Naked Sheepies

Today the sheep got all fixed up for Spring. First the Vet came out and gave the girls a clean bill of health after their attack a month ago. Then he gave them vaccinations. And THEN the shearer, Jay, gave them all their first haircut and pedicure. Here's Mini Mini Pru's before picture:

The girls were so well behaved for all of this...I was amazed. Here are a few DURING pictures:
Mini Mini needed to have one of her horns trimmed because it was curving into her head as it grew: And the AFTER pictures: TA DA!!!! Mini Mini all naked, and a beautiful huge ball of soft fiber.One by one, the girls got all neat and clean.

Here's Colleen getting her "do."

Here's Cara having her trim, and pedicure.

It's funny how the unsheared sheep are flabberghasted when they see the newly shorn pal return. They have no idea who she is and run away from her, while the newly shorn gal tries desperately to get back into the middle of her flock. It's also amazing how someone who has worked with sheep for so long can manage to hold their bodies with his own, while efficiently and neatly removing their wool all in one big piece.
So now I just need to figure out what to do with these really cool gigantic balls of soft soft fiber!

Goodbye beautiful Fiona :-(

So....after a terrible attack on our little flock of sheep during the last snowstorm, we are (sadly) down to four. Our dogs were in for the night and barking like crazy so I trudged out into the storm and found only two sheep in the barn, and all freaked out. Two more were out in the fenced in area- Mini Pru on her back with legs straight up and blood all over. I thought she was a goner for sure. Cara had blood all over her neck too, but was standing loyally by her leader, Mini-Pru. I dragged Mini-Pru up to the barn on a sled, with a kind neighbor. To my surprise she stood on wobbly legs when she saw her daughter, Mini Mini Pru.

Suzie and I looked and looked for Fiona, who was nowhere to be found. It was hard to see anything with the heavy snowfall, and the only tracks we found circled the barn and entered the fenced area around the barn and went back off the property over the stone wall. By morning the tracks were gone, and so was Fiona :-( Many weeks later when the snow melted, a huge area was uncovered that was filled with Fiona's beautiful dark wool. But no Fiona. People around here, and the Vet, say the most likely culprit was coyotes, who hunt in packs and are known to leave only a pile of wool behind.

Apparently they live all around here, and were probably hungry with the heavy snow and saw a pretty easy meal. The Vet said they are not as likely to return now that it is Spring and food for them is plentiful. But I'm not so sure I want to keep the sheep....our fenced area is right in the woods where I can't really see what might enter, and I don't want to see any more of them lost like that. I didn't think coyotes would bother us here with all of our dogs, but apparently they scope things out and knew the dogs go in at night.

The people who sold me my sheep sell many of them to be eaten, but I didn't have that in mind for these guys. Mini-Pru and Cara have recovered fully and are enjoying the Spring along with Colleen and Mini-Mini.

I'm not really much of a farmer, that's for sure.