Sheep shearing!
Posted: Saturday, 23 June 2007 |
We had sheep shearing at the farm last night! This was my first sheep shearing so I came armed with the camera!! Erlend and our friend Grahmme worked out a trade: he'd shear our sheep and Erlend would lend him a tractor and grass topper. Grahmme is an old hand with sheep and has finally found a farm of his own up here in Orkney!
We separated the lambs from their mums and they were NOT happy! They baah'd for hours!! Here they are looking well-fed and healthy. And cute!!
Grahmme was so swift that most of the photos came out blurry. You can still see what's going on though!
The sheep didn't struggle much. I was surprised because I expected them to be freaked out! But they were rather calm and matter-of-fact about the whole thing.
I saw that shearing is a dance: Grahmme had a very precise position for himself and the sheep every step of the way.
The sheep was eased this way and that - it seemed as if she were being slowly rolled out of her fleece! (You can see a muzzle poking out behind his knee...)
(The sheep shot like a rocket out of her fleece!!) I was stunned when I saw Elsie emerge from her fleece: she was so scrawny undernieth! I had expected her to be MUCH bigger then she was!
I was shocked: the average fleece was about 8 feet long by 5 feet wide!! (This was a small fleece from a yearling.)
The Wooly Ladies are no longer wooly. Instead they look like big-headed aliens from outter space!
We separated the lambs from their mums and they were NOT happy! They baah'd for hours!! Here they are looking well-fed and healthy. And cute!!
Grahmme was so swift that most of the photos came out blurry. You can still see what's going on though!
The sheep didn't struggle much. I was surprised because I expected them to be freaked out! But they were rather calm and matter-of-fact about the whole thing.
I saw that shearing is a dance: Grahmme had a very precise position for himself and the sheep every step of the way.
The sheep was eased this way and that - it seemed as if she were being slowly rolled out of her fleece! (You can see a muzzle poking out behind his knee...)
(The sheep shot like a rocket out of her fleece!!) I was stunned when I saw Elsie emerge from her fleece: she was so scrawny undernieth! I had expected her to be MUCH bigger then she was!
I was shocked: the average fleece was about 8 feet long by 5 feet wide!! (This was a small fleece from a yearling.)
The Wooly Ladies are no longer wooly. Instead they look like big-headed aliens from outter space!
Comments
I love the pic of the leaping blurry sheep escaping from her heavy fleece. You must have been chuffed with the photos TGMITN, they're very evocative.
Flying Cat from Jason&The Argonauts Woolpack
Great photos! :)
Anne from IBHQ
I agree with Anne, great photos, TGMITN. I think the bluriness, adds to the sense of motion. Thanks -- Bruce
CVBruce from CA, USA
How often do you have to treat your sheep for internal parasites ? Do you use an oral drench, topical or IV?
Gerald from American Gaidhealtachd
So...I traded my quiet cabin in the Alaskan woods for the howling winds of Orkney and life on a farm. 
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