Shearing is coming right up and we’ve been getting the barn and holding pen ready. It’s really in pretty good shape for the most part but there’s one spot where there’s quite a thick layer of poopy straw on the floor. It’s where Tatum and Bubba spent their quarantine so that needs to go and we’ll put a good layer of lime down before the fresh straw goes in. The ground is way too soft for us to tractor all the old bedding to our own compost pile so we’ve borrowed our neighbor’s nifty dump trailer. The poopy bedding is being “donated” to a different neighbor who will compost it for his garden. Hate to lose it but we don’t want to rip up the lanes with the tractor either…and he’ll surely get some nice tomatoes out of it.
It looks like the weather isn’t going to cooperate so we’ll be bringing the ewes into the barn a day or two ahead so they’ll be dry for shearing. And this year, we’re shearing in two groups. The first group will be done on March 28 and the second on April 4. Our shearer, Emily, had a baby in January and we’re happy to be flexible while she’s still working out the “juggling two children” thing and nursing the baby. Anyway, there’s no reason to kill ourselves — we’re all in favor of making this a fun time!
Now I’m starting to think about food for all the people who come to help out. Baking is not my thing (I’ve learned to accept that) so my friend, Heather H, is going to bake for the big event and I’m going to keep her in eggs for awhile…or lamb sausage or whatever she’d like. I’m so thrilled with this arrangement. It’s just one less thing to angst over — and Heather is an extraordinary baker. Yum!
I keep peeking under coats whenever I can and it’s looking pretty good under there! I can hardly wait til Saturday!
Some more photos of cute lambs…