2002 Fall Shearing at Woolfarm.com
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Sunday October 6, 2002
 A total of 135 Icelandic sheep were shorn at our fall shearing day!!
We don't fall-shear our adult rams, nor our "Old Iceland Jewels" (our gals that will turn 13 this coming spring!!), or our 11 & 12 yr. old ewes!

"Fall Shearing Day" is an exciting, yet busy day here at the farm!  Our shearer, David Kier does an EXCELLENT job of shearing our sheep. Not only is he a top-notch shearer, but he also handles each and every animal with the utmost of care and consideration, which is extremely important to us as well.   It is because of Dave's excellent shearing techniques, that easily enables us to offer wonderful, top-quality, hand-spinning fleeces for sale. Our Icelandic sheep flock and shearer Dave,  work hard together to bring you a truly exquisite fleece.
Our Icelandic sheep flock is shorn twice a year (spring/fall), with our "fall clip" being the best quality overall.  Because our sheep graze on pasture all summer, it eliminates most of the vegetative matter (hay/straw) in their fall fleeces.  These are our finest quality, hand-spinning fleeces. The spring clip is generally shorter (and poorer quality,) since our sheep spend the winter comfortably bedded on straw.  The spring fleeces also have done their job of protecting our sheep through Wisconsin's harsh winter months.  These spring fleeces are excellent for felting.

Shearing Photos below

Shearer begins by removing the "belly wool" (which is discarded).


The shearer maneuvers the sheep with his feet and legs constantly.


Long, sweeping strokes remove wool from the sheep's back.


Each fleece is removed from the animal in one piece.


Next sheep is "waiting" as the previous one is finished up.


When finished, the sheep is "released", and wanders to the pasture area.
The shearing process, start to finish, takes only about 2 minutes to shear each sheep.


One person sweeps the shearing area plywood. Another gathers each fleece between sheep,
and hauls it to the "fleece sorting area". This must be done quickly, as the shearer is quickly finished with the next sheep.  It takes a minimum of 6  (7 is better) people working diligently (in addition to the shearer) to make our shearing day run efficiently. 


Fleeces of like-colors are sorted for use in rovings.


Skirting allows any slightly soiled portions of the fleeces to be removed prior to wrapping.
 Also,  when the fleece is "shaken" while still "warm off the sheep", any "second cuts" (short pieces----those are very rare with our shearer) will fall through the skirting table. 
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All fleeces are "Quick skirted"on shearing day


Top-quality fleeces are individually wrapped in burlap


Each is tagged with ear tag #, name, color, and comments.


Right side of photo shows several white fleeces grouped together.
On the left, are individually wrapped and tagged fleeces.


Transporting a wagon-load of our fall fleeces to the house for temporary storage.
Individual fleeces are hand-picked throughout the winter months, and sold to hand-spinners, weavers, felters, and other fiber-enthusiasts according to their requests.



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