Shearing in 2016

Last week was cold rainy and windy.  We worked in the barn and got things ready so we could shear the sheep.  By Friday the weather cleared off , but was still cool.   We put in two cutting chutes so that we could divide the sheep in three bunches with one trip down the chute.  So the ones that were sheared in January went one way.  The coming yearlings,  being shorn the first time they have a fine wool for a fleece.   Then the old ewes.

Here Marshall is sorting out to the corral and I am sorting into the barn and the rest go by into the next corral.

The rest of the help, all family and two dogs push the sheep up so they go down the chute.

While all of this was going on a heifer had decided to calf.  She must have been having trouble because she jumped the fence and headed down the creek.  We caught up with her about a half a mile away and brought her back to the corral.  Assisted her with her calf them left her in a make shift pen with the sheep.

The heifer was not too impressed, but there wasn't much she could do about it.

The next day was shearing day.  Five shearers and two helpers showed up to shear and run the sacker and keep the wool moving.  The rest of up kept the sheep moving into the shearing trailer.

The kids, Brooke and Logan found a place to help.  They helped the young lady who run the hydraulic wool sacker.  They tromped the wool into the sacker so that later it would press the wool into the sack

As the work slowed and we were about done, I acquired a helper to help survey the situation.

Some of the finished product that we hauled to Belle Fouche on Monday.