Farming in the shade

Shearing Day 2016 dawned cold and with a fresh layer of snow. As we made the final preparations, we felt a misty rain begin. Not exactly what we'd hoped for--on Shearing Day we'd rather not have ice and we'd rather not have mud. But we don't get to choose the weather. The show must go on.  We had approximately 100 pregnant ewes to shear, and this is what they looked like while they waited for their turn.  Timothy sheared for us again this year. We hire this job out to people who are skilled at this task. He makes it look easy. Trust me. It's not. The ewes took their turns being queued up and waiting in the chute. We shear just before lambing for two main reasons: lamb survival and wool quality. When the lambs are born, it is cold yet in Michigan. If the ewe has her full coat on, the lamb can't benefit from the body heat of the ewe (and perhaps the ewe doesn't even think about that the lamb might be cold--she's fine!). In addition,

I'm emerging slowly from the fog that was brought on by our biggest on-farm event of the year (Annual Shearing Day) last Saturday and Michigan's Presidential primary election three days later (my day job has to do with elections). I will blog soon about Shearing Day, but here's something to tide you over until I am more fog-free. The Farmer has been busy for about a month with lambing. We like to have about 30 ewes deliver before our Shearing Day, for the cuteness factor. The clipboard in the foreground of this photo helps us remember who needs to be where in the jugs, seen along the wall in the background. (Side note: I don't know why the bonding pens are called jugs.) After a ewe gives birth, she and her lamb(s) are placed in a jug for a day or three. The length of time varies based on how many lambs she's had, and whether or not someone else needs the jug.  Most of the ewes take their jobs very seriously, as evidenced by this ewe's cautious stare a