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Of Spring Cleaning, Annual Baths and Haircuts, Angus, and Waiting For Mabel...

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I just got back from a week taking care of my grandparents place, with Mama and seven of my siblings.  We had a nice time, but it felt oh, so good to get back!
And when we got back, I had fresh energy to accomplish some annual chores that had been put off for a while, namely, the annual baths and haircuts!

This photo is actually a few years old... We didn't take any this year.


Once or twice a year, I give the goats, Blossom and Winnie a bath.  None of them like it.  The goats hate it, but more or less stand still and enjoy the scratching and rubbing, as does Blossom.  Winnie struggles at first, but eventually gives up and submits to the inevitable.

This year I was quite late with the shearing.  Poor thing, she definitely doesn't need that big wool coat when the temperature is in the 90's.


Winnie before shearing...

During shearing...






Her fleece...



And Winnie after shearing!

Blossom and the goats got their yearly baths too, and the goats got clipped.  It took a while, but they look so much better!  And thankfully, Mama's clippers survived the ordeal, so the boys will still get their haircuts.  :)

Mabel is due on May 31st.  This picture is from the 22nd.


"Hey, what are you doing back there?"

She is bred to Ricky, an ABGA registered 100% fullblooded Boer buck, previously owned by our neighbor.






Rudy, a kid sired by Ricky.



And Winnie now has a husband.  :)  This is Angus, my new registered Florida Cracker ram.

Florida Crackers are extremely hardy sheep, and since the breed was only recently separated from the Gulf Coast Native Sheep breed, very few Crackers are registered.  I am delighted to have been able to buy Angus.
What a pretty face!


As you can see, he still has quite a bit of growing to do, but he will be beautiful.
 

And now, as I continue to wait on Mabel, we are working on thinning out the trees in our back pasture, so that hopefully we will get more and better grass back there.  That is, we work on it between the thunderstorms.  It is currently raining, so I am able to catch up on some computer stuff that has needed to be finished.  So, farewell until I post the next update about Mabel!
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