!



Have you heard about the real estate they get to choose from? Crazy.

Shear Relief.

What a whirlwind of excitement this past week has been.

You are well aware the sheep made it home safely last week and I am sorry to report that I didn’t make a cake like I said I would here. I made these sheep cookies instead!

They were a big hit, but J is holding me to my promise so there will be cake. Eventually.

The sheep were able to rest for one day before the shearing crew arrived. The crew of three men arrived bright and early on Thursday at 6am. They were set up and started shearing by 7am and didn’t stop until 6pm. They did this for two days.

This is their setup. Pretty nifty, eh?

You are probably thinking, how hard can it be to shear sheep? Well, I can say it’s truly a skill. For one – shearers need to know how to properly get a sheep to the ground and in sheep shearing position. They obviously don’t want to cut the sheep with the shears but must hold them in a position that prevents the sheep from breaking loose or getting cut. On top of this they have to be fast. These guys are good at all of the above.

They were able to get through hundreds of sheep in just two days!

The head guy on our sheep shearing team has won several awards for his speedy shearing skills and it shear shows! ;) 

This is how it all goes down.

The sheep are brought in from the field in bunches of about 50. They are pushed into smaller groups averaging 20 and those 20 are pushed into the shoot. As they come through the shoot J vaccinates them. Not all sheep ranchers vaccinate at shearing time, but this the way Pop has always done it and it's effective.

I have to take a second and give kudos to my husband because this was his first year shearing and he rocked it!
This was J at the end of day one. Yes, that is dirt on his face and windblown hair.
Nothing but hottness at our place.

Of course we wouldn’t have been able to have such success without our awesome help, but I don’t even think a doctor could vaccinate 1,000+ people in two days considering these sheep aren’t just standing waiting patiently for their vaccination. They are trying to run from you the entire time.

Once they are vaccinated they are marked with a chalk pen – this was Morgan’s job. We mark them so we know they have gotten their vaccination and are ready to be sheared.

After they are marked they are pushed up the shoot and get in line for their cut. The sheep line the inside of the trailer and the shearer gets a sheep (through the doors in the trailer) when he is ready.  

He shears them then sends them on their merry, wool-less way.

The wool is then “skirted” then compacted into bales with this neat machine. 

Before we knew it there was a field of naked sheep and a truck loaded with wool bales. 

Another reason for all the excitement was the arrival of our senior, Morgan. This kid is nothing short of amazing.

Morgan is a part of The Senior Field Studies program at his high school. This program allows seniors to participate in direct field studies in urban, rural and wilderness settings while earning credits. Morgan has been on a 2 week backpacking trip and leaves for a whitewater rafting trip a few days after he arrives home from being at our ranch for a week. We were lucky enough to partake in this program through our membership with the Colorado Farm Bureau.

On his first day here Morgan jumped right in and helped with shearing. He was great help - J and the crew were happy to have him. The “city” in him was nowhere to be found.  

Aside from being a huge help with shearing he introduced me to some new tunes (this kid has some great taste in music) and he made us laugh. A lot. 

Morgan has such a great personality and his mood is infectious. He’s the type of kid you want to be around as much as possible because he makes you feel good and he makes you smile. We truly enjoyed having him with us.

I’ll admit I got a teary eyed when I said good-bye.

He says he’ll be back to visit and I believe he will…even if it is just to see the animals! ;)

I was able to get in on the action too! The first time I asked if I could help I was told no. They said it was because there was too much dust flying around. Are you kidding me?! I hung my shoulders, found a sac and started picking up trash. Pathetic (I know), but I was bound and determined to contribute somehow! I came back and the guys must have felt bad for me (like the kid that was picked last in dodgeball) because when I asked a second time and J told me to, "Jump in!"

Here's to another season of (shear) success!

You can read more about shearing here.

My Friday wish for you {and a giveaway reminder}.

I hope your day is fabulous! 
I'm leaving work early to try and get in the way help the guys with shearing. :)

One pregnant ewe.

I'll be back soon with pictures from shearing! 

In the meantime, don't forget to enter my very first giveaway here! 

Winner announced tomorrow. 

Mutton Mondays - In the Spirit of Shearing.

Since it's shearing week on the ranch I'm going to share with you all you need to know about shearing.

So, what is shearing?
Shearing is a haircut for the sheep except they don't get to choose their style - they all get a buzz cut.

Why do you do it?
Sheep grow wool year round and with warm weather just around the corner shearing helps the sheep stay cool in the summer months. Each sheep produces on average 2 - 30lbs of wool a year and at the time of shearing their fleece weighs on average 7.5lbs. That's a lot of wool to carry around on a hot day! 

There are also reasons why we choose to shear our sheep right before lambing season begins. Lambs have an easier time nursing when sheep are shorn. Some sheep ranchers shear before lambing because shorn sheep take up less room in the barn.

What do you do with the wool?
We sell it. We get paychecks two times a year - a few months after shearing from the wool and in September when the lambs are sold.

Does it hurt the sheep? 
Absolutely not. I'd imagine they are a little frightened but the team we bring in to shear does a great job. There is an occasional nick, but it's nothing traumatic or too stressful for our sheep. 

How many times a year do you shear?
We shear only one time a year. There are some sheep ranchers that shear twice a year.

Who shears?
While anyone could try to shear sheep not everyone does a good job and that is why we pay the professionals. ;) Pop has used the same man every year and J and I don't plan on changing that. Our guy knows what he is doing and he has a good crew that we can trust to do a good job. 

What do they shear with? 
Shick razors. Totally kidding.
Our guys use electric razors and these have three parts to them - the handpiece, the comb and the cutters.
Electric shears look a little something like this:

Scary looking, right? Again, this is why we leave it to the professionals.


How do you package the wool?
First the wool must be "skirted". I've just learned what this is so bear with me.
Basically the "good" wool must be separated from the "bad" wool. Bad wool tends to include belly wool, off-color, burry and seedy wool and stained or dead wool. We get paid differently on the bad and the good wool.

Where do you send the wool?
After the wool is separated it's compressed into 400lb bales (like the picture below) and sent off to Roswell Wool.

So that is all you need to know about shearing, but don't go trying this at home!

Today I helped trail the sheep closer to home.
I'll be posting about this soon, but for now here is a picture from the day.
I have lots of things to share this week so stay tuned!

This is one of our VERY hard working herders.

SOURCE: http://www.sheep101.info/wool.html