Since we didn’t have anything too urgent going on Saturday….. (hopefully Fred finished his homework between classes today) we decided to go to the Desert to help with the annual shearing of the family herd.
Friday night we rushed to get what we needed to done & woke up early Saturday morning to venture out to the Desert. With our trusty directions provided by Aunt Waneta & Fred’s new GPS we knew we could find it. It took us a little longer than we remembered (we had only been out once before a couple of years ago), but we love just driving together. The weather was perfect in the morning and we were able to see some wildlife on our way. One antelope was standing right by the road and I pointed it out to Fred thinking it would jump in front of us any second. Nope, it just stood there and watched us pass.
Of course they had already started by the time we got there, but it worked out perfect.
The shearers work for 2 hours, take a 15 minute break, 2 more hours, 1 hour lunch, 2 hours of shearing, 15 minute break and finally 2 more hours. We just have to help out keeping the sheep running through the shutes onto their little truck / shack. They have 5 shearers inside that hold the sheep, shear them, wrestle them into another position, shear more- then you see wool pushed out the front where 2 women are standing to grade the wool and separate it into different bags. The sheep is sent out the back of the shack into a
pen where my cousin re-brands them & counts them (each shearer is paid per sheep, but we count & split the difference if the count is off). It’s insane how fast they go! I get nervous about the nicks the sheep get – you can see them bleeding, but I was reassured that if they get cut too deep they’re stitched up.
The bags of wool weigh about 400+ pounds and it takes at least 2-3 guys to roll them up onto the trucks. They managed to shear a little over 800 sheep Saturday, it'll still take Sunday & Monday to get all 2100 sheep done. In just one day the wool filled 16 bags! The whole process is amazing to me.
It sprinkled a little, but not too bad until we quit at 6pm. Fred & I headed home and got home by about 9:15pm – tired, but honestly, being out in the fresh air and doing something was probably the best I’ve felt in the past 5 months!
Friday night we rushed to get what we needed to done & woke up early Saturday morning to venture out to the Desert. With our trusty directions provided by Aunt Waneta & Fred’s new GPS we knew we could find it. It took us a little longer than we remembered (we had only been out once before a couple of years ago), but we love just driving together. The weather was perfect in the morning and we were able to see some wildlife on our way. One antelope was standing right by the road and I pointed it out to Fred thinking it would jump in front of us any second. Nope, it just stood there and watched us pass.
Of course they had already started by the time we got there, but it worked out perfect.The shearers work for 2 hours, take a 15 minute break, 2 more hours, 1 hour lunch, 2 hours of shearing, 15 minute break and finally 2 more hours. We just have to help out keeping the sheep running through the shutes onto their little truck / shack. They have 5 shearers inside that hold the sheep, shear them, wrestle them into another position, shear more- then you see wool pushed out the front where 2 women are standing to grade the wool and separate it into different bags. The sheep is sent out the back of the shack into a
pen where my cousin re-brands them & counts them (each shearer is paid per sheep, but we count & split the difference if the count is off). It’s insane how fast they go! I get nervous about the nicks the sheep get – you can see them bleeding, but I was reassured that if they get cut too deep they’re stitched up.The bags of wool weigh about 400+ pounds and it takes at least 2-3 guys to roll them up onto the trucks. They managed to shear a little over 800 sheep Saturday, it'll still take Sunday & Monday to get all 2100 sheep done. In just one day the wool filled 16 bags! The whole process is amazing to me.
It sprinkled a little, but not too bad until we quit at 6pm. Fred & I headed home and got home by about 9:15pm – tired, but honestly, being out in the fresh air and doing something was probably the best I’ve felt in the past 5 months!
Sunday morning we made some Easter treats to take to Grams’ for dinner. 
After church Fred wanted to eat some hardboiled eggs but I told him he couldn’t until he colored them. He asked if he could just use crayons instead of dye. “Sure, as long as they’re colored.” He thought about it for a minute, then asked “Do you have crayons I could borrow?” :} He ended up dying 3 so we could hurry and eat them, then we dyed the rest after lunch.
At Gram’s we had Hawaiian Haystacks, laughed at the Aunt’s Easter Egg hunt, and the traditional game of Bingo. It took me FOREVER to get a single Bingo!
Of course Fred’s mom couldn’t pass up a chance to buy the baby a present……. A new stuffed sheep to match the Nursery. Very fitting for our Easter weekend.
After church Fred wanted to eat some hardboiled eggs but I told him he couldn’t until he colored them. He asked if he could just use crayons instead of dye. “Sure, as long as they’re colored.” He thought about it for a minute, then asked “Do you have crayons I could borrow?” :} He ended up dying 3 so we could hurry and eat them, then we dyed the rest after lunch.At Gram’s we had Hawaiian Haystacks, laughed at the Aunt’s Easter Egg hunt, and the traditional game of Bingo. It took me FOREVER to get a single Bingo!
Of course Fred’s mom couldn’t pass up a chance to buy the baby a present……. A new stuffed sheep to match the Nursery. Very fitting for our Easter weekend.
2 comments:
I love Hawaiian haystacks!! They are so yummy!! That is a lot of dang sheep to shear. I had koolaid today and I thought of Fred!!
I am still sad you didn't take me with you.
Post a Comment