My Sheep Journal~ I'm a grandma! Black Betty had twins!!!

[Beekissed]

I hadn't thought about it....it's not really a good quality wool/hair and it's pretty dirty. I'd have to wash it and eliminate all the coarse hair and retain the actual wool to use it, I would imagine.

I do know that the local birds are having a field day gathering nesting materials!! So funny to watch the robins flying away with clumps almost as big as they are.

For right now, I'm depositing it in my garden to be tilled in and composted.

What do you do with yours?

 

[freemotion]

I want to spin it. (Got some merino!) I wanted to make a quilt, but the lady who gave me the merino said it is better for spinning, and meat sheep wool is better for quilts. She said that what I had would felt over time, just from the movement of the blanket on the bed, and that the coarser meat sheep wool would stay fluffy for years. I thought of your sheep.

You won't need to preserve the lanolin in it if you are not spinning it, so you could just wait until they are done shedding, saving it up in a bucket and picking out the hay and such as you go. Then fill another bucket with HOT water and a squirt of shampoo or good dish soap and put the wool in to soak. Gently press the water through the wool, and transfer it to a pail of clean water, repeating until it is clean.

I'd do this every spring if I had your sheep (in theory....I don't know how much trouble it really is!) and store up the cleaned wool in pillow cases or clean grain sacks until I had enough.

 

[Beekissed]

That is great info, free! I'll have to think about that. We put them all in the headgates last night and plucked tons of wool off them and still didn't get down to the sheep!

They look much more comfortable today and are not so busy rubbing their butts on everything. This will be the first year Black Betty has shed, so her outer wool is two springs old....she is so glossy and black under that old brown coat! I couldn't get over how good a sheen she had on her fur after seeing her walk around in that dusty brown looking carpet all year.

I can gather all that up and put it in a pillow case for washing in the machine...think it would come clean this way?

I'm having a much harder time getting Nellie's fleece cleaned up from all the hay and other roughage in it....her fleece is so soft and long that everything is imbedded in the fibers. I'm thinking of just washing hers in a pillow case also and then start carding...and removing any sticks and hay stubble then.

 

[freemotion]

I think if you stuck it in the washer, even in a pillow case, it would come out as a big, hard ball of felt that would be impossible to card. You really have to soak it gently and move it in the water gently. I was told not to even run the water into the pail while the wool was in the pail, as the movement of the water could felt it! So I just gently press the mass of wool down through the water a couple of times, then gently lift it up and gently place it in a pail of clean water...or more soapy water. How many times did I just type "gently???"

I also discovered that a lot of the hay comes out when you card. Also, that it is best just to toss the worst stuff in the trash!

 

[Beekissed]

Even more good info....thanks!! I'll remember that! My sheep's wool wouldn't be worth it, even. It is short, coarse and intermingled with coarse hairs.

I'll concentrate on Nellie's beautiful fleece instead.

 

[freemotion]

I hear ya! Why go through all that effort when you can get a lovely fleece for free? I'm gonna contact the sheep shearer whose son bought my buck and see if I can get a few fleeces that would be appropriate for quilt-stuffing. Now I have that bug in my head, I have to do it!

 

[Beekissed]

My sheeples look so funny while they are shedding out....like sheep hobos! And, my, have they lost weight with all this running and leaping and chasing they have been doing! Every morning and evening, it is running full speed and playing with the ram. Oh, young love!!!

Ol' Big Moe is losing weight too....previously he had only bred ewes who were penned up in a large barn and couldn't really get away from him.

I can almost feel their good, high spirits! Deep, lush grass, cool spring weather, a big ol' handsome mansheep, sweet water, good minerals and good fun in the sun.....

 

[Beekissed]

Time to update the sheep journal. The sheep are now in a rotational grazing paddock in my orchard and, after schooling the ram, are settling down to the electric fencing.

My sheep were tending to graze mostly in the lower portion of my total pasture area...overgrazing the things they like best and leaving clumps of things they didn't. This left my orchard with some grass that is too high..really past being delectable at this point. I am moving them through there and will mow down the grass that has gone to seed and the thistles that are starting after they have grazed it over.

Funny thing...they are ignoring the lush clover in favor of other grasses. I would think sheep would love clover.

This intensive grazing system should be better for them and for my pasture, giving the good grasses a rest and time to recover. We aren't getting enough rain this spring, so the grass isn't doing as well as it normally does. Its still nice and thick, green and lush, but not growing as quickly as usual at this time of the year.

I must remember to move their mineral feeder(a 5 gal. jug converted to a mineral feeder) along with their grazing rotation. I am currently feeding salt and kelp as a mineral supplement.

The visiting ram's stay is nearly over and I believe he has accomplished his task. I will be replacing him with a ram lamb that will mature by this summer. The new ram is a Dorper/Katahdin cross and my girls are ST. Croix/Katahdin cross...this should make for some good offspring.

The girls have nearly shed off but still have poodle clumps...I'm hoping they will shed more thoroughly when things warm up around here....I had to build a fire in the stove tonight!

The girls are starting to add some weight back, even no longer than they have been in the rotation(4 days)....no room to run and run the weight off each evening while playing with the dog!

Anyone else using intensive (small paddock) rotational grazing systems for their sheep this year?

I will post a pic of the new ram after he arrives and when I can....he is very pretty!

 

[big brown horse]

Good Morning Bee and Happy Mother's Day!

I am going to be using a rotational grazing system as soon as I get more electric fencing. I'll let you know how it is working out.

-Sally

 

[Beekissed]

Hey, Sally! Back at ya! Yes, please let me know what you think about it. I know its too soon to see the improvement in the pasture with this system but I am really enjoying the sheep being confined to one area right now. I have so much work to do in the yard and it is hard to do with sheep trampling you.

It also looks more professional to see them in their paddocks...like I'm really serious about this whole sheep farming!