Springtime is here and with it comes sheep shearing - the first big project of the season. A call from the shearing crew marks the beginning of our ranching year. Soon the lambs will be coming and we’ll be on the move to the high mountain pastures for the summer. But for now we’re enjoying the fruits of our new wool harvest. Here’s how the process works:
Heading down the alley to the shearing trailer
We sort and shear the sheep by breed and by color so that the white fleeces stay white! On the first day, we focus on the Rambouillet sheep. Their fine, soft wool becomes products like Shepherd’s Lamb Organic Hand-Dyed Rambouillet 2-ply Sport Weight Yarns and Shepherd’s Lamb Organic Wool Blankets. We have a lot of Rambouillet sheep, so shearing, skirting (cleaning), and packing their wool takes a whole day!
Skirting a newly-shorn fleece
Day two of shearing is all about our Navajo-Churro sheep. We continue to work by color, beginning with the white Churros before moving on to those with colored fleeces. Churro wool is coarser than Rambouillet wool, but is also much stronger and has a longer staple (fiber length). This is the wool of choice for traditional Rio Grande-style weaving and it’s the wool that goes into Shepherd’s Lamb Organic Hand-Dyed Churro Yarn in Blanket and Rug weights. As with the Rambouillet, each fleece is shorn, skirted and sorted by color before it is packed into bales.
A beautiful Navajo-Churro fleece
The work of shearing is all done by hand and requires a healthy supply of help to complete. In addition to the shearing crew, we have helpers who sort the sheep and send them down the alleyway to the shearing trailer, helpers who skirt and sort the fleeces once they’ve been removed from the sheep, helpers who pack the fleeces into bales, and, of course, helpers who make the lunch! It’s hard work but the effort we put in now is repaid through the beautiful yarns and wool products we are able to produce. We think you’ll agree that the effort is well worth it!
All packed up!