Jacob Sheep Farm

Visiting the Farm

Today I went to a local Jacob sheep farm to see the new lambs and pick up a few fleece.

A Beautiful Day

The weather for March was great today, sunny and warm.  When I arrived at the farm I could see the ewes and their new lambs.  Most of the ewes were relaxing in the bright sunshine while their lambs were exploring their new surroundings.

An occasional lamb would wander away from mom and get concerned that they were lost.  Their loud bleet would get mom to come and rescue them.  Their tails would wag like a puppy dog to show their happiness.

The heard has more than doubled

The shepheard came to greet me and explained how tired he was.  It is lambing season and they seem to always come late at night.  He has a heard of 43 ewes and over the past few weeks they have had 52 lambs.  There is just one more ewe to deliver her lambs then he can get some sleep.

Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival

Due to the COVID pandemic the MSWF was cancelled for 2020 and will be cancelled again this year.  The shepheard said that they usually sell most of their wool at the festival.  Without it many wool producers are having difficult years.

So many beautiful fleeces from which to choose

There was a huge pile of fleece in the barn.  

The Jacob sheep were shorn in November to keep the wool clean.  Over the winter the straw bedding in the barn would get in their fleece so they choose to shear them in autumn.

The shepheard had several bags of the best wool set aside for me to look at.  Every bag contained the skirted fleece and was well documented with the name of the sheep, date it was shorn and the weight of the fleece. 

Every fleece I looked at was beautiful.  They had almost no VM and the locks were sound with nice crimp.  There was also a nice balance of white and brown or black fleece in each bag.

The most difficult part of choosing the fleece was not going overboard and buying them all.  Fortunately, this farm is not far away so I can return when I need more.

Jacob

Jacobs is my last name so I have a reason to love this breed.  The wool is a medium grade and easy for beginners to scour and spin.  It offers several colors from the same fleece. The yarn can be spun to create the perfect yarn for just about anything you want to do with it.  

This is one breed that can make everyone happy.