Followers

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Shedding Sheep

Killarney is a handsome fellow. The other day I noticed that he had begun to shed. Cascade Sheep are supposed to shed their wool naturally so I was curious how this was going to work.


The Commander took some grain in for the rams and while they were busy eating he just reached down and lifted a large chunk of shedding wool right off Killarney's back.


Here is the patch where the wool was removed. Killarney looks like he has some really nice looking black wool underneath last years faded crop.


We considered having the sheep sheared this year but with the girls still pregnant and the boys already beginning to shed it seemed pointless. Here you can see where the girls have begun to shed, leaving huge chunks on the trees they rub up against. It won't be long before I will be able to just "roo" the wool right off the sheep, once I catch them of course.


I do like the way the boys horns are developing.
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9 comments:

  1. Debbie @ Swampbilly RanchApril 13, 2011 at 7:36 PM

    I've never seen those kind of "Cottonwood" trees before.

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  2. AnonymousApril 13, 2011 at 7:37 PM

    Wow... I wish mine would shed that way... and beautiful horns.

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  3. DanniApril 13, 2011 at 8:42 PM

    Whatcha gonna do with all that wool? Is there a lovely sweather in my future? :-)

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  4. NancyDeApril 13, 2011 at 9:37 PM

    My sheep are shedding, too - I pulled a bunch off Elvis today.

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  5. IanHApril 14, 2011 at 11:05 AM

    Killarney looks like he could do some serious damage if he was so inclined (not a sheep guy)

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  6. MaryApril 14, 2011 at 11:37 AM

    Oh, what fun you are going to have spinning all that wool!

    ~Mary

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  7. Chai ChaiApril 14, 2011 at 3:09 PM

    Debbie - That is funny.

    RHJF - I want to see how much usable wool I get from this method.

    Danni - Time will tell......

    Nancy - Do you spin hair?

    Ian - I think he could do same damage too, that is why I carry a stick!

    Mary - I hope it will be fun, I'm going to give it a try.

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  8. KarenApril 14, 2011 at 10:54 PM

    Those are some nice sets of horns!
    We used to have horned dorsets, and their mixed breed offspring. I found the horns were handy for grabbing the sheep:)
    Is the Cascade fleece like a regular wool sheep, and different to the Katahdin hair type fleece?
    Killarney's head and horns makes me think of a bighorn sheep.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Chai ChaiApril 15, 2011 at 12:41 PM

    Karen - I thought they looked just like Bighorn Sheep when I saw them as well. Their wool is just like any other wool sheep, they just shed. I have seen the hair sheep and it is totally different although I didn't know the hair sheep shed as well.

    ReplyDelete

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