Greetings!
Well, we survived another shearing weekend but it was a close call as to whether we would be able to or not! We had some wonderful help this year and some great surprises with our fleeces.
To begin with, on Friday we sheared our mature males who would otherwise have likely decided that the forecasted showers during the night would have provided the perfect opportunity to mess up the humans plans! We also had a gelding "party" as we females so insensitively called it. We have (had) a herdsire who had behavior issues since 2005. When his hormones came in back then, so did the attitude. Well, he made it easier for us to have him gelded by siring two males for us. I have to admit however, as the weekend progressed and we saw the fleeces of his offspring the pain of having had to geld him intensified.
A very happy surprise came when Nottingham Hollow's Friar Tuck was shorn. I have always loved Tuck's fleece. He's a light fawn whose fleece reminds one of apricots! Well, I have to say this is one guy who is getting better with age. Unfortunately I didn't test his first adult fleece last year but I also haven't processed it and plan to send in a sample this year along with a sample from this shearing. He is very dense and seems to have come into his own this year all around. He became a "man" :-) when bred to Miss Wise following Dougal's birth in December and has given us a very dense, crimpy fleece this year that feels great. Tuck took a fourth place in halter at the 2006 VAOBA Expo and that same year his Spin-Off entry took a First place in its class.
The first big surprise on Saturday was Nottingham Hollow's Duncan. Duncan appeared to be huge although body scoring him didn't back up the look. It was astonishing to see him after he was shorn! Almost as if we sheared off a whole alpaca! He's smaller than I expected and scores right where we need him to at just over a year old. Duncan's blanket filled two good sized skirting tables, is as soft as can be and most certainly will be shown at the
3rd Annual VAOBA Alpaca Expo on October 18-19, 2008.
We started our female shearing with the largest girl, Miss Wise Obsession. Somehow, Miss Wise managed to get her legs free from the ties, brought them up to her belly and drop kicked our 92.2 pound shearer clear across the room and into a wall! Miss Wise ended up half off the table and poor Dawn was a crumpled heap on the floor barely able to move. At first we were extremely worried she had a broken rib but she was still breathing okay and she determined it was just a very badly bruised bone. I will leave all to imagine what the remainder of shearing was like. Slow (and for Dawn) painful are a couple of words that describe it.
Because of that incident we needed to add another day on to the shearing experience and only got through two more females on Saturday. Sunday we had to finish up one mature but very mildly tempered female, two maidens and two crias. Clara was a real treat to shear after the girls on Saturday. We did the two crias next and after haltering Dougal we decided it was just easier to pick him up and carry him off the table and did the same with Darius. What a wonderful feel their fleece had! Both fleeces felt butter soft. Dougal is out of Angus and Miss Wise and Darius out of Whitney and Jasper Black. I have great hopes that these boys will continue developing as they are so far as it will mean we have two more good studs in the making.
Black Velvet was our next girl to be shorn. On Saturday night we sold Black Velvet and it's a good thing the deal came about then because she would have been a lot more expensive if it happened on Sunday! Understand that the entire weekend was humid, with temps in the eighties on Friday and Saturday with rain on Saturday night. The amount of crimp that Velvet had on Sunday gave us reason to pause... I could have been knocked over with a feather. Unbelievable. Her new owner is a VAOBA member and I am hoping that she decides to save the fleece to show it in October. I am steeling myself to accept that she couldn't keep her hands off it though. She's a brand new fiber artist and loving every minute of it!
We wrapped up the day with Nottingham Hollow's Lady Emma. It took six of us to hold Emma still on the table! Just the same she gave up a blanket with incredible staple length (I think seven inches), soft and crimpy... Another Angus offspring. Emma's neck fiber sheared off just like a blanket! She looks like a ghost of herself now she's so small.
Meanwhile, it is several days later and poor Dawn has to shear at her house this weekend. She is still hurting but probably feeling somewhat better as each day passes. Luckily her daughter Veronica can shear and enjoys doing it.
I have to thank Valarie Hartley, Carolyn Lohr, Sharon Hall, Jackie and Johnny Imel, my grand kids Samantha, Emily and Dillan, daughter Dee and of course Dawn Dolpp for their weekend help with our 2008 shearing... And, Dr. BJ Campbell for the geldings. Next year we will need a shot for Miss Wise please!
Until the next time....
