Sheep coats….I finally have a sytem down for washing and repairing. We change the coats throughout the year about 6 times. After shearing the sheep are in the smallest size and by the following shearing the largest. In between, they get torn and break the elastics so after a change, I wash and repair. Because I don’t want to muddy up our washer with the grease and dirt, I first boil them for 5-10 minutes in my big dye pot. Then I hose them off right away, while still hot, to wash away the excess crud. Then they are “clean” enough to run through the washer. Once clean and dry, the sewing repairs are done and they are put back in the stack ready to go. All the sheep, including the lambs are coated now, and from here on until shearing, I watch each sheep to make sure their coat fits correctly as their fleece grows. Too tight mats the outer fiber as well as restricting the sheep’s natural movement and too loose can cause the sheep to get hung up, legs caught etc.
