Well, its finally June and the sun is starting to shine,
more often than not…even up on the moors! Which means it time to
start thinking about sheep shearing – which to any normal person (by normal I
mean the majority of the population that live in places which they see more
people than sheep on a daily basis) – would think its a simple job, we’ve
all seen those pictures on the telly of the farmy men & women doing their
stuff and in a matter of minutes a duly trimmed and neatly fleeced sheep
is produced.
This is not quite how it happens in the real world!
The planning stage - first the sheep have to be
dry & clean, by clean I mean sheep have two ends of business
front and back. The latter has to be cleaned which normally means it has
to be what they call in the trade ‘ docked’ in simple salon terms -
a Brazilian for sheep .
Once completed, albeit with a bit of antiseptic
spray for the ones that wriggled at the wrong time the sheep are ready to
go to the next stage,
Ok for anyone who the nearest they’ve come to a sheep is a
woolly jumper at M&S, it worth pointing out that an average sized sheep is
around 40 – 50 Kilos with one singled mind thought which is to get away from
you and the electric clippers in your hand. My farmer friend who
acts as our agricultural consultant – every wannabe farmer has one,
his words ringing in my ears ‘don’t leave them any wriggle room if
they thinks they can make a break for it they will’
So I pick out a ewe from the 50 or so sheep I am standing in
and sit it on its bum and away we go, by the time I finished, we have something
that looks more like a poodle than a sheep, and as for the fleece well let’s
just say it looks more like moth eaten rag. They should come off in one
tidy piece you know!
With a bit more experience it does get easier, and with help
of someone kind that has been shearing for years I am becoming better, he know
does most of them as I stand back to watch for learning purposes
you see, stepping in to do the odd one here and there. I roll up
all the fleeces and bundle them in a big bag, sweep up between sheep and
generally be a lackey helper.
It is hot and sweaty work truly back breaking stuff,
it generally takes most of day start to finish and by the end I need
to make a decision to go for Radox or beer or maybe both at the same
time, not sure the wife will let me get anyway with that though!
So the next time you think about that woolly jumper, spare a
thought how it all happens sustainable for sure just not for my
back!!!!! J