After the successive heatwaves and droughts last summer and then a very dry and hot March and April this year we were very worried about our meadows. The clay soil was baked hard and fissured, there were too many bare patches and nothing seemed to be growing. Fortunately May and June have been incredibly wet and although things are late this year, everything seems to be doing better now. We've kept the sheep off the meadow in front of the house since March which has also helped. It's now full of the usual diversity of grasses, orchids and other wild flowers. The rattle has spread in the dry conditions, so there is a little more of that than usual.
The wet conditions have made sheep shearing less easy. The sheep have to be confined to the bergerie for 48 hours so their fleeces can dry out. Our first shearer cancelled at the very last moment so the sheep were released. Finally we found another shearer and today the 24 sheep were sheared. Our new shearer is Chrystelle from Erp who has done a fantastic job. In the afternooon she went to shear Jerome's 42 tarasconaise at La Coste and I helped as Jerome was without his usual helper. The tarasconaise are huge compared to our ouessants so all in all it was quite a physical day.
Our flock waiting for their haircuts
Aucun commentaire :
Enregistrer un commentaire