Continuing my personal project of capturing life on the family farm, I visited Browder’s Birds yesterday to watch the shearing of their sheep. This family owned farm is located in Mattituck, on the north fork of LI. The owners, Holly and Chris, established Browder’s Birds in 2010, as the name implies they started with chickens, ducks and turkeys and have expanded from there to include sheep. During my conversation with Chris yesterday he mentioned that they will be adding 2 cows to the livestock farm next week.

The shearing was fascinating to watch. (Can you tell I’m a suburbanite?) The woman that does the shearing, I believe her name is Tabatha, appears to be quite the expert in getting the sheep to cooperate, well that is once they get the sheep in place. As you can see below the sheep need some coaxing to get them in place 🙂

Oh, you have to keep an eye on the lineup because if they get the chance they bolt and then this is what happens!

After the sheep are sheared the fleece needs to be skirted to remove any debris and then it is graded. I had to chance to help for a bit and I was amazed at how clean the fleece is but also how soft and beautiful it is!

Yarn from their sheep is available for purchase in their store and additional items are available to purchase on their website. Very special to watch the process from start to finish…well I didn’t see the yarn being made from the wool but hey maybe in the future I can visit the upstate site where that happens 🙂

Check out their website which has all kinds of info including how to sign up for their CSA and by all means go visit them!

One closing comment and I just couldn’t resist 🙂 When you visit make sure you don’t leave your car door or trunk open…if you do check before you leave to be sure a chicken has not jumped in! I do believe it sounds like he is laughing at us!