[Jacob-list] Sheep shearing question......

[Neal and Louise Grose]

Reply A: If you have a limited number of sheep, then it is perfectly
reasonable to shear them yourself, even if it takes you a week to work
through them. Find a professional that is good, and doesn't leave a lot of
seconds and stuff, and hire her/him to train you. It is a very useful skill
to have even if you hire most of your animals shorn professionally. If you
need to; because of their open fleece, you can even shear Jacob Sheep with a
cattle head to start with to eliminate the cutting of the sheep that is
inevitable with inexperienced shearers.

Reply B: Don't even think about it, especially if you are going to have a
"shearing day" when hand-spinners come in to shop for fleeces. You will need
to spend your time at such an event correctly skirting and sorting fleeces
and dealing with customers.

Reply C: Don't even think about it. It is a good idea to have a knowledge of
shearing in order to shear in emergencies, but it is not worth risking your
back and ruining fleeces and man-handling of sheep. Inexperienced shearers
WILL mishandle sheep....just taking 30 minutes to shear one rather than the
5 minutes a good shearer takes is a significantly greater strain on the
animals. Besides, our shearers need the jobs, and they can not stay in
business if no one hires them.

Neal Grose
North Carolina

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Christopher Brantley" <brantleychristopher at hotmail.com>
To: <jacob-list at jacobsheep.com>
Sent: Sunday, August 01, 2004 1:13 PM
Subject: [Jacob-list] Sheep shearing question......


Ok guys.... you are a fountain of knowledge and great at sharing it with me
and everyone else. I continue to appreciate that and your persistent
patience with me as I learn more and more through your generosity.

I'm looking at the spring and shearing season coming up. I was wondering how
many folks hire out the task of shearing their sheep and if it's worth the
cost. Or, is it too much trouble for most sheperds to do themselves.


The other twist to my shearing will be that (maybe not this year, but in the
future) turned into an event. We'll probably market it as a weekend event at
our Bed and Breakfast so folks can see where wool comes from... So getting
it right is important around here.

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