This week the sheep that graze the speckled wood orchard got their annual haircut.
Unfortunately my shearing skills leave rather a lot to be desired. I get the wool off, but they look a bit like they have been through a mincer and my time per animal is so bad I wont even mention it here.
So, Susie the shearer came to visit, and I am sure the girls were gratefull to be dealt with by her rather than having to put up with me.
Even so the one that is waiting to be shorn in the picture above has a decidedly suspicious look on her face. She is the oldest of the sheep and has seen it all before, she still didn’t seem too grateful though.
The fleeces will go to my freind Polly to be spun. I am told Jacob’s produce good quality wool for spinning, with the added bonus that you get both light and dark colours off one animal.
Its incredible how different they look after their haircut, they look about half the size. You might not believe it now, but it was a really sunny day and you can’t help wondering how it would have felt to be wearing that thick a wooly jumper and then taking it off, must be quite a relief.
The new building will be insulated using sheeps wool. Unfortunately my tiny flock only produced 8 fleeces, so the insulation will have to be bought in. Its been nice to see it being used more for insulating buildings in recent years though, it always seems a shame that at the moment many people still struggle to find a market for their fleeces. Wool production used to be such an important industry in this country, it shaped many of our best loved landscapes, maybe it is something that will become more important again in the future.
Sheep look good and I look forward to coming down and c hecking out the fleeces. How long did it take Susie to do?
x
Not very long at all, I guess about an hour or so, but that would have included setting up time, puts our efforts to shame eh!