Early Spring Shearing

We sheared the goats this past weekend.  This is at least a month earlier than we normally shear.  It's not my first choice to shear this early but it's one of the compromises I make since I'm not the biggest fish in this pond.  My friend Cynthia Lurex is the big fish.  She lives up the road a few miles from me and has the most goats, in the range of 25 to 30 depending on the year, so she gets to pick the shearing time.  She wanted to shear early so here we are.

I only have two goats that need to be sheared right now.  Pi and Millie.  Pi is young and has a stunning coat of white.  Millie is old so her fleece isn't nearly as nice as Pi's but she is a lovely pale red in color.  My other two goats, Fitz and Harvard, are dairy goats so they are short haired and don't ever require shearing.

My wonderful shearer, Stephan Franco, was due here on Saturday but called me on Friday to see if he could come early.  He had finished up early at the goat ranch in Ganado and was headed here with plenty of time to shear my two goats that afternoon.  Stephen in wonderful.  He is kind with the goats but also doesn't let them push him around.  And he is quick.  Five minutes of being trussed up is so much better for the goats than hours and hours of standing in a milking stand with me trying to get them sheared.  We are all happier that Stephen comes to shear.

We are still having temperatures down in the 30's and 40's and 50's at night and I now have two goats with no hair.  I'm not worried about the dairy goats.  They are well acclimated to our climate and plenty smart enough to know where the well bedded shelters are if they get cold.  My two newly hairless goats are also plenty smart enough to get into the shelters at night but I worry about them.  So they are currently staying in the barn.  They have access to the corrals attached to the barn during the day but I can put them up in a well bedded stall at night.  It makes it much easier for me to sleep at night.