Hooray! It's Shearing Day!

After a crazy winter that seemed to stretch well into April, we finally got our sheep, alpacas, llamas, and Angora goat sheared.  I appreciate people who can shear – they make it look easy.

When we only had two sheep, after seeing a shearer at a fair, I thought, “I can do that.”  I ordered hand shears and gave it a try.  After an hour, with little results, I thought I’d better get electric clippers.  So, I ordered them.  I followed directions and tried again.  The sheep was a Merino – they have a lot of fold in their skin and their wool is very dense.  After four days, and my poor sheep looking a mess, I gave up.

The next year I had two sheep and two llamas and hired a shearer.  He pulled into my driveway and pulled out of my driveway 30 minutes later.  My sheep and llamas looked relieved, the fiber was mostly in one piece each, and I had hardly broken a sweat (I did catch the sheep and llamas and bagged the fiber).

Since then, we’ve hired shearers.  We appreciate them.  They do a much better job than I could (at least without a lot of practice). 

Shearing is like giving the animal a haircut.  However, it is tricky.  The goal is to do it with the fiber coming off as one piece.  If the shearer misses some fiber and goes back to get it with another cut, it is called a second cut.  The goal is one cut and one fleece in one piece.  All shearers have some second cuts.  However, the fewer the shearer has the better for the fiber holder.

The fiber is an excellent insulator on sheep as well as on people…you can almost see the llamas and alpacas breathe a sigh of relief as the fiber comes off.  One year we had a particularly hot May and the alpacas and llamas were acting up until the first swipe of the shears.  As the fiber fell away, they held completely still ready for the relief!

So, how did it turn out yesterday?  Here are some before and after pictures of our animals…

Abinadi and Liahona waiting...

Vonnegut wating...

Hosea and Nephi waiting..

 



All of the llamas and alpacas done!

 

So, following are before and after pictures of our sheep and goat...





 

 

You can see pictures of Shiblon, our Angora goat, being sheared and the end
result on our GEE Funny Farm Facebook page.

Sheep skin is very thin and easy to cut.  One more reason to let a professional shear my sheep!

I found a video clip on Youtube that shows a professional sheep shearer.  He makes it look so easy - which is true of most professionals, don't you think?!?

Sheep Shearing Made Simple by David Duke

Enjoy!