S l o w fiber

Part of the slow movement is my shearing. Everyone asks how long does it take you to shear a goat or sheep. What difference does it make? There is no prize for killing yourself trying to get everyone shorn in one day. It is an experience between the shearer (also shepherd in my case,) and the goat or sheep. First I select the animal that is ready to shear, I can tell by looking at them if the fleece has just the right bloom, called halo in mohair. That's the day that fleece needs to be shorn, if you have to wait for weeks or months for a shearer to come by, that bloom is lost, it turns to felt, matted, stuck to the skin and then shedded, then thrown away. After I wrangle the goat onto the stand it takes much time to pick out the fleece for any hay, straw or sweet gum balls that may be hitching a ride. Some animals must never lay down as they are spotless, then there are the pigs that roll on their backs until the fleece is useless except for mulch to fill up all the washes created by all the heavy rains. After they are shorn, they are given a physical check up, hooves trimmed, deloused, wormed, vaccinated if needed and given a kiss if they are one of my pets raised on a bottle. If they are mean, try to stomp, bite, kick, or horn me, they probably will get an ear full of choice words, like I am going to put you in the truck to Mexico.