Today our kids got to learn how to sheer a sheep... or three! Our 4H Extension office sent three volunteers and the equipment to teach our kids how to do a rough sheer to help keep them cool and eating through the heat of the summer and prepare for their slick sheer just before the fair.
We set up on my front lawn... I can only imagine what my neighbors think! It took a bit to get going. Apparently one of the 4H Adult Volunteers had borrowed the sheers and put the blades on backwards. After some struggling, and a couple nips on the lambs, one of them figured it out, the switched the blades around and were off to the races! Smiley and BamBam were sheered first, the Adults started by showing the kids, then let them try their hand at it. T and TABS did very well, AJ wasn't having anything to do with it. I think the couple nips in the beginning did him in. SAS and RW collected the wool from Smiley and BamBam and later we will learn to clean and spin it. We didn't collect the wool from Blu because she is not a wool lamb, she is a meat lamb, so her wool was just discarded.
When they were done, Justen took a look at a nick on Smileys foreshank and decided that it likely needed stitches. That was not my cup of tea, so I offered up some super glue for skin and we used that to glue our little lamb back together again. I was actually pretty impressed with how well it held for her! We also sprayed her with a wound spray dressing and a fly spray to keep the flys off.
All in all, it was an eventful and educational day! We love our 4H community and our Extension Office! So many people willing to share their time and knowledge to help our kids learn and grow!
