Hooray! It's Shearing Day!

After a crazy winter that seemed to stretch well into April, we finally got our sheep, alpacas, llamas, and Angora goat sheared.  I appreciate people who can shear – they make it look easy.

When we only had two sheep, after seeing a shearer at a fair, I thought, “I can do that.”  I ordered hand shears and gave it a try.  After an hour, with little results, I thought I’d better get electric clippers.  So, I ordered them.  I followed directions and tried again.  The sheep was a Merino – they have a lot of fold in their skin and their wool is very dense.  After four days, and my poor sheep looking a mess, I gave up.

The next year I had two sheep and two llamas and hired a shearer.  He pulled into my driveway and pulled out of my driveway 30 minutes later.  My sheep and llamas looked relieved, the fiber was mostly in one piece each, and I had hardly broken a sweat (I did catch the sheep and llamas and bagged the fiber).

Since then, we’ve hired shearers.  We appreciate them.  They do a much better job than I could (at least without a lot of practice). 

Shearing is like giving the animal a haircut.  However, it is tricky.  The goal is to do it with the fiber coming off as one piece.  If the shearer misses some fiber and goes back to get it with another cut, it is called a second cut.  The goal is one cut and one fleece in one piece.  All shearers have some second cuts.  However, the fewer the shearer has the better for the fiber holder.

The fiber is an excellent insulator on sheep as well as on people…you can almost see the llamas and alpacas breathe a sigh of relief as the fiber comes off.  One year we had a particularly hot May and the alpacas and llamas were acting up until the first swipe of the shears.  As the fiber fell away, they held completely still ready for the relief!

So, how did it turn out yesterday?  Here are some before and after pictures of our animals…

Abinadi and Liahona waiting...

Vonnegut wating...

Hosea and Nephi waiting..

 



All of the llamas and alpacas done!

 

So, following are before and after pictures of our sheep and goat...





 

 

You can see pictures of Shiblon, our Angora goat, being sheared and the end
result on our GEE Funny Farm Facebook page.

Sheep skin is very thin and easy to cut.  One more reason to let a professional shear my sheep!

I found a video clip on Youtube that shows a professional sheep shearer.  He makes it look so easy - which is true of most professionals, don't you think?!?

Sheep Shearing Made Simple by David Duke

Enjoy!


More Emus and Four Kids

So, we have ended up with 4 emu chicks!  The first one, who was so weak, did die.  We were sad, but in all of the excitement of having a chick, we didn't even realize until later that he hatched after only a mere four weeks in his egg instead of the expected eight.  No wonder he was weak and had to be handfed!!

Meanwhile, our surviving four seem to be growing like weeds, only they are cuter.  So...the chicks that survive were hatched on March 9, March 12, April 1, and April 3.  What a difference three weeks can make in size!

 



Emu chick hatched April 1 and Emu chick hatched March 9

If you notice on the April 1st emu chick, there is purple Vet Wrap on his legs.  While his splayed or spaddled legs were not as bad as our first little guy, he did seem to have trouble walking.  After a long search, I found a website by Kathy Shea Mormino, the Chicken Chick® with information about how she wraps her chicks' legs.  Voila!  It has helped a lot!  I'm sorry I didn't find Kathy's site for my first little guy -- maybe it would have helped.


You can see from this rear view (his head is down), that his legs go out to the sides instead of being straight up and down. He is actually much better than he was -- he likes to have his legs rubbed between wrappings.  Maybe the wrap is like a cast and his legs get itchy.



Here he is with his legs vet wrapped and a connecting piece of Vet Wrap going between his legs to hold them in the right position.  He walks pretty well with this set-up!

We are looking for warmer weather so they can be moved outside.  Sadly, unlike my goose, the emu chicks aren't as imprinted on me as I would like.  Maybe I'll have to carry one around in my pocket next year, though they are considerably bigger than a gosling!

Then, on April 10, I went out to find that Zipporah, my Nubian cross, had two kids!  The father is an Angora buck.  The little boy already has wavy fiber, but the little girl doesn't. 

Zip with her new kids!  The boy on the left and the girl on the right.

Finally, Monday morning, April 15, I went out and Zarahemla had had twins, too.  With the same father, they look remarkably like Zipporah's kids!  Surprisingly white is a dominant color in the sheep and goat world!  (Zip's girl is a very light tan, and a couple of others have a little dark color running through the white -- but none look like their mothers!)

And, as if four kids aren't enough, Martha, our Saanen, should be having one or two more in late May or early June!  We will have milk in abundance this summer! 

What's New? Why, I'm Glad You Asked

Spring is making its merry little way onto the GEE Funny Farm and we are gearing up for you to come see us. I am preening my beautiful white feathers and Isaac is whistling his obnoxiously sweet little whistle. Believe me, we are so cute you cannot stand to miss me . . . ahem, us, I mean.

With the advent of spring, not only do you have the pleasure of getting a look at my good lookin' winged body when you come get educated at the farm, we also have babies, babies, babies. We have more babies than I can stand. Babies take up too much of the spotlight. Stinkin' babies. Anyway, besides Kathy's grandbabies (who are visiting for the summer), the farm animal babies are increasing up the wazoo. Holy cow are we overrun by babies! We do not however have any such cow, holy or secular, baby or adult, I am sorry to tell you bovine animal admirers.

What we do have now is a bottle-fed lamb tramping around the upstairs, nibbling on jackets sitting on the backs of chairs, maaa-ing for mama (who in her confused little mind is my Kathy), prancing around behind Kathy wherever she may go. Sort of reminds me of a nursery rhyme: Kathy had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb . . . and all that jazz. Well, except that she is more like a dirty brown color instead of a white as snow color, but whatever.

We also just got a passel, er, group, er, some sort of gathering of chicks sitting inside a cardboard box under a sun lamp right inside the garage door. Unlike my ear-catching (Isaac has the gall to say "ear-deafening") squawks, these disgusting little lady angels keep up a perpetual quiet chirp. Born only yesterday, they seem completely delighted to chirp, nibble on chick feed, and daintily sip (and walk through) their water dish. At least so far, they seem much cuter than they are interesting, not an insult anyone would ever give to me, by golly.

The babies are not all coddled in the indoors (thank heavens or I think I would puke). In fact, there is a baby goat out in the barnyard, born right here on this amazing little farm, who is a month old, only a one-day difference in birthdays between the lamb and the kid. The kid is a male, currently nursing from his mama goat, helping provide a milk goat for the summer. (I warn you, not everybody has the goat milking skill to begin with, but you can try your hand if you think you're tough enough.)

We have one other addition who is still bordering on the baby stage: an alpaca. This white huacaya alpaca just joined the farm about a week ago. What is an alpaca you say? Well, I have no idea. What do you think I am? A fountain of unending knowledge. No, just kidding; I mean, I really am . . . a fountain of unending knowledge, that is. An alpaca is a bit like a llama. Both were bred domestically in South America for wool. The alpaca's wool is softer than a llama's wool, though.

Okay, okay, you are here just getting yourselves a free GEE Funny Farm lesson and I won't have any more of that. If you really want to know about these animals, and you really want to admire yourself an adorable little ball of fuzz or fur, and you really want to set your eyes on this hunk of white perfection, then you really ought to come see us. Please. I want out of my cage. And I wouldn't mind a few French fries either.

What Kind of Dog is That?

I decided that a business that educated people about animals through presentations, interaction, and activities was a good idea when we started collecting our critters and taking them out for walks for lead training. We would be walking down the street with a llama and people would come out of houses and stop cars to ask questions. However, the need for animal education became really clear when we took a walk with Obadiah and then, a year later, with Gabriel.

Both were bottle-fed babies. Both, while we were out walking, would stop traffic and people would lean out of windows to ask, "What kind of dog is THAT?!?" I'd reply, "It's a kid" for Obadiah, or "It's a lamb" for Gabriel. The questioner would respond (about Obadiah), "THAT is NOT a kid!" I'd say, "Yep, it's a baby goat." Then they would query, "THAT is a GOAT?!?" And then there would be a lot of questions. While I wouldn't expect people to know the breed of the goat or sheep (I wouldn't have before I got them), it never occurred to me that they would not recognize that they were a goat or a sheep. And, since these were adults, I thought kids probably need animal related experiences, too.

Obadiah, an Oberhasli goat, has grown a lot this last year and Gabriel, a Shetland sheep, won't be mistaken for a dog this year! He has grown into a beautiful ram with lovely, though uneven, horns (he was in a fight with our fence), but he still follows me around like a favorite pooch!

So, contact the GEE Funny Farm to have our odd lot of animals, sometimes mistaken as dogs, as well as the other animals brought to you. You'll be glad that you did!