Shaven and shorn sheep

Another sure sign of spring at Brambleberry is sheep shearing.
Twenty-five of our ewes, two rams and our wether are now sporting new haircuts as their thick layers of wool have been cut off.
Some sheep farmers have their flocks sheared before lambing, but we've always waited until after every ewe has lambed and the weather has warmed up to have our flock sheared. We hire a local Amish farmer who is still learning the skill but does an excellent job in just a few hours.
It's always an unsettling day for the flock, as the ewes are separated from their lambs for a few hours before everyone is sheared and they can reunite. The lambs are not sheared because their fleece is not yet thick enough. The older girls who have been through the process before handle it better than the new ewes who are being clipped for the first time.
It's always amazing how thick their coats are after a year of growth and there's always a lot more room in our barn after the sheep are downsized. They look more like goats until their wool starts to grow back.
We don't make any money selling the wool since our sheep do not have the high-quality fiber sought by spinners. By the time we pay for the shearing and for the freight to ship our wool, we lose money. We wish there was more of a market for wool, but we raise our sheep for meat and for breeding stock.
But our flock is now ready for summer!

Sheep shearing time

Recently we had our sheep sheared – a good job to have out of the way.
Allen, a local Amish farmer with a few years of experience, does the job for us. Sheep shearers are hard to find and we consider ourselves fortunate that he is willing to do the job. He speedily and skillfully shears them, resulting in only a few nicks to the animals.
The first year we had our sheep; Sherry thought she could master the task, provided Chris restrained the animal. After 25 years of cutting hair on humans, Sherry reasoned that it must be comparable to cutting children’s hair. Just work swiftly and be prepared for sudden movements.
WRONG!
The $300 professional clipper we bought – called “Turbo Clipper” by our vet – snapped a spring the first time we used it. (Apparently it was never set in the proper position when it left the factory.) Its long, wicked combs vibrated violently and could easily have cut off a finger, teat or other appendage. The ram looked nervous.
Allen’s clipper was being repaired when we approached him about shearing our flock. But he was willing to give our clipper a try. With another new set of combs and blades we purchased he was able to make the necessary adjustments. He had such control over the animals and expertly “peeled” the fleece right off them in short order. He had one slight mishap but the sheep recovered nicely from her wound. It was clear to us he could do a much better job than we could.
Some people shear in the cold of February, before lambing. Supposedly the mother snuggles with and keeps her lambs warmer than she would with a thick layer of wool insulating her body heat from the lamb. You shouldn’t shear too close to lambing time because you can twist an umbilical cord or move a lamb fetus around too much as the ewes are handled.
We shear after everyone has given birth, when it’s warmer out. Some say the warmer lanolin makes it easier for the clipper blades to glide through the wool.
Unfortunately wool prices are low – at least for the wool type that our sheep have. We find that strange given the trend toward people wanting to use natural, renewable resources. Last year after paying shipping costs, we got a staggering check of $5.92 for 92 pounds of wool. It cost us $4 per sheep to shear. We had 15 sheep sheared. Alas, no government subsidy for us!
Our Scottish Blackface and Suffolk don’t have the right type of fleece for hand spinners. Their fleece is only used to make blankets and carpeting.
This year, because Allen wanted to shear on a Saturday, our weekend guests were able to witness the yearly event. In an interesting twist of fate, we actually had a guest who shears commercially so he and Allen had a lot to discuss and he offered Allen a few welcome tips.
For a few days after shearing there is some butting of heads and shoving around as the newly naked sheep try to re-establish their hierarchy. Everyone looks so much smaller and the new lambs look almost as big as their mothers.
The girls will be glad for their new haircuts, if it ever warms up this spring.