Sadly, I’m not talking about red rosettes but rather the first time we’ve treated our Ryeland ewe lambs with Clik to prevent the dreaded flystrike and also the first time that we’ve had the shearer out to take off our Valais Blacknose wethers’ fleeces. We got kitted out in our waterproofs and Cliked Agnes, Audrey, Anwen and Arabella with little to no fuss. The boys couldn’t be done because they were due to be shorn the following day.
We were quite nervous about the shearing process after reading that many shearers hate doing extra woolly sheep (and VBNs are certainly woolly) but Ralph the shearer couldn’t have been nicer and treated Boris and Benji gently and they, in turn, stayed very calm throughout. We felt proud of them since it was their first time. They look completely different without their wool, more like goats, but they still want to come for cuddles and Boris still seems to want kisses. He likes to get his face right up to yours and emit a gentle burp!
We’ve collected up the wool and tomorrow’s job is to pick out all the poo and vegetable matter and give it its first wash. Again, this will be a first for us so we’re feeling excited. If all goes well we hope to learn how to felt with the wool. If all does not go to plan we have decided to push the cleaned wool into the gap between the outer stable walls and the inner boarding which only comes halfway up and is open at the top. Currently we push old feed bags down there for insulation but wool will be much more effective.
Foxglove Farm 