We have hot summers here. And they tend to last for years, or at least it feels like it. This summer we had an unusually cool and wet spring so the heat of the “real” summer has felt all the worse. Last summer we had a horrible drought and went several months without rain so I spent a lot of time watering the small trees in the front yard. We have been much more fortunate this year and have had more rain, but we have also had higher temperatures. There’s just not much nice you can say about 98 degrees except, perhaps, that it isn’t 104.
Spring shearing is bigger than fall shearing. The goats, all four of them, get sheared twice a year - spring and fall. I've done this myself for as long as I've owned goats, although I started off poorly. The first time It took me several hours per goat and I only had the stamina to do one a day. Even with as few goats as I have, it took me a week or more to get them all sheared. And they all looked like a four year old had gotten a hold of the scissors. I'm sure they went back to their shelter and laughed at each other's hair cut. And probably laughed at me. But I've gotten better over the years. I still only do one a day but even the worst of them only takes me an hour now and they actually look pretty good. And Bernadette, who has wavy hair instead of curly dreadlocks, only takes me about 20 minutes.
