Handshearing

This year, rather than hiring a shearer to do all my sheep at once, I decided to shear them myself by hand using handshears. Even though I think my shearer is a lovely person, I would be heartbroken to have second cuts in my precious fibre, especially my shorter lamb's fleeces. By shearing myself, I would have no one else to blame but myself for the 2nd cuts. Also, I could sort the fleece as I was shearing, removing undersirable bits and second cuts along the way. I'm hoping that this will speed up my skirting process later, but I haven't started that yet and have my fleeces piling up in bags in the chicken coop. The process of shearing them is taking a long time, because I can only do 1 or 2 a day as it takes me an average of 1.5 hours to accomplish each one. I have 3 1/2 sheep left to go and I've already done 15 1/2 sheep. Bok Choy is my 1/2 done; half not done. I sheared him when the weather was very hope and he seemed to be suffering for overheating. I ran out of steam shearing him, but I managed to get the wool from his topline off and around the neck so that he'd be more comfortable and that did the trick.

To the left is Nessa Rose, Black Katmoget ewe with Gray fleece. She is the first ewe I sheared. She is rather ratty looking...such a bad haircut. Below is Morgan, my last shearing.

The sheep in the picture above is Morgan, a Black Iset, Blettet ewe. She is the most recently shorn girl and I'm so proud of her stunning haircut. Not just that, but I had a wonderful time shearing her fleece. It was very easy and the shears cut through her fleece easily, which I think is just a timing thing. Thelma, the ewe shorn the day before her was also very easy, but she fought me the whole time, head butting me constantly. Morgan on the other hand kept wagging her tail. I kept hearing her tail knocking against the back of the shearing stand. I thought she was swatting flies, but then I'd let go of her and then scratch her newly shorn neck or body and there would go her tail again. She was born here on my farm and her mother Meg is stand-off-ish, but Morgan would stand still so I could pick her up as a lamb. She'd almost cuddle with me. I called her my little "doll". I was talking to my friend Judy last week and she asked whether my shearing process was less stressful on my sheep (being upright on a shearing stand for 1 1/2 hours) versus 15 min on their butts with a shearer (using noisy electric shears). I told her that likely it was just as stressful, but a different kind of stress. My sheep know me very well and know that I won't hurt them. After shearing Morgan, I can say for certainty, that my method of shearing, for her specifically, was not stressful. I also remember that when she was shorn by the shearer for the first time, she kept struggling and he clipped her leg, so I think she was a happy camper that day.

I started handshearing this year by shearing last year's 3 ram lambs just before going to the butcher in early May ("haircuts" pictured at left). From that first shearing experience, I determined that I'd need a shearing stand. I modeled my stand on the Wooden Stanchion found on pg. 145 of the book "How to Build Animal Housing" by Carol Ekarius using some pieces of wood I had around. I'll take measurements, materials list and post comments in a later entry on my stand for those wanting to build one for themselves. It is pictured at the top. It is a neccessity for me because my back can't take the strain of being bent over.