[Jacob-list] rise and shed

[Juliet & Gordon]

<< What is the difference between a rise and shedding?>>

It seems to be different in the US and UK.  Over here, the rise is found to a greater or lesser extent in most breeds, where wool growth has slowed naturally over the winter.  Most sheep are shorn in June and with hand shears the cut is made through the rise. With machine shearing at the same time the cut is of course much closer to the skin so part of the new growth gets taken with the old, which is not nice for hand spinning.  In breeds which naturally roo or shed their wool, such as the Soay and Shetland, the rise is where, as Betty says, the old fleece is separated from the new.  Other breeds which do not naturally roo will not lose their fleeces because of the rise - those accidentally missed for shearing will carry clearly differentiated layers of wool, one per year. Again as Betty says, perhaps by shearing earlier in March you are cutting through the rise when it is just above skin level, so you would not normally see it.  If however you routinely shear in January for housed sheep, the weaker area of the rise would be found along the length of the fibre shaft, masquerading as an unnatural weakness.  I wonder also if climatic differences between the States and here mean that in some areas the rise in wool is not so clearly differentiated. Were that the case then there would be a difference between sheep in different states.  I think temperature as well as nutrition would play a part in how well marked the rise is.
Here we use 'shedding' (as opposed to 'rooing' or 'natural shedding') to mean losing the wool as the result of illness or disease, also called woolslip. Semantics !

We have just returned from our 4 day stint at the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh, showing our Hebrideans. As usual we were shocked at the huge size of some of the Jacobs on offer (not all this time).  The one huge ram I picked out as having horrible horns which crossed behind his back, with side horns far too close to his cheeks, a bit down on his pasterns and far too much white in his fleece went on to win the male Championship !  I love American Jacobs !
Juliet in Scotland.
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