Before and after :-)

Before: Willow Garden Kivu in full fleece


After David Jones' visit yesterday (thanks, Dave!):


Oh dear. She's almost the same size now as her six-week old son. Such a petite little girl. Only now can you see readily that she is a gulmoget, dark moorit in colour with lighter points.

Part of the reason I was eager to get the girls' shorn was that two of them were feeling quite skinny under their fleeces a few weeks ago. I find it really hard to judge through fleece, and I was concerned that they would look pretty pathetic once shorn. Not so at all; they have really picked up in the last couple of weeks. Here is a photo of Alison's 4H lamb from last year; she is positively chubby, and I'm reminded again of why she took first place in the market lamb category.



The blue spots are from a quick spray of "Blue Kote" which is a spray disinfectant. Dave is an excellent shearer, but the blades are extremely sharp, and occasionally, especially when the sheep struggle, they get nicked. A quick spray of this keeps it clean while it heals. Interestingly enough, flock sheep generally submit readily to the shearing position; it is the spoiled 4H sheep, with an overly inflated sense of self, that have a hard time with the whole shearing thing. Jasmine is a royal pain. Kivu is naturally submissive, so she was good, but I almost offered extra money to Dave for dealing with "her highness" Jazzy.



I mentioned earlier that Dave's portable shears were broken. We had to make do with one of his larger shearing set-ups. Not ideal here, as the driveway slopes, but because he was only doing three sheep he figured he could handle it. Dave's dad was a shearer who finally retired last year, and Les Jones was actually the official shearer for the first Shetland Sheep in Canada when they were imported by Colonel Dailley (of African Lion Safari fame). Dave started to help his dad when he was about 15. He has a real job as well, but loves his shearing time.


Here he is with Latifah:


And Jasmine:

And finally, Kivu (look at that fleece ... mmmmm):


One more pic of Kivu, with Claire.



And ... the final result!