DONE For Another Year!

Shearing Started on Yearling Ewes

After drenching rains all day on Saturday, we had clear skies & high winds today at Wild Rose Farm.  The remaining yearlings & the big ram were in the barn and were nice and dry for shearing.  Shearing a full size ram is almost a wrestling match .... it starts with the controlled take down.  Then the ram has to be held down by one or two helpers as the shearer plows through his dense Rambouillet fleece.  We never get any pictures of that since we're all involved in the process.  Actually, he was pretty good this year ..... he just doesn't like the feel of the clippers when they get next to his horns.  We were pleased after he was sheared since he is in good flesh.  Sometimes the rams lose a lot of weight during the breeding season.
So  ----- the shearing is done for another year and we now start setting up for the start of lambing season in a couple of weeks!

Shearing Done For Another Year!

Lamb Recipe How To ......

The American Lamb Board referred to this article with lamb recipes & cooking techniques in Cooking Light  magazine.  Our lamb check-off dollars fund product promotion/placement and cookoff demos like this.  Did you know that when a farmer takes lambs to the auction for sale, a percentage is deducted off of their proceeds for industry promotions & publicity?   
The American Lamb Board also featured this group of lamb recipes from the Fine Cooking magazine web-site .....
Time to get a leg of lamb out of the freezer!

More skirted fleeces ....

Natural Color Fleece - "U"

Nothing like working with freshly shorn fleeces!  Tonight I skirted the natural colored fleece from "U".  She looks brown in full fleece because of the weathered tips on her blackish wool, but she is a frosted black/grey at the skin level.  We'll get a micron test on her this year to see how fine or coarse her wool is.



Here's another fleece from our Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet #329 ..... her 2010 Reserve Grand Champion fleece went to the Lancaster Spinners and Weavers Guild  for a fiber study project over the winter.  This 2011 fleece will go along to the Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Festival for Beth - she gets "first right of refusal" on it!  :)  It looks nice & crimpy like last year. 

#329 Rambouillet Close-up

Escape!



#328 Rambouillet Fleece - 2011

 The plan was to shear the yearlings on Sunday, but they escaped from the barn!  We had to call our shearer  and move the shearing to next Sunday.  It was very damp & foggy in the morning here and the escapees were just too wet to shear.  Of course, then it got up into the low 80's by the afternoon. 
Sooooo ........ on to Plan B.  We got a couple of fleeces skirted.  Here they are.  Expect to see them for sale at the Waynesburg Sheep and Fiber Fest ..... search out Wild Rose Farm among the vendors on May 21st & 22nd! 

#403 Rambouillet Fleece - 2011

Shearing Day 1

This year we've ended up with 2 days of shearing at Wild Rose Farm.  Today the bred ewes were sheared and tomorrow the yearlings and the big ram will take their turn.  Tonight the ewes are outside and the yearling ewes and the big ram have been moved into the barn to dry off. 
Speaking of the big ram, that's him on the left watching the action in the barn as the shearing starts.  This year, our shearer Don brought Hannah along to get some experience shearing.  She has some sheep of her own including a Tunis ram.  She did 4 of the Dorset & x-bred ewes and finished with the Rambouillet ram lamb.  It's always good to see someone else get into shearing! 
We definitely got some nice fleeces and several of them will be going with us to the Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest in May .... 
As always, when you have colored sheep, they are the last to be sheared so that none of the dark fibers get mixed in with the white wool.  So .... the last one to be sheared today was Wild Rose Farm "U". 

Sheep Shearing Tomorrow ....

"U" & Rambouillet Ram Lamb

The ewes were moved up into the barn Thursday evening in preparation for shearing on Saturday.  They have to be dry and we knew that we'd be getting a lot of rain today.  We can't wait to see some of the fleeces off of our our 2 year olds.  This year, the fleece from "U" should be a good one.  Last year she had a wool break from being sick and her fleece was trashed.  I didn't even get a micron test on her, so we'll take a sample this year.  I'm already thinking ahead, but wouldn't a 2-ply yarn made from 1-ply of her fleece and 1-ply of a similar white fleece be a nice addition to the Wild Rose Farm yarns? 
OK, let's not count our chickens before they're hatched!  :)

Downpour!

The drive home from work this afternoon was in a drenching downpour.  This was the scene from the driveway.  The sheep had gone out to their feeders for the evening.  They got their grain and also got drenched in the process.  Not that they really mind (or even notice), but Mr. Wild Rose Farm had his jacket & hat in the dryer by the time I came in. 
It will be warm this week and everything is getting that tinge of green.  Lambing season won't be far away for us now!  The ewes are really starting to look ready to get it over with .....