Tuesday, July 14, 2009

I Have a New BFF

Just don't tell the cat. She won't be happy to hear that news at all.

Sophia must be the sweetest ewe that ever lived. She's like a grass-eating dog in high heels. I had done a lot of research before deciding what breed of sheep I wanted. One of the reasons I decided on the Shetlands was because they were supposed to be good-natured but I had no idea they would actually demand attention as much as they do.


Sophia has some of last years wool left over and stuck to the tips of her fleece. The Shetland breed actually sheds their wool every year naturally so if you sheer them ahead of that natural break in the wool, you end up with these little scraps called skodda. You can see them in the photo below. I need to remove them so they won't mat. Should be great practice for me before I have to really shear them next spring.


Anyway, when I sit in one of those plastic lawn chairs in the pasture Sophia will come over and rest her head in my lap. How sweet is that? She'll stand there forever letting me pet her and pull those little scraps of wool off by hand! She's going to be a great candidate for rooing next spring. For the non-sheepy people reading, that's the process of shearing them by literally hand-plucking the wool after they start to shed it.

It's a slow process. It might take me all summer, but I'm definitely going to try it. She and I both seem to enjoy it.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh wow! That's interesting.

Julie-Ann said...

She is beautiful. Next thing you know Sophia will be wanting to sit on your lap!

Angie said...

Love. Her.

Will you find her a ram this fall?

Winona said...

Ahh, Sophia is a beauty. I love reading what you write about all your animals. You have quite the gift in writing. I hope you continue to share all these sheep adventures with us. Love reading them. Winona

Christine said...

Angie,

I haven't decided yet. I'm thinking she'll probably get the year off while we finish the barn and get the other pastures fenced.

Marilyn Robertson said...

Interesting! Sophia sounds like a perfect lady-like name for her!

Michelle said...

Christine, welcome to the world of Shetland sheep! I am delighted to "make your acquaintance" and add you to the list of blogs I follow; thanks for choosing to follow mine.

melanie said...

Ahhh...another person caught the Shetland bug. Careful! lambs are next....