Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Rooing Rose

A sheep shearer stopped by here a couple of weeks ago offering his services. I laughed and told him it was much too early, the poor dears would freeze plum to death.

*cough*

It is a record setting 85 degrees today.

Rose is volunteering to be first in line for this year’s shearing extravaganza.

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Even going so far as starting without me. Unlike most modern breeds, Shetland sheep have retained the primitive ability to lose their fleece naturally. A shepherd can actually pull the wool off by hand without shears, the process is called rooing.

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Looks like I will be rooing Rose this weekend as well as Laverne, Paisley and Popcorn. I just need to get the barn cleaned out first.

Even though Sophia would very much like the attention, she’s not quite ready for rooing. This morning I monkey groomed her to keep her happy until then.

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Goofball.

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10 comments:

Unknown said...

Well, she must be happy...look at that smile!

Dianne@sheepdreams said...

Now that is the expression of a happy girl! I'm thankful that shearing is over for the brood ewes and yearlings. We'll have another go at it for the lambs mid-summer. You know this crazy weather can't last! Can it?

Suzan said...

Those poor babies!! All that wool with this heat!! Bet they hope they will be sheared soon!

Elizabeth Edwards said...

the weather around here in virginia is just nuts. so weird for this time of the year. so odd. what will happen next? can you imagine carrying that heavy heated wool around in this heat. wow!! talk about a "heat flash" wow!! ha. ha!! (:

Nancy K. said...

Oh my gosh, Christine! Rose is SO BEAUTIFUL!!! Is she a gulmoget?

Your Sophia reminds me a lot of my Alice.

I may be doing a bit of rooing myself in a couple of weeks! I like the fiber SO much better than when it's mechanically sheared...

Christine said...

Rose is a katmoget. I've always thought Sophia and Alice were two peas in a pod.

Chai Chai said...

Rooing my sheep is a battle as they are so skittish, looks like your girls actually enjoy the process!

Meggie said...

Hi...I'm your newest follower. The weather is just as crazy here in Texas. One day the high is 54 and the next may be 80. 80 degrees in March???

thecrazysheeplady said...

I kept 3 shetland fleeces (yeah, I know, I know ;-) someone who brought sheep over here to have sheared didn't want (does that sentence even make sense?) I'll have to take some pictures and have you tell me what color they are.

Jamie Oliver (@va_grown) said...

Hog Island sheep do the same thing! If they get too hot and aren't sheared, they'll just shed their wool. Also, if they get stressed they'll just shed their fleece--we had a ewe that had late-spring pneumonia one year and about two weeks later she just "dropped" her fleece over the course of a few days. She was almost completely "naked" for most of the summer, but it grew back fine by winter.