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| Shearing The sheep’s fleece is shorn in mid-March, about four weeks before the ewes give birth. My Border Leicester and Coopworth crosses are sheared once a year. The fiber is about 4" to 5" long. After the fleece is sheared off the sheep, it is carried to a skirting table and laid flat, cut side down. |
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When sheep eat hay and lie in straw bedding their fleece gets full of vegetable matter (VM). Now I put coats on my sheep, to keep their fleeces clean.
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| Friends come to the shearing and and help skirt and clean the fleece. Fleece that is soiled, full of VM, matted or irregular is removed. |
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| Fleece Words and photos cannot convey the incredible experience of feeling a warm newly-shorn fleece, thick and soft with a touch of lanolin. |
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| Left is outside, lower right is cut sheared side of fleece. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Left is outside, right is cut sheared side of fleece.
Each fleece is different. Ewe, ram and lamb fleeces have their own character. Fleeces also change with a new breeding ram. |
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