Shearing Big Mama

And what a big mama she is.  Big Mama is about 200lbs of ewe, lol.  She was super patient with me, but even so I could not finish her in one go.  I got most of her sheared and one hoof trimmed. I will eventually be doing a shearing video for beginners since all you see on youtube is professionals shearing a sheep in 5 minutes, they don't really explain how you experience it the first time, what you feel, how the sheep reacts when you get close to cutting her skin, by the way I did not cut her once only braised her in one tiny spot in the beginning, how to prevent cutting your sheep and shear successfully, even if its slowly the first time.  It took me a couple hours to get her mostly done, but it was an enjoyable experience.  Here is the before and after for now,  I will finish her Tuesday evening or on Wednesday when I have time without the kids.

 Before

 After: she looks like she has mange.  lol

 The other side of after.  I think I did a pretty good job.  :) She does have this odd patch on her withers, full of dirt and lots of lanolin in that area, not sure what that is about.  Maybe she was using a feeder when she rubbed her withers every time on it, got dirt and hay in it, not sure.  I need to make a wool cover for her, eventually.  It will keep her wool nice until next shearing in a year.

At least she still likes me.  :)

Her wool,  I will clean it up and use it for either pillow stuffing or for quilt batting.  Warmest quilt I will make if I do.  :)  All wool can be used for something even if its not quality for knitting, weaving or crocheting with, this is good quality stuffing for stuffed animals, felt, you name it.