Sense of Accomplishment

The sheep were sheared yesterday afternoon. They went from looking like this:

To this:

We were pleased to find all of them in very good condition under all of their wool. Some of them are downright fat (OK, pleasantly plump) and they have been eating nothing but pasture for a while. They are in good shape going into the driest part of the year with declining forage.

Our shearer is great and does a very professional job; obviously he puts a lot of care into his work. It was he who remarked last evening, as we were finishing up, about the sense of accomplishment that one feels, turning the freshly sheared sheep back out into the pasture. You could hear the sheep calling to each other. I'm sure they are trying to find their friends who now look totally different. The ewes with lambs who were already sheared, called out to the dry ewes as well. Now everybody looks the same. :) It's nice to see that our older girls still look fit and are carrying good weight. But it will be a little bit harder to tell them all apart until we all get used to their new looks.

Our shearer has a new pup who was watching intently over the wall, while his "dad" would catch a sheep and then shear her. Soon this pup will make a nice new sheepdog, we hope. He had a nice calm demeanor but was gaining interest with each sheep that was sheared.

It is so nice to have the shearing chore completed. We have a great team that comes together when sheep chores need to be done. Now on to more dog work for these girls with their new dos!