In Iowa the summers are hot and sheep are covered in wool which makes them very uncomfortable. We shear them in June, later than I'd like, but our Springs are wet and muddy and that makes it difficult to get a good clean shear, and our shearer really prefers not to work in knee deep mud. I agree with him on that, very much.
He's really cool by the way. Throughout life we often, though not too often, encounter individuals who know something about everything and can share that in a not pompous way. This guy is one of those fantastic people. We look forward to lunch and chat with him after shearing too!
We have tried sending the wool off to process, but that was expensive. We have decided to just sell raw fleeces. When I did that with the fall lambs fleece, I sold out in a month, while I still have the processed roving from Spring of 2012 left in inventory. Granted, I do not really market or push our farm wool, I have no etsy shop, I often forget to bring it to market with me. That will improve as I get more practiced at market set up. I hope.
Anyway, here's more pictures of the process for anyone curious!
you seem funny and interesting even in just this little post
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