Curly Tops No Longer

It is a week for shearing - the sheep, the boys, and later this week - the dogs.  Liam had been growing his hair out for a year and Seamus for two.  Their mops of curls were truly something else. We were aiming for man buns (which are all the rage lately) and Liam was almost there - but it is just too darn hot!  We finally gave up and got rid of our epic curly tops.  Here are the before and after photos.

Liam - Au natural

Liam - Man bun

Liam - Sheared

Seamus - Au natural

Seamus - Sheared

Take off those winter coats!

After a day corralled in the barn, Alice, Abbott and Violet were gently but firmly manhandled by our sheep shearer.   Their wool coats were sheared off and stuffed in a paper garden bag for safekeeping.  While they may lament the loss of their protective layer when the mosquitoes come out tonight, at least they are ready to face the summer heat.  In addition to getting their toe nails clipped, Abbott also got the bottom inch of his horns sawed off.  They were growing too close to his eyes and almost pressing into his skull.  He was a great sport about it given how close the dremmel was to his bulging eye ball.  And no bleeding.  Phew!

Charlie the donkey was not a fan of the shearing.  She stood a few feet from the shearer and howled at him with extremely loud and irritating "He HAW!"s throughout much of the process.  After Violet's wool cut was finished Charlie proceeded to lick her sheared body down from top to bottom.  Sympathy licks?  Strange but adorable.

Three sheep, three years, three bags full - just like the song!  Hopefully I have enough wool now to make a pair of socks...next task - washing the wool and getting it spun into yarn.  The journey continues....