unicornduke | Another seven sheep done

These seven are my biggest solo job, six Icelandics and one pet meat breed cross. They are shits. But! They weren't as big a bunch of shits as last time. And maybe I was more prepared to shear them than last fall.

First two sheep were the ram and the meat breed cross. They both got shorn standing up and I only flipped them over to clean up their bellies. The ram could simply turn out of my grasp with basically no effort but he was extremely friendly and well behaved once standing. Plus they weren't keeping the fleece, so standing it was.

The meat cross sheep, Amos is a bottle baby and a pet. He used to be out with the horses but they put him in with the other sheep and he's the bottom sheep in the herd, so he lost a solid 50 pounds and he needed to. He's now a well conditioned sheep who behaved well once I flipped him to finish up his belly. I could have done more of him in proper shearing form but he's still big and R was willing to hold him, so upright shearing it was. It's harder on my back than the normal shearing pattern but he got done.

The next four sheep went decently, they were mostly well behaved and we set aside two fleeces for R to give to friends or to use. Some of them were shedding out, but they weren't fully shedded. One sheep was moving her head around the entire time which was a little unnerving because most of the sheep just let their heads hang but I could feel her trying to figure something out and it was weird. R had to hold her head for the sides but overall not too bad.

Final sheep, terrible terrible sheep. Whitney. I will never forget her. I got her flipped, did her belly, first quarter, head and neck. Behaved reasonably. Got her on her side for the long blows and she lost her damn mind. She would not stop kicking. Both R and I couldn't hold her in place. Finally I just called it and said to get her upright and I'd shear her standing. What an absolute jerk of a sheep. I flipped her again to do her feet since she was reasonably well behaved sitting up. But something about being on her side was unacceptable.

I came home, showered, ate lunch and figured I could do some plying of yarn. However, I think laying in bed is a vital part of recovery from shearing, I was just not comfortable sitting in the chair. I didn't hurt badly, but sitting in that chair was clearly the same position as shearing and not comfortable. My truck isn't like that but my truck seat is absolutely shaped to me now. So I'm laying in bed the rest of the day and will do some things this weekend. I'm also tired and might nap, weaver's guild meeting was last night and I got home just after 10pm, which is so late for me.

I did get to snuggle one of the lambs while R moved the last few sheep outside. The lamb has some issues, something wrong maybe neurologically since she moved oddly and seemed a little slow. R was planning to keep her to breed again up until these issues started, so she's going to freezer camp instead once she gets bigger. Cute though

But the sheep are done and faster and better than the fall, so I'm happy.

ETA: the sheep were not careful about their horns and my calves are covered in bruises. sigh