RescEwe

Shearing time is once again upon us. Our first shearing day is tentatively planned for Saturday April 18th. God willing and weather permitting. With the weather we are seeing today it is hard to believe Saturday will be good weather, but the weather models say it will be.

As always everybody is welcome to come out, to help, observe, or cheer us on.

Setup will be starting around 8:30am and shearing should start by 10:00. the location is the Caldwell pasture – cross streets are Simplot blvd. and Farmway rd. in front of R&M Steel.

Let us know if you are considering attending, and we will keep you notified of any changes.

I think this is the earliest we have ever been finished with shearing. The volunteers were on top of their game this year, and the weather although not always the best, did not stop us. Of course, Zsuzsanna’s stew was a highlight.

Next phase, pasture improvement, and washing fleece…

For those that are fans of the Icelandic sheep and fleeces, we will be shearing Icelandic ewes on Saturday May 11th. This is looking like the last of the shearing for this year. So, If you miss this, You will have to wait till next year to experience the joys of shearing.

As always come on out to help or just cheer us on.

Four Karakuls and a Southdown are on deck for shearing. And they are more than ready to lose these fleeces.

Come on out and see the sheep, check out the newest fleeces, help shear, or cheer us on. We are starting at 9:00am on Saturday, May fourth at the Caldwell pasture. Use the gate at the north end of the shop.

We have three sheep remaining to be sheared in Flock 1. Tolkien, Oats, and Cady. We will do that on Saturday April 20th.

We will be taking the 27th. off because we will be at the Paawzitively Created Craft Fair on the 28th.

We will return to shearing on May 4th. with Flock 2. That is the Karakuls and Southdown. Raphael, Donatello, Sadie, Rosie, and Teresa.

We will be mustering at the Caldwell pasture at 9:00 am. Contact us if you need more information.

Today it was in the seventies and sunny, but Friday evening we are supposed to get a little bit of showers. Hopefully it will be dry by Saturday morning. We are going to give shearing a chance. Saturday the 13th is still a go.

But the thirteenth of April is looking good, so that will be the next date.

Del laying out in the rain today.

As you can see, Donatello needs to be sheared. in fact, all the sheep need shearing. It was decided at the open board meeting last week that Saturday April 6th. will be the first shearing day. As always, the shearing will be open to the public, for those who want to learn to shear, work with the sheep, or just to cheer us on and pet the sheep.

Weather permitting, we will be starting at the Caldwell pasture at 10am. Contact us to get in the loop on weather cancellations and information on how to get there.

A while back, we got a morning call from the county Animal Control Officer. She was good humored, and confirmed that she could not find a problem. The reason for the call, someone had called 911 saying there was a sheep in our pasture that had a steel rod sticking through them. So, fast forward. One day this last week, I went out to the Caldwell pasture at lunchtime, and guess what I saw. Oats loafing in the pasture looking like he had a t-post sticking through him. Believe me, seeing him from head on, it looked real bad, and gave me quite a start.

When I finished feeding in the morning, it was starting to spritz snow. You know, just the occasional tiny bits that may have come from freezing fog. I headed across town to first service at church. When I came out of church the snow was coming down good in pretty big flakes. Decided I should check on the sheep shelters before heading home.

There was no accumulation on the shelters, but you can see what I saw. Cookie (the llama) was enjoying second breakfast, and everybody else was under the shelter. Everybody except Cady, she was laying out in the falling snow. Maybe it is her breed, I don’t know, her mother for sure was a rambouillet range ewe. They typically live an unsheltered life in our region.