Saturday, September 15, 2007

No knitting content but just look at these cuddley creatures!

I just took these pictures from our window. These little cuties passed right down our street on their way home from spending the summer grazing in the hills.

Just look at that adorable black & white one!! Wouldn't his fleece be totally awesome to spin! :o)

All these cuties will get a shearing now before being put into pasture near their winter home. The sheep farmers around here shear their sheep twice a year. However, as a rule the fleeces are not sold. Every so often a farmer will take his fleeces to the processing plant in Bern, but it's so far from here and the payment doesn't even cover the cost of gas. As a result of this, the fleeces are usually burnt at a specific location nearby. What a shame!!

Every sheep gets the initial of his owner painted on his back after shearing. This helps to distinguish whose sheep belong to Farmer Fritz and whose to Farmer Johan.

There were at least 80 of them!

UPDATE: I was just told there were over 200 in this flock!

Their little bells tinkled away as the two dogs keep them all together, quite a job!


The cars pulled over to the side to let the sheep pass, not that they had much choice. ;-)