Sox...the Father of all Fathers!

Something very special arrived at the farm yesterday....a couple of brand new rams.

Today Dad had the very big job of shearing them, the shearers have moved on from our farm, so it is up to Dad. 
Lucky Dad is a jack of all trades!

We have named the ram Dad is holding Sox, we think he is pretty special.

Mum and Dad have been looking for a special ram for a long time.  

We hope Sox will be the father to lots of lambs on our farm....maybe even some rams.

He is mighty big, weighing just over 100 kilograms and he is still a lamb!

I am not sure how Dad will go shearing Sox. Sox is much heavier than my Dad!

Slowly but surely Dad gets Sox shorn, he is very well behaved.

We really like Sox's wool it is very soft, long and white 
and has lovely little crimps.

There is plenty of it. He has cut 6.5 kilograms of wool in only 7 months.

I wish my hair could grow that fast. It seems to take forever!

I hope Sox likes our farm.

Big news tonight...Beau is a DAD...Tilly the girl dog that came to stay, has had her babies, all 7 of them..

Congratulations BEAU.....perhaps a puppy will be the next special arrival on the farm!

Snip, Snip.....Clip, Clip

Click go the shears AGAIN......more sheep to be shorn and wool to be pressed.

The merino lambs wool is long enough to be shorn now.

Blackfoot and Angel are in this mob, I wonder if I can find them....I hope they have nice wool.

WOW...Blackfoot remembers me, Mum and I have put an ear tag in each of his ears, so now we will always know him.

Angel is not so friendly....we can't find her in the mob...she must be hiding.

The weather has been very stormy this week, so every night we have had to shed the lambs to keep them dry.
We have had 5 storms this week!

Lots of thunderbolts and lightning! Very, very frightening......

The lambs look much cooler now they have their wool off. 
Back to the paddock, the wethers will get fat and ready to be sold.
And the ewes will be back in October to do it all again

Testing Time

Our first load of wool is ready to be tested for sale, at the wool store.

 

After unloading all the bales from the truck the wool is put in the big shed. It is all sorted into lots ready for testing. They are very good at stacking it up high, I hope it doesn't fall over. I think it would squash me if it did!

The wool is moved around the store on forklifts, the bales are very heavy. The bales are put on special rollers that deliver them to the testing machine.

A small sample of wool is taken from every bale, with some really big claws. They look a bit like a crocodiles' mouth...I wouldn't like my hand in there. This is the sample that will be tested to see how long and strong it is.

It is also the sample the wool buyers get to look at. I hope they like it!

 The bales are then put on really big scales, to see how much wool is inside.

The bale is then tipped upside down off the scales and squashed up really tight for another test. This time a really long tube is sent right through the bale. It goes through a few times and takes another sample of wool. This wool is tested to see how clean the wool is and how soft it is. I would not like to get squashed in there! OUCH!

The wool is now ready to store in the shed until it is sold, down another roller and into a big stack!

 Maybe we will go to Sydney to see the wool sold.

Removing Woolly Jackets.

Finally the shearers arrive, only 3 days late and one shearer short, BUT we have made a start.

The sheep have to be yarded hours before they are due to be shorn, so that their tummies empty out. They will be alot more comfortable while the shearers handle them. I think the sheep are looking forward to having their woolly jackets taken off as the weather is warming up.

Every night we put the sheep in the shed, as there is nearly always a dew in the morning that would make them wet. The dogs have been VERY busy all week, mustering  and penning up the sheep to be shorn.

Beau and Bear are nearly worn out, Beau has a very sore foot. He has a grass seed stuck between his toes, we have had to take him to the vet to get some medicine. Dad has to get the young dogs to fill in, Boy and Kirk love that idea.

The shearers travel to the farm everyday, they have to get out of bed very early. They start shearing at 7.30am, I am ready and waiting! Shearers are very hard workers, they have to catch and drag the sheep from the pen. That takes alot of muscles!  They shear the sheep so quick. If you blink you nearly miss them. One shearer can shear a sheep in less than 2 minutes. He shears 200 sheep a day. That is alot! He gets paid $2.65 for every sheep he shears......he must be rich!

After the sheep are shorn Mum and the shed hands prepare the wool. The fleeces are thrown onto a table and the edges are skirted, they take off short, coloured and any other bits that are bad. It is very important that the wool is prepared well. The floor is swept all the time, and the short bits are kept separate. I am good at sweeping.

Mum looks at every fleece of wool on the table, she has to check its length, strength, colour and softness. Mum and Dad are very pleased with the wool this year, it is very long, each sheep is cutting about 5 kilograms.

The fleeces are put into a wool bin ready for pressing. Dad is the wool presser he operates a very noisy machine, he also has to pen up all the sheep when they call SHEEPO!

IN it goes

and squash it down!

Lots of wool goes into the press, each bale weighs about 190 kilograms. The press squashes all the wool in. I try to help Dad load the wool into the press, but my arms aren't quite big enough and my legs aren't quite long enough. When the bale comes out it is branded with letters and numbers. Then it is ready to go on the truck to the wool store.

Shearing is a busy time, it has taken the sheep 12 months to produce the wool, and within a matter of minutes it is all over for another year.