The wool

Fleece
Following April's sheering, the wool went into a garage, stored in sheets while we considered what to do with all the stinky, dirty stuff.
It's now early August, and after doing nothing for most of the summer, I investigated getting it processed at a mill. It was going to cost around $400-yikes!
This last weekend I started researching the best way to wash/process the fleece myself.
I purchased a large, mesh "lingerie" bag and some Dawn dish washing detergent and went to work. I had talked to someone at a fiber store and it seemed easy enough, so Hannah and I threw the first bag of wool into the luke-warm water. So much "stuff" was coming out of it, it was too irresistible to swish it around a bit-I know it's not supposed to be too agitated because that will cause felting, so we were kind of careful. Not careful enough though because the outside wool did felt.
Thank goodness for the internet because I then went and did further research and for the next batch, I was much more careful. Also I put in water as hot as I could get it, including adding tea kettles full of boiling water. I believe the changes I made were relatively small, but the difference in the wool was night and day. I had no felting on the second batch, or the third batch. It takes quite a bit of time to wash and rinse, but the result it clean soft wool. I'm going to use the $400 I saved in the processing to get a drum carder.
I really know so little about the whole fiber processing that it's quite possible that the fleece we have is not really worth even working with. At this point, it's just fun to learn something new, using the wool from our little sheep!
Pregnancy News
When the sheerer came in April, he did a little informal pregnancy check (squeezed udders) and proclaimed that the three he checked were pregnant. We figured as much because once the wool was off those ewes it was clear that they weren't just fluffy, they were FAT. The first possible day for delivery was early June. Thank goodness we didn't camp out in the barn waiting for the blessed event! Here we are in early August, and there are still no lambs! On Wednesday the vet is coming out and will do ultra-sounds on them and we'll get an answer. The last possible day for delivery is Aug. 20, but really at this point, I think they are just fat, spoiled sheep. At least we have the wool.

Soon to be naked

The shearer is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, and I think the sheep will appreciate giving up their winter wool sweaters. When I was at the field today it was fairly warm, they were all lethargic and mostly stood around panting.
We people will venture into a new part of our sheep ownership, learning what to do with the fleece. Here's what I know-as soon as it comes off the sheep, we'll "skirt" it. This means pulling off the cruddy wool that is found on the underside of the sheep and around it's face. Then it will go into bags. I think we can send it in that condition to a fiber mill for cleaning and such, but we could also attempt to clean it ourselves, card it and spin it. I think it would be cool for all the kids in the project to knit their own scarves out of their sheep's wool.
As for Cusco... He's hopefully going to get sheared tomorrow too, but not all sheep shearers shear camelids. As you can see from the picture, he's kind of a messy guy, although he poops in one spot in the field, which is apparently common for llamas.

After a few months hanging with the ewes, we took Gilligan back to Pueblo to meet up with Chuck, his owner. Chuck is a saint who agreed to take the time to drive Gilligan to Pueblo in January, and then come pick him up again mid-March. It would have been much cheaper for me if we had just purchased a ram, but with the size of our flock, adding a ram just didn't make sense.
Chuck did double duty and brought us a rescue llama. His name was Graphite Grease so we quickly changed the name to Cuzko. Cuzko and the sheep were not too sure of each other, but as they are all flock animals, they will get used to eachother and Cuzko will theoretically become a guard animal, protecting the sheep from dogs and such. Llamas are not known to be protectors against mountain lions, which are also a concern in our area.
The day after Cuzko arrived, we recieved over one foot of snow. All the animals were kept "in", which hopefully helped them all to bond.
Next on our to do list is to find a sheerer to get all the animals sheered. Then we'll hopefully get a better idea if we have any pregnant ewes.

From Fluffy to Naked

I met a very inspiring woman at the sheep conference in Monticello UT in the fall. She was raising her sheep without any outside help-she did the sheering and all of the vet work. Of course I thought, if she can do all of that so can I (we). I was all fired up to do all of our vet work and tackle the sheering in the spring despite never even having seen a sheep sheered. I figured all I needed to do was watch the sheering demonstration on the last day of the conference and I'd be good to go. Unfortunately the sheering kept being pushed back and I needed to leave, so I missed that sheering. Thankfully there is U-Tube and I found several sheep sheering videos. It looked easy enough. Last weekend we had another opportunity to see some sheep sheering at the National Western Stock Show. The photo above was taken during the sheering competition. Our sheep will be glad to know that I no longer think it looks easy AND I found a relatively local sheerer. Top photo is Gilligan and Sister Theckla. Our sheep will not be sheered until later in the spring. Also, while we are doing a lot of the vet care, when needed, we were so thankful to have Gerelyn help us when Luthien had the cyst. That was a bit gross.

The Ram

For Christmas Eli gave me a boost to get a ram so that we can have some lambs in the spring. After some scrambling, Tina and Bob kindly agreed to make the trek to Pueblo where Chuck met us with Gilligan, a four horn who was looking for some love.
We got Gilligan back to Ewetopia just as the sun was going down and he quickly got acquainted with the ewes. He took an immediate liking to Sister Theckla, our sheep who looks and acts a bit like a prissy nun. She was not very happy with the situation and kept running away, which got Luthien in a protective mood and some butting got underway. She accidently butted her best friend Angel who got a little huffy and was ready to go head to head with Luthien. Then they remembered that the new guy was bugging their usual victim so they both took off after Gilligan. Eventually everyone ended up in the night time enclosure, so Jim went in and shut the gate for the night.

Road Trip to Utah for the Sheep Convention

I'm in a motel in Monticello Utah after a nice 7.5 hour drive. It was a beautiful trip with brilliant colors the whole way. After crossing into Utah I pulled off to the side of the road and took a few pictures. I continued driving and took an off ramp so that I could stop and take a few more pictures. When I got to the top of the off ramp I saw a sign for Moab-45 miles and assumed that was where to turn. It took me through a canyon along the Colorado River. Sometimes it was right next to the road, sometimes down a VERY STEEP cliff. The road was narrow and I was glad there was still some light so that I could see the beauty and the need to be cautious and stick to the posted speed limit. As I got into Moab after the long winding road, I saw a sign for I-70, so that may have been a quicker route. The route I took was spectacular though!
I started listening to Ines of My Soul as I left Lyons and listened to it the whole way. I still have two and a half discs until it is done-that should take me well into Colorado. It is a long one!

Dinner with the sheep, chickens and friends

It was feeling like fall but the weather was nice for a fairly short notice potluck dinner at the Farmette. As the kids finished eating they left plates on the ground. Lucy (the dog) was polite and left them alone but the chickens dove in, eating tomato cream soup, bread, cake and even a slice of turkey. Lucy did get a piece of bread, but the chickens ended up taking that too. In this photo, she's trying to figure out which chicken took her bread.

As always, the food was delicious and visiting with the fellow farmetters was a treat.