Shearing at the Timm Ranch
/Last weekend I spent a day skirting fleeces with some of the Farm club members. We were at the Timm Ranch not far from here.
After a rainy and overcast week the sunny day was a welcome change and the ranch was a beautiful place to spend the day.
The sheep were in pens when we got there.
We helped to move them toward the lane into the barn.
Most of the lambs were born much earlier but there were a few late lambs too.
The sheep are a ranch blend that were originally bred from Targhee, Polypay, and Rambouillet sheep
The shearer works in the old barn where there are signs of what shearing would have been like in the "old days" when there would have been hundreds of sheep to shear in the day.
We brought each fleece to the skirting tables...
...and inspected them for strength, length, and VM (vegetable matter)
My goal was to get at least 200 pounds, the minimum weight to send it to the mill I am using for this wool.
I ended up with 270 pounds of beautiful fleece.
We dragged it on a tarp over to the baler...
...where the shearer baled it. 
This is our 270 pound bale in the truck. I am grateful to Farm Club members for helping out on this day. It not only made the work easier, but it was fun to spend time together.
A link to last year's Timm Ranch yarn is here.
Farm Cub members are invited to be vendors. This is Jackie with Sheep to Shop.
These are some of her handspun, handknit pillows.
Colleen has Fiber Confections.
She usually sells at the Davis Farmers' Market.
Gynna makes socks.
Here are some of her socks knit from my 
Joy sells dye plants...
...ready to use for dyeing and ready to grow. Her butterfly is made from a 
Of course, it's all about the animals, especially the lambs.
Betsy, Mary, Sue, and Marina helped children pet lambs.
My little goats were an added attraction this year since Julie, who usually brings goats and bunnies, couldn't be here. 
This fence helped keep the kids in one place. Moms could relax temporarily.
I saved the small field behind the shop so that the sheep would be enticed to come to fresh pasture for the weekend.
I not only found a plastic tub to keep the dust and cobwebs and rats away but I wrote the names on the tops of the bottles so that I don't have to pull each of them out every time I'm looking for something. This is so simple, but it makes me inordinately pleased--why didn't I think of it before? 
While I was cleaning inside the barn Dan was working outside. We had finally had some rain so felt more comfortable burning the brush pile.
By the way we burned this on Thursday. This doesn't look like much but it was a pretty not fire. Even though it looked like it was out on Monday there were still hot spots and smoke.
That burn pile is right next to the ram pen. Here are the five of them. The 4-horned rams are Serrano and his dad, Buster. The lilac 2-horns are Cayenne and his sire, Catalyst. That's Gotham in front. 
In the meantime, Dan is working on the west side of the barn. This has been a multi-year project but I think it may get finished this year.
Let's put the GoPro on a sheep. Jade is the obvious choice, being the best pet sheep.
The first thing she did was run into the barn. When one sheep runs, they all do.
At that point I needed a scoop of grain to entice her. 
I had used the headgear that is meant for wearing the camera, but it was meant for a human head and didn't wrap around the horns very well. I found the brace I use for my elbow and that seemed to secure it better.
I've looked at the footage. It's not as exciting as we might hope for. Maybe if she wore the GoPro all day (and there was enough battery life to do that...and then we condense it all into a minute) it would be interesting. But it's not like she's going to be skydiving or snorkeling. For this trial run she pretty much just looked at the barn, the pasture, and me.
I will still do something with the video but it probably won't be winning any film festivals.
