Wool warehouses and mills of North America:)

This is mostly a photo blog, but over the last 7 months I've had the chance to visit several wool warehouses/mills. For the most part they all look the same, a nondescript building in a shady area of town. Neatly stacked bales of wool lining the walls, usually a pile of loose wool in one corner. It's funny to think that large portions of the USA wool clip passes through these buildings on their way to being processed (mostly in china). But a small portion is lucky enough to stay in the country. 

The first warehouse was Roswell wool in New Mexico...fabulous folks.

Neatly stacked square bales, most of these weigh around 400 pounds. Notice the farm name initials on the front of each bale along with info on the wool that's inside.

These are New Mexico sheep...

Next up was Center of the Nation Wool in South Dakota. 

(Yeah, that's all I got on them!)

Last year I was able to visit Chargeurs in South Carolina as part of an ASI tour. That was eye opening!

Wool being washed

Wool roving going into super wash

Wool roving is carded numerous times...

Final tests to determine quality of roving (ie no black fibers, poly twine, hair)

Another warehouse I got to visit was Groenewold Fur and Wool.

There was wool everywhere, most of these bales weighed around 1000 pounds.

The wool sorting machine...

Setting the wires to make a bale. 

Up close look at a bale.

Big pile of sorted wool.

Sold the last of my spring wool here!

We also got to go see MacAuslands wool mill in Prince Edward Island Canada.

Unloading wool for processing.

Wool waiting to be washed...

The washing (scouring) equipment...

Inside the mill, this is all the equipment. Hard to believe so many blankets get made here every year.

Inside their store...we bought 2 blankets:)

Being able to visit all these wool buyers and processors really was a wonderful experience. I'm hoping to continue to visit other mills and buyers in the course of my travels and report back about all the great people that are involved in making every wool product. I always like to brag that sheep are the greatest job producers out there since they seem immune to automation. Even while visiting the mills it is people doing hands on work every step of the way. Wool is amazing:)

Long hard road...

On July 2, 2013 Kevin and I were shearing out west of Frederick Maryland on a farm with about 160 big Charolais/Southdown cross ewes. We got a good start on them but we knew right away it was going to be a tough flock. On my 19th sheep I was moving into the long blows (ie. the sheep was laying on its side) when the sheep kicked and got its foot in behind my handpiece which drove it into the back of my left hand. 

Kevin took me right away to Frederick memorial hospital where we sat for 6 hours before a doctor saw me. I had a large gash in the back of my hand and could not lift my middle and ring fingers. When I finally saw a doctor they cleaned it out and referred me to another doctor who said he wanted me to come see him the next day to clean it out again and possibly sew it up.

The next day I called this doctor to verify my appointment time and learned that I could not see him because he did not accept my insurance. I was told that I would have to pay "possibly several thousand dollars" to see him and they told me to look elsewhere for care.

What followed were several stressful hours on the phone calling doctors and my insurance carrier trying to find someone to fix my hand, which at this point was still an open wound and two dangling fingers. Even my insurance company couldn't help me find an appropriate doctor. My own family doctor declined to see me because they knew they couldn't fix the tendons. I did finally end up getting an appointment with a doctor in Frederick for A WEEK LATER. I kept up with the calls and finally spoke with a sympathetic nurse who told me I had three options, call my insurance for doctor recommendations (did that), wait for the appointment I already had (no freakin way), or go back to the emergency room. So that's what I did.

24 hours after that conversation, one hospital transfer, and several OxyContins later I was in surgery (on July 4th, God bless America) getting my tendons sewn back together. I was discharged later that day in a soft cast with orders to keep it dry and follow up in 2 weeks. 

This worked out to my advantage as I was still able to go on a planned road trip to Canada. The week of sitting in a car helped keep my hand still and clean and I didn't go crazy with boredom. 

Upon returning I went to see my doctor for follow up and the drama continues as the doctor whom I was scheduled to see in my follow up was not the one who did my surgery. Somehow because of it being a holiday the doctor who was on call when I was admitted was not there on the 4th and so my paperwork was mixed up and I ended up seeing the wrong doctor. He did check me out though and prescribed a full finger brace and no physical therapy.

When I went to the in house PT she was very concerned about the unnecessary use of a full finger brace and highly recommended follow up physical therapy. They eventually decided on a half finger brace but still no doctor ordered PT.

The next day I searched online for possible physical therapy references in Sioux Falls SD (where I will be the next few weeks) and ran into more problems since I didn't have a doctors notice and then ran into another problem that now my surgeon wanted to see me himself. Well that does me no good when I'm halfway to Missouri. 

To say that this injury has been a constant struggle would be an understatement!

But in spite of it all my prognosis looks good. I'm going to continue to push for physical therapy and hopefully I'll be able to shear by the end of September. 

Which brings me to the important info for anyone who was planning to have me shear this fall. Because of the uncertainty of my hand strength and because there are only 30 or so jobs that I already had counted on for this fall, I've come up with an acceptable (for me) option for helping get everything done safely and efficiently. Kevin has agreed to come out for 2 weeks (around sept 22-oct 5 roughly)to help me. This will allow me to shear only as much as my hand will allow and Kevin can help get the work done. There is too much work going on out west for him to stay much longer but we will do what we can on a first come first serve basis. I know this option isn't ideal for some of you as you may have planned on earlier or later shearing dates but I cannot commit to shear anything on my own until I know how much my hand can handle. I am happy to refer you to other shearers if you would feel more comfortable with that option or if you decide to stick with dates when Kevin will not be here.

I want to thank everyone who has been so supportive through this whole ordeal. I don't see this impacting my spring 2014 run at all. But I'm going to have to take one day at a time for a while until I'm back to cruising speed:)

Photo curtesy of Pieter DeMooy 

 

 

Hey it's good to be back home again:)

Lydia, Hedgehog and I have finally returned to Maryland from our round the country winter trip! 2 months, 20 states, 2,330 sheep/goats shorn, so many wonderful memories. And while it is great to be back home with my family I already miss all my new and old friends I got to know out on the road. It is always touching when complete strangers open their homes and lives to Lydia and I. In this day and age it is hard to open up but time and time again I am blown away by the generosity and kindness of people. This job really gives me a glimpse into people's lives and I am constantly overwhelmed with not only the responsibility and trust people have in me but also how quickly people can become some of my dearest friends. I really had such an amazing two months. Starting in Virginia, out to Iowa, down to New Mexico, up to South Dakota, back down to Missouri and the long way back home through Ohio, Michigan and New York. I will be so relieved to finally clean out the van and reorganize. I find it to be a miracle that we had no major spills until today when some smoothie got dumped on the floor. Other then two new tires and a new battery my trust van made the journey pretty much unscathed:) such wonderful memories. To everyone who I have had the pleasure and privilege of seeing already, thank you again and I am already looking forward to seeing you all again. And to my local crew, I am ready to knuckle down and get to work here. I am really thinking this is gonna be a good season. If I have already touched base then I am looking forward to seeing you and if we haven't spoken yet then don't worry. I'll be tracking everyone down soon enough:) Happy Shearing!

Going Pro:)

If I had to describe last weekend in one word, it would have to be pivotal. As many of you know I competed at the Black Hills Stock Show in Rapid City South Dakota on Sunday. This was a very important competition for me as it is the American machine shearing national championship. This competition (which used to be held in Denver) draws a huge entry pool and is always very competitive. This year there were over 50 shearers competing in 3 divisions. I was able to compete in the Intermediate division. The divisions are usually decided based on experience and previous contest results. I could have gone into the professional division but having never won this contest I was given one last go at this level. Thankfully I was able to capitalize on the opportunity and finally am able to say that I won the intermediate level at the national contest. The last time I was there I made it into the final only to place fourth which was a good placing but I have coveted winning this competition for many years and really wanted one last try. The consequence of my winning this division is that I now have officially "gone pro". This means that I am now forced to compete with "the boys" from here on out. While I think I have them running a bit scared, I have seen Alex slam out a sheep before I even get to the undermine (the blow right under the tail, right before you step up to shear the neck. Basically I'm not even halfway) and they look pretty good. I have watched Mark and Nolan cruise through a day of shearing and never break a sweat. These guys continually put sheep around me and I can't figure out what happened. I can usually keep pace with Kevin but he is better at making them look good. I'm still working on making nice even blows when I'm moving fast. Thinking about this helps pass the time when working long days in the sheds. Like this last week which has been bone chilling cold. We are back in Iowa temporarily till we head south again. Shearing a lot of ewes. It's all good practice and its money in the bank, but I can't help but feel like I have turned a corner in my shearing career. I'm excited about this upcoming year. Im shearing with some of the top guys in America and its time to really step up. I'm happy with how I shear. I know I can shear clean. I have been getting faster. It's just a matter of putting the two together so I can bring my "A" game to the next competition. I'm gonna be ready:)

I remember when...I lost my mind:)

Hello from New Mexico! This has definitely been a different experience for me. Not only is this my first official time working as a rousie (which means I pick up the wool) but it is also the first time I have been this far west and the whole look of the land is quite beautiful in its own way. Kevin told me repeatedly on the way down here that I must prepare myself. He was sure I wouldn't like it here but on the contrary I find that the openness of the land is quite refreshing. Yes it's brown, yes it's dry, but so far the weather has been nearly perfect, there hasn't been much dust and being able to see some gorgeous sunrises has really made this place grow on me. 

Now to the actual working part of this trip...first off I would like to point out that Kevin runs a pretty awesome crew. All the guys (yup that's you too Leann) have been wonderful. There are no whiners on this crew! Kevin keeps  things pretty organized and its a smooth running machine...except for me. This is my first experience at being a wool handler and while there are a few positives ("wow my back doesn't hurt!") there are a few negatives ("wow I don't think I have used my leg muscles since high school"). I would like to point out to everyone reading this that being a rousie is all the work of shearing but none of the glory. My legs were so sore the second day I could barely walk down a flight of stairs. I guess in my usual day to day activities I am not using my quad muscles as much as I had hoped. But I have high hopes that doing this for a few more days might even out my fitness regimen and all my shearing pants will fit me this spring:) that's what I'm hoping! But back to the work, I am still getting the hang of the broom,which is actually a plastic paddle that we use to "sweep" the board. I have hit Kevin in the head twice and my first day I about took Paul's toe off. But shearer injures aside I think I'm getting quicker and more graceful. I'll just keep working on it. Although It was brought to my attention last night at I make a lot of noise with my broom, that I wield it like a hockey stick and I am always slapping it on the board. Well duh! I am a product of my environment, hockey is in my blood! I am beginning to see that you can never make shearers happy, if your not fast enough your too loud, go figure:) 

But all in all things are pretty great, I have been able to shear a few and they shear really nice. I have really enjoyed being able to take this chance to watch the guys shear and really see what their doing. Each one has a particularly good part of the sheep and a spot that gives them trouble. Being able to watch what they are doing will help me pick up tricks to make myself faster, cleaner and more well rounded. I am embracing this time at the broom to learn not only about the wool, how to keep it clean and properly skirted, watching experienced shearers shear and getting my legs in shape. I can't believe that a whole month has all but flown by. It won't be long till I'm on my way back home to begin my own shearing run. But until then Ill keep working on my broom skills and that freckled pinkish color I call a tan and Ill keep my fingers crossed that the good weather holds. 

Parting is such sweet sorrow...

For those of you who do not already know, I will be leaving this week to head out to Iowa and then on to New Mexico to shear. This last month has been devoted to preparing for that trip. To be honest I have spent more time packing for this trip then I did when I packed for New Zealand! Maybe it's because Lydia is coming with me this time, but maybe it also has something to do with this being a transition phase of my life. I am now completely settled in my life as a sheep shearer, I really enjoy what I do and I like it enough to want to go find work when work around Maryland is slow. January and February are notoriously slacker months, so I find I enjoy the opportunity to see new places and meet new people on the road during these months. But with that it also means I have to figure out what is important enough to me, to justify taking up space in my little van. So this entire month has been devoted to sifting through my already meager belongings trying to figure out what I can leave behind. If you have never had to sit down and go through your things, laying out your life in objects, I don't recommend it unless you are prepared for a bit of emotional fall out from the weight of all those memories!
The first thing I did was to go out and buy bins, 10 Tupperware bins, that I put all my things into. One bin for Lydia's books, one for all the objects on the shelves, one with all my business papers, another two bins were devoted to my books, one bin had all my cooking things in. Packing it up wasn't the problem, my next task was to go through each bin to see if I felt I would need anything on the road. Do you realize that the first few times you sift through your belongings you can't imagine living without any of it!? I took several bins out at a time and stacked and restacked everything in them. I pulled out books and read them, looked through photo albums, shed a tear or two when looking over Lydia's baby things. It's nice to revisit those times in my life but it is hard to leave those things behind, even if temporarily.
Finally I got the "important stuff" narrowed down to 5 bins, 1 duffle of cloths and a duffle of odds and ends. But I still wanted to take even less stuff. Today was probably the hardest...I'm a book person, I love books with a passion. I have gotten together a tidy collection of shearing books that I just love, some of my favorite classics from when I was a kid, plus books I want to read to Lydia. The books had become my biggest hurdle. My sensible half tried to talk some sense into me..."your going to be working all the time, when are you going to have time to read?" Ok, ok, I know that but when your a book person you can't just leave them behind! It's like leaving a toe or ear off of your body. You just can't do it...but I did, sorta. I was able to narrow my books down to one small box. I know I won't read any of them but the peace of mind I have knowing they are with me is all that matters. Plus I was able to narrow it down to only my absolute favorites:)
So my journey now begins, after a few more shearing jobs I will be heading west. I have 3 bins of belongings, 1 duffle of cloths, 1 duffle of shoes, 1 backpack with a portable dvd player and some movies and Lydia has a bag of toys. I think I am ready to go. My life has been slimmed down as much as I'm ever going to get it. I'm looking forward to the adventures I will have this winter in the desert but I am already looking forward to coming back and reuniting with all I have left behind:)

All is merry and bright:)

I don't know about all of you but I am really enjoying this stretch of warm weather in December! This is the kind of weather that really helps me catch up on all the back logged busy work I need to do. So in the last few days I have been able to wash all my mats and shearing tarps, clean out and reorganize the back of my van, grind all my blades, plus do a pretty major animal inventory at my temporary farm. It really feels good to be outside and really experiencing the animals in a way that I don't always get to when I'm just a visitor to your farms. I have really begun to bond with all the dogs and I know I'm really gonna miss them when I leave. I enjoy cursing the goats for finding every hole in the fence (have you heard of the Irish fencing method called willow fencing? That's what it's starting to look like out there!) I like calling the pigs back to the barn every evening...unaccustomed to admitting that I was wrong and that pet pigs do have there charm:) I am glad Lydia has this chance to see the day to day work of farming that our transient life sometimes neglects. Years from now I am going to look back on these two months with a whole lot of fond memories.
It has also been a good time for shearing. After thanksgiving is a huge rush of work as several of my larger clients shear now since they lamb in late December/early January. This gets the wool off before the lambs dirty it up and makes housing the sheep through the winter a whole lot cleaner. I am always a bit perplexed when people ask me about being concerned about the sheep staying warm during this part of the year. As we can all see the weather is a whole lot warmer now then it typically is in march when most people want to shear, plus one month of wool is plenty to keep them warm when the cold weather finally hits in January. Freak blizzards and freezing weather are much more common in march so I always enjoy converting as many folks to a fall schedule as I can. They are never disappointed:) So for the last few weeks I have been doing pretty consistent business shearing some larger flocks and finishing up my angora goat jobs. Most of the people I work for this time of year are wonderful and I really enjoy taking the time to really visit with people when I have the opportunity.  Today I had the privilege of shearing a few angoras for a long time friend. We had such a nice conversation, a fabulous lunch, and shared some good laughs. Days like today are such a blessing and I really enjoy them as much as I can. In the spring I can get so busy that I sometimes lose sight of the people behind the animals. I get so rushed and pressed for time that I can't fully enjoy each moment. It's days like today that really bring my work home and make me truly thankful for what I do.
At my visit today I was also able to really pick her brain about several issues that have been preying on my mind about goat care and livestock guardian dogs. I really am in awe of the vast amount of knowledge that is available to me through my clients and today was no exception. I was given some great suggestions about dealing with problem dogs, feeding goats and caring for goats that have traveled long distances. It was such an incredibly productive day. I really value the knowledge my clients are willing to share and love being able to pass it on in return to someone else needing advice. Another wonderful scenario is while I was shearing at a farm a while back I saw an unusual abscess on an animals chest. While chest sores and calluses are normal this abscess was large and circled the entire brisket of the animal. I had never seen anything like it. My client later emailed me and told me what the vets diagnosis of the sore was and also gave me the prescribed treatment. I was so happy that she thought about me and passed on that info because it means the next time I see a sore like that, I'll know it isn't a big problem and I'll know how to advise treatment. While I am not a vet the information I have gleaned through the years of wonderful people working in the trenches and seeing it all, I now really feel like I am more of an asset to people. I not only get to shear for them but if they need advice I can offer suggestions and experiences gathered from so many brilliant sheep and goat farmers. It really is an exciting place to be in. I'm truly grateful for so many people being willing to open their homes and barns to me and letting me handle their animals and being able to call so many of them friends:)