Shearing Days

We sheared the Angoras herd a couple of weeks ago, well Mothers Day to be exact. Decided to shear Selena as well that day... ran into the dreaded greasy rise. To avoid gumming up the shears I took to scissor- shearing her remaining fleece. Ugh! A chore to say the least, though she is sheared.

Greasy rise is a booger to deal with so we waited until the Sunday before Memorial Day to shear the Shetland flock hoping it would be gone. Perfect timing, greasy rise gone, the shears went through their fleece as if it were a warm knife cutting butter.

It takes both Jim and I to shear. Jim pretty much gets the job of escorting the sheep from where ever they might be penned to the shearing table. Our boys seem to know something is up and resist all efforts of being caught, confined or haltered. I purely am not strong enough to fight the fight it takes to move the boys. I can't hold on to them while they popcorn up and down, twist and turn to avoid being handled.

Once they are on the shearing stand they are quiet and still. I can then shear. After shearing Jim gives their yearly vaccinations, I give de-wormer if needed, we take turns trimming hooves, apply the BOSS down their backline, feed a handful of animal crackers along with a lot of praise and good boys. Off the stand they go, on to the next we go.

Our plan was to shear Jackdaw first, then Kelly so both were in the catch pen. We also thought by putting Kelly in the catch pen with Jackdaw for company it would not stress them so badly. While Jim went to halter Jackdaw, I held the gate closed. Jim brought Jackie to the gate, Kelly stood quietly in the back ... the moment I cracked the gate open Kelly saw freedom and bolted! He actually was out of the pen before Jim and Jackdaw, using Jackdaw as a spring board out the gate. Lesson learned - only one sheep in catch pen to shearing stand.

Poor Kelly was not having anything to do with shearing. He was outta there! He headed straight back to the pasture gate, which was open and went to his shelter. We attempted to catch him later on in the day after everyone else was sheared with no luck. Instead of stressing the poor guy any more, plus we were worn slick from the days work we decided shear him the next morning. Always a simple task to catch at feeding time. While they are busy munching we sneak in for the catch.

We finished shearing in the nick of time. The heat of summer arrived quickly after Memorial Day.

I have began re-skirting the fleeces ( I do some the day of shearing, though go back over them a second time when things are quiet). Will have them bagged, tagged and sorted soon. Sister came to visit for two weeks. The days she felt well enough she sat outside with me, knitting while I sorted through the fleece.

Shear Pleasure

We did it, we really did it! All the Shetlands are sheared now.
I can't thank you enough Deb and Tammy for the wonderful information and advice back in March to wait til late May or early June to shear the Shetlands.
This was the first weekend the better half was home long enough for us to attempt shearing after the "rise". Jim was a bit leery and actually expected the same challenges. Nope, nada, nothing of the sort! Everything worked like a charm. We are delighted as well as relieved it was not our equipment after all. This means we do not have to invest the extra $$ for a separate shearing head as we thought. The same equipment we use to shear the Angoras works perfectly for the Shetlands. Just has to be like Deb & Tammy said...before or after the sticky rise.

Here is Kelly in full fleece.

On the shearing table, the outer fleece appears almost orange from being sunbleached.

Here's Kelly sans fleece. Tiny fella really.

I would love to put a coat on him to see if he would stay jet black.

After Kelly came a short break then on to Aberdeen.

During the break we let the boys run around in the yard and offered animal crackers for treats. It's a great way to keep them calm.

Once on the shearing table he continued to get animal crackers (see the hand by his nose).

Off it comes with ease.

Some may be wondering why we don't shear like most with the boys on the ground, sitting on their rump, etc. It is just too hard on the old backs. We repurposed an old picnic table into a shearing stand. Works great. No bending, stooping or having to toss the boys around. We feel they don't feel so man handled or stressed out. Plus they can eat if they want to take their minds off of being sheared.

Shearing schedule is now April and October for the Angoras, Shetlands first week of June.

Shearing - Day 2 - Shetland Sheep

So does anyone know a good sheep shearer who would do a small flock of Shetlands, a very small flock.

I remember now why we took our first flock to be sheared by a professional. Unfortunately our shearer passed away a couple of years ago. So we thought we would/could shear our sheep and goats ourselves.


Shearing the Shetlands is new to us. Our old flock was a mixture of Suffolk and Polypay. We sheared the Suffolk with only a bit of trouble. The main issue was our equipment, what we used back then was old. Not wanting to invest in new equipment back then we found our shearer.

Now we have invested the money in shearing equipment, we find we just can't do it properly. Know too little about it even though we have watched educational videos, visited others who shear and watched our late shearer.

We worked through shearing Angus first. He did well handling the stress of being man handled and sheared. He looks a bit rough because we did not do a good job of getting him sheared smoothly. Next we sheared Kirby, he did well being handled also, but Jim knicked and cut him. Jim was so upset he hurt Kirby he didn't want to continue. I managed to finish his shearing with scissors. Kirby too is a bit raggedy looking and patchy.

No photos this go around, I was too pre-occupied.

Shearing - Day 1- Angoras

Shearing diagram for the Angoras

We constructed a similar holding device for shearing the Angoras. It is actually an old picnic table that is waist high. The head piece is actually an old milk stand head gate bolted to the end. Nothing pretty but it works. It actually saves your back from the aching of bending over.

Aurora being sheared.

Aurora not so happy about being sheared.

Bella having touch ups around her face.

The better half did an excellant job. Not one nick or scratch on nary an animal.
All are sheared, had their yearly CDT vaccinations, hooves trimmed, de-wormed and Boss applied(lice preventative). The boys were checked for pizzle problems.

Sheep shearing is scheduled for this afternoon if all goes according to plan.




Follow Up on Lap Band Surgery
Not long ago I mentioned that the better half was checking into having the lap band surgery. The Dr. who treated him at the Emergency room (when he hurt his back awhile ago), stated he was a prime candidate.
He had his consultation appt. for the surgery to find out our insurance does not cover the surgery. So as much as he may need or want the surgery. He will not have the surgery. He refuses to go roughly $20,000 into debt. Well and to be perfectly honest we can't afford for him to go that far into debt for weight loss surgery.