[Jacob-list] Shearing & shearers

[Susan J Martin]

There has been quite a bit of discussion about shearing lately.  We usually do our own shearing.....last year we simply didn't have time and had a local guy shear for us..........he travels all over PA and surrounding states and is well known.    He was fast and yes, several of my sheep were nicked.......nothing requiring stitches. though.   When we have the time, we opt to do the shearing ourselves, although we do have a small flock - right now I only have 12 adult sheep.  However, for those of you with small flocks and having problems finding a shearer.......you might want to consider shearing the sheep yourselves.  We have a sheep fitting stand - the kind that holds their head in place and can be cranked up to eliminate bending.  We have a basic electric shears we purchased from Premier (it's a Stablemate - don't know if they still have those or not) and it's really pretty easy - the first swath we cut starts at the tail and follows the spine up to the neck.  We then follow with a 2nd swath one shear's width just below the first one, moving down on the side of the animal with subsequent swaths.  The fleece is removed in two halves this way but each half comes off in an intact piece.  We carefully shear off all the yukky stuff before we even start with the fleece and that eliminates a lot of skirting.  Yes, it takes longer, but it is relatively easy for both us and the sheep - after the fleece is removed we trim hooves and worm and vaccinate if that is indicated.  We do find that it is absolutely necessary to trim hooves here -- but we typically only do it at shearing.  If any of you are interested in seeing pictures of our shearing process, email your request to me and I will forward pictures to you.  I'm sure if you didn't want to invest in a sheep stand you could improvise by tying the sheep to a post, etc.  The stand has been wonderful for me over the yrs......most of the sheep care is my responsibility and it's pretty simple to run a sheep into the barn, then into a lambing jug, and then walk them onto the stand placed just outside the jug, place the sheep's head in the restraint, crank the stand up and I'm ready to play nurse or whatever the situation requires.  One year a ewe prolapsed her vagina prior to lambing......onto the stand she went, I donned my OB/GYN gloves with lube and in no time everything was tucked back into place and she was on her merry way -- I wasn't bruised, sweating, swearing, etc. from wrestling with a sheep........and the ewe also wasn't bruised, sweating and swearing from wrestling with me!!!  (Incidentally that ewe lambed normally, no prolapse of the uterus, and she never suffered a prolapsed vagina in subsequent lambings.)  For us, the stand was some one of the very best investments we have ever made regarding our sheep hobby.

Regarding hoof trimming -- there must be numerous variables on that issue.  Our pygmy goats have hooves that grow rather quickly - I trim them a couple of times a year......their hooves grow underneath the foot and into points in the front -- they end up looking like they have fairy toes -- I call them "Twinkletoes" when it's time to trim hooves. 

Sue Martin
Stonecroft


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