First attemp at hand shearing

I am still "goat sitting" and just could not take watching these goats blowing their coats, watching the fiber waste away.. and their skin just get flakier and flakier..
I am the one watching all this, that makes me a part of it... si if I can't stop it, can't afford to have them sheared, then I will just have to shear them myself.. I will mail the fiber to the owners.

Just in case you asking.. last time I heard from the owners they were gonna be here to shear at the end of march.

It took 3 hours.. my dh helped me.. we worked non-stop...Tank was a champ.. he was grumpy a few times.. but all in all, very patient with us.. We could never have a better teacher than him... he has gotten me a couple times with his horns, not bad enough to "kill" me.. but enough to teach me to be cautious.. a great teacher.

I realized how under-weight he really is... we have been working on him.. hopefully he will start gaining now.
Oh Claire.. No cuts... yipee

The pile of fiber

Everyone wants to know what happened to half their leader

Franz what does "he has gotten me a couple times with his horns, not bad enough to "kill" me.." mean? Those are BIG horns.

Well, every now and then he likes to challange, just to make sure you are still stronge enough to stay in charge.. sometimes it's a mere game to him.. but I am a mere human..
he will turn his head to scratch his back with his horns, scratch away, then suddenly flip his head down and give a little charge flipping his head up... and hope you are a bit faster than him or not within striking distance. Yes, it hurts.. luckily he has not pierced me.. I know it could happen.. he now knows the command BACK.. my dh has taught him dunb A-- means get out of my way.. dh got snagged in the shin.. it only take once or twice getting jabbed before you are way careful.
When the goats first got here they were so sick they barely moved so we have had a chance to form relationships with them.. and a pecking order.. well sort of one.. now we just have to reinforce it. He sure seems subdued naked.. lol

Edited to add: Injuries include, bruised leg calf, bruised shoulder muscle, bruised shin, tennis elbow -from grabbing him in mid swing and twisting my tendon.. see all painful, but not death.

This message was edited May 4, 2009 9:08 PM

Fran - tremendous job with the shearing! Seriously - you did a fabulous job and you should be very proud of it. I can't believe that they still have not shown up. These people clearly do not care about their animals and quite frankly, if I were you, I would feel pretty used. I think you should get the fiber processed (or do it yourself) and sell it and put that towards the bills that they have not paid. There is no excuse for the behavior of the owners.

Our Val does the same thing with his horns. He has learned with a few slaps on the nose that it's not a good idea, but we have to remind him sometimes. I feel bad giving him a spank on the nose, but then I see him whacking heads with the other goats and I figure what I do is pretty minor!

Once again - excellent work and kudos to you for having the guts to do it yourselves! I know EXACTLY what it's like, and it's not easy or fast the first times. It's going to take a long time for us to get good at it!

Thank you so much for the kind encouraging word there claire.. they do mean a lot.
I was going to mail the fiber, but Mike wants to go ahead and wash it and card it.. I personally want to get out there and get busy on Orange.. I am afraid shes getting bigger everyday and I would like her done before any birth takes place.

You would not believe.. we have about 7 pairs of scissors.. yes regular ones, one pair of 61/2" shearing scissors and a couple of mustache scissors.. lol we used every pair for different things.. Now we need to sharpen all!

I feel good tonight, like I finally accomplished something. We really did have to practice a bit in order to get ready to do Jester the alpaca (who will need a bargin wife next year, hint, hint) One down 7 more and an alpaca to go!

Fran!!! I read this thread and was not going to comment because I know so little about sheep, or goats, or alpacas. But I can't remain silent. I hope you can see me tipping my hat to you. You women just amaze me. I have always silently adored Claire and her hubby for what they do, and now I see you and galles, and some of the others performing like champions. You all make me look like a wimp. I am so impressed with what you all do. Haystack

Thanks Frans.

I feel the same way as Haystack.. I don't know much, but I know a good haircut when I see it.. and that is a really pretty job!!!
I also agree with Claire. You should do whatever you can to help pay the board bill... If the owners have a problem with that, I'll give you my number.. send em to me. LOL
Good job!

Wow! Scissors? I thought you meant you had used hand shears, I'm very impressed!

Geewiz.. you guys have us blushing here...
thanks again for all the good comments.. that just makes us go out and do more.. lol..
I too adore Claire and envy her ability to "do it all".. school, animals, garden..
me..haha..
while it may seem sometimes we are here doing it all, something always suffers.. like I have to wash the dishes is a rush or I can't (don't allow myself) out to play.. but that doesn't mean I swept the floor! When I track in ankle deep hay then I sweep. Most of my guests must sit in the garden with a glass of tea.. it's usually cooler there anyway..

Here! Here! frans (applauding madly). There are no rules about the big thing in the middle of the garden. I think about cleaning it sometime between tuber time and seeding time cuz it would be silly to clean when I'm just going to track muck in real quick on my bare feets.

Oh not at all, I cannot "do it all" because so many things are behind and not done. I just scrape by with doing a little bit of everything. My one concession, I do have a cleaning service every 2 weeks. I swear that nothing in this house would ever be vacuumed or dusted otherwise. It would be awful. Those ladies are my salvation. Fortunately, the sheep pretty much take care of their own lambs and all I do is collect eggs and play with lambs and goats and chickens.

"all I do is collect eggs and play with lambs and goats and chickens". That's what I want to do when I grow up!

lol, me too...

I love taking a minute just to watch them and relish in the wonder of it all!

Fantastic shearing job, frans! Your hands must have been cramping by the time you were done. Mine are aching just thinking about it!
Sometimes I'm in a rush to get the chores done and Beverly(our bottle lamb) always brings me back and slows me down. She insists on a daily hug and rub! Have you hug your lamb today? :-)

No sigh. Does hugging the crazy ole cat count?

Yep, I think it all counts! As long as it is a true hug, it counts!

I wish I had a lamb or kid to shear. Right now the dogs are dropping big clumps of fur all over the house--but I don't have the right wool to mix it with.

Meanwhile I was looking for organic yarns for socks and found this:

http://www.spinnery.com/custom.php

I'm not sure that they will process dog clumps. I send my fleece to High Prairie Fibers. They also run a parrot rescue, which is neat to visit when you go to drop off or pick up fiber. Abi does a lot with solar power too. She is a great source of information to me, being new at spinning and all.

So does that mean your not processing your own fibers claire? Do they wash, card and send them back to you ready to spin? Or are you having some prespun also? I know you have a lot of fibers to do.. Are you selling any or have you joined a co-op? Yep, I am nosey?

Actually, I have a book on the history of Swedish knitting and it describes how dog fur yarn was very common there in the past--expecially for socks. Only problem was that roaming dogs were attracted to it and would attempt to "mark" the feet of the person wearing them. I have no experience with this--I am only reporting what I read:0)

Fran, the washing is extremely tedious and requires huge quantities of detergent. I would have to do it in my bathtub. Each fleece would require 5 to 8 rounds of washing - you see, you can't agitate it at all because it will felt. You just have to let it sit in scalding hot water with detergent. Drain. Repeat. Drain. Repeat. .....etc.

Apart from the fact that I don't have time for that right now, it would be very hard on our septic system. So, I send it to Abi for washing. Some she will make into roving, some she is sending back as washed "clouds" of fiber, and some will be just washed and ready for felting. The stuff I want to spin is the stuff she is making into roving. That makes it a lot easier for me. I am not having any prespun.

I intend to sell some - maybe at the farmers market or on Etsy or Artfire. I hope to do lots of spinning this summer when I am off school, and have a whole bunch to sell. We'll see how that goes!

Catscan - I do know some people who use their dogs fur blended with sheep's wool. It seems most effective with long haired breeds like malamutes and samoyeds and pyrs and such. In view of the potential for wet feet (ick....) I think I shall avoid the sock idea with dog fur. Maybe a scarf....

I am going to process Tanks fiber tomorrow, I am pretty sure I understand how to do it.. It is only 10 pounds. I know several "loads" But it is suppose to rain all day so I will be locked indoors with only house cleaning to do! I bought a giant size Orvis, and have Dawn if I want to downsize.

My sis spins her cat.. ok her cats fur, she mixed it with wolf and made leg warmers.. the old fashioned kind.. they turned out nice... so now her the cat, the cat fur and the wolf all cuddle on the couch and watch tv.

I have bags of dog fur--and I was looking into carders....but right now I am just sweeping and vacuuming a lot.

Fran - you should take pictures through the process and do a thread about it! That would be useful and interesting for others to see! Let us know how it goes!

A quick update: I sheared Orange, half with scissors and the other half with my oyster A-5s, While the scissors take way longer I sure like it better, there are NO second cuts, I now know what seconds are! It sure is faster with the clippers though.

I washed the half that I scissored, I want to practice spinning with it and did not want to wrestle with the shorts.
Instead of posting a the photos here, I put them on my website.. just didn't wat to be posting all day.
http://www.freewebs.com/rakenleafs/apps/photos/album?albumid=5565533

But here's a glimps at poor orange..