One benefit of having a son and son-in-law that shear sheep is that they get our sheep done as soon as we need them. And a wonderful job they did at that. Clayton and Luke work together and travel around SW Minnesota and over to SE South Dakota shearing a good deal of sheep. They do a nice neat job and the customers are pleased with their work. They get to meet some really nice farm folks as they travel around working, always making it home at night.
This brother-in-law team did all of our sheep this past week after both having done two separate jobs that morning. They had plenty of spunk to boot when they started ours and of course plenty of people watching.
Clayty warned us to watch the weather closely since it was supposed to snow and rain and the sheep needed to be dry. We lucked out over night and the precipitation never started until early afternoon at which time everyone headed out to bring in the sheep to the barn where they stayed nice and dry.
Mario was in charge of the wool packer machine and was sure proud of that job. He flipped the switch on command quite well. Caleb and Peter caught sheep for the boys and the girls just looked on filling in empty gaps here and there.
Later some of us had to go prepare a hot meal which consisted of home-made biscuits and chili . ( Later that night, Luke commented that almost everywhere they shear, for those farmers who feed them, they serve either chili, hot dish or beef roast. ) Fred picked up the wool and stuffed it into the packer. He separated any black wool from the white because the white wool brings a better price than the black, having much more crimp to it.
When the job was finished we had bagged up approximately 10 pounds of wool per sheep sheared. There were 5 and 1/2 bags of wool, now safely stored in the quonset, ready for shipment back to Ohio. Not sure when the semi-trailer will get here to pick up all the stored wool from this season that the guys store inside the building, but hopefully he won’t get stuck in all this snow and wet soil.
CALLENS HONEY FARM 
Cool!!! Love sheep, lambs, fleece, crimp, lanolin–just everything about the fiber-gleaning process. Going to be shearing our two new angora goats soon. Ever do them? I hear they’re more difficult because of their slender, saggy-skinned goaty bodies. Doing them with hand shears, I’m praying I don’t kill them!
Inspiring as always–you folks are!! 🙂 Keep on living life to it’s greatest potential!!!! 😀
Mary
Someone please knit those sheep a sweater,,,,,they look chilly eh!!! ;p
same weather here as you are having, ick….hopefully spring is around the corner eh.
Not so chilly here Theresa. Pretty nice for MN:)
Spring is here because the Robins have been here for 6 days!
Clayton had a little lamb, whose fleece was white as snow…every where that Clayton went the lamb was sure to be sheared! OKAY, it didn’t rhyme, but I couldn’t resist…awesome story and pictures. Thanks for shearing…I mean, sharing! Love you guys! XO AV
Funny Anet:) Get your plane ticket before the rates go higher! I have a bunch of cheese wheels waxed and will be sure to save some for you guys.
Love,
Sandra
Sandra -Every time I receive an email from the Callens Honey Farm, I learn something new.
I’m an old country girl, so I enjoy your sharing.
Love, Coma Marie
Coma,
Your are a beautiful country girl! Can you believe I used to baby sit your kids??? Time sure went by quickly! Glad you like what you see here.
God bless you
Italian hugs from MN
Sandra