Have I ever mentioned how fortunate we are to have a brother who is a Shearer? Tis that time of year again for our lil’ flock to have their spring haircut and Jason just graciously brings all of his shearing stuff over and spends the afternoon with us. Last fall between work schedules and hunting we were unable to get shearing in, so by this spring the sheep had grown a tremendous coat…

- Their long wool coats…
Most of the pictures that I took ended up being fuzzy, the barn is sort of dark with lots of motion and I dared not use a flash to encourage the sheep to jump any more than they all ready were while being trimmed! Apparently Icelandic’s are unlike most sheep and try to fight the Shearer instead of just sitting back, relaxing and enjoying the trim. They are constantly kicking and slipping out of position~which Jason handles amazingly well.

- Another look at the group.
It always amazes me to see how easy he manages to make it look. It’s like peeling a banana…with a bit more fuzz! Shearing was a bit more difficult this time as the sheep were starting their natural wool break (where they naturally start to shed their wool). Jason would be able to zoom through a sheep that had not started in their wool break and then on another that had started it, it was like the shearing piece would just get bogged down. Despite the ornery sheep and wool break, Jason did an amazing job!

- Shearing a lamb…

Shearing a ram lamb...

Jason shearing a ewe...
Jason did a great job of shearing our flock. Thanks again! We sure had a fun afternoon watching you do your thing.