I know it's been ages since I've posted, just not enough hours in a day to accomplish everything I want to do! Had a really fun day at my friend Karen's place (in the green shirt). She raises Shetland sheep and had Aimee Leon of
Flying Ewe Shearing over to shear them.
I have raised goats but not sheep and learned a lot about sheep and shearing from Aimee today! Some things made me laugh, really you had to be there for the conversations about cysts, pizzles and wether sacks. ;-)
A couple of other families brought their sheep to be shorn and there were a lot of helpers and observers.
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| how to trim hooves |
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| trimming a horn |
Sometimes a sheep's horns do not grow into the correct spiral but instead grow into their heads. In that case they have to be trimmed every couple of years to prevent them from actually growing into their skulls. A block of wood helps protect their eye and face while cutting.
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| shearing on the stand |
If the sheep are pregnant it's easier on them to sheer them standing up, rather than on their backs on the ground.
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| Aimee shearing |
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| Aimee shows Isaac how to adjust the clippers |
Aimee showed Karen's son Issac how to shear with both the electric clippers and with hand shears.
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| Aimee demonstrates the handshears |
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| Issac tries the electric shears |
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| Issac shearing while Aimee coaches |
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| Issac tries out the hand shears. |
Karen has a lot of other animals besides sheep, different breeds of chickens, some dairy goats, Angora goats, rabbits, a goose and some reptiles. I'll have to post some more pictures for you tomorrow!
