Shearing day 2009. Waiting their turn in the pen. The big chap at the front on the left, with the blue ear tag, is Baary our Lleyn ram. Our pet sheep, Chops, is at the back on the left.
For some, the removal of the fleece can only be an improvement...
Being shorn...
Once off, the fleece must be spread out and any dirty wool removed...
...before being placed in the woolsack.
Done! Run!
Returning to the field. The lambs wait anxiously at the gate for the ewes. They cannot understand where their big woolly mums have gone, but who are these bony creatures? They smell familiar, they sound familiar, they just look a bit different...
I love shearing day - free handcream!
ReplyDeletehave just spent a week gazing at the Preseli's from numerous angles - figured you were up there somewhere
There's been lots of shearing in these parts! Bet the sheep feel cooler now.
ReplyDeleteNever been to a shearing. Was to a cattle branding -- does that come even close?
ReplyDeleteDo you still keep a tar pot handy for any nicks? And do you still run sheep through the trough so they get a good "dip"?
Now, as long as you don't get fleeced by some buyer trying to pull the wool over your eyes, while runs his eyes over the wool.
Great pictures - it must be such a relief to be shorn when the weather's like this!
ReplyDeleteThey do look odd with their half-coats Mags. Much tidier and cooler now I imagine x
ReplyDeleteWe were out and about in Pembs yesterday and noticed that the sheep were all, as my daughter said, looking ' a bit naked'!
ReplyDeleteNow here is an ignorant question from a city dweller. How quickly does the wooly coat grow back?
ReplyDeleteI've seen pictures of shearing, but don't think that I've ever seen any of the slow/quick regrowth.
Best wishes!
Love the pix! They don't half make me laugh, these bony bodied sheep - talk about a bad day at the hairdressers! And all the lambs screeching 'Mum, what have you DONE...!! Cooler but not cool, man...
ReplyDeleteMuch of this going on round our neck of the woods too - in fact two days running last week I got caught up in a flock of 300 going down the lane just at the time I have to leave to get the girls to the school bus. We missed it, obviously, and my day was thrown into chaos! The hazards of country living...
Fab pics, I love the smell of shearing, but my friend a farmer's daughter can't bear it - I suppose a gentle whiff as you peer over a gate is one thing, but being immured for days on end quite another.
ReplyDeleteJust read your slug blog and had a good chuckle. Yuk.