[Jacob-list] shearing

[wolfpen]

Robin -

I do have that book and it's a big help as far as the process of shearing.
I guess my biggest problem with the electric shears is that I just don't
know how to adjust them.  Are you supposed to keep having to tighten the nut
thing that adjusts the tension between the comb and the cutter?  My favorite
trick is to have everything too loose so that when I start to shear,
everything flies off into space.
Do you think I could stick one of the sheep on my milking stand?  I have
plans for a regular sheep head hold (the kind you find on shearing stands)
and was thinking about building one and seeing how it worked.  I think Joan
and Fred said they did their shearing on a stand?  Does it take much to get
the sheep  to stand quietly.  The sheep I've seen at shows on stands seem so
well behaved.  I don't know if all of mine are so placid.

Linda
----- Original Message -----
From: <Robvcas at aol.com>
To: <wolfpen at alltel.net>; "jacob-list" <jacob-list at jacobsheep.com>
Sent: 29 May, 2000 11:45 AM
Subject: Re: [Jacob-list] shearing


> Linda and all, the book "Raising Sheep the Modern Way" by Paula Simmons
has a
> full chapter on shearing.  Its illustrated step-by-step with line drawings
> and very well explained.  The book is an inexpensive paperback available
at
> feed stores and such.    I haven't been able to convince my sheep to lie
> calmly like in the pictures as I shear, so I got a shearing stand.  I
> straddle and hold them while shearing their neck quickly and then put them
in
> the head hold and shear the rest.  I'm terribly slow and careful but
> optimistic that my skills will improve before I die !    Robin
>