Last night Ian came to shear the sheep. He began with Merricat, her beautiful white wool falling easily from her body.
But when it came time to shear both Constance and Robin, something was wrong. They were uncomfortable and panting.
Ian stopped before getting too far along with either of them.
This has never happened before with my sheep, but I know that some shearers ask for sheep to be held in the barn 24 hours before shearing without food. Because when they eat too close to shearing being turned on their back can make them bloated.
It may be the change from grass to hay, but I have feeling it’s all the apples the sheep are eating that caused the upset.
So next Monday I will put the sheep in the barn before bed. Then Ian will come back on Tuesday evening and finish shearing Constance and Robin.
Ian only got as far as Constance’s belly, but started shearing one side of Robin. So Robin will have a bit of a funny hair cut for the week. Not that he or any of the other sheep seem to notice.
Jon has some wonderful photos of Ian shearing the sheep on his blog. You can see them here.
I truly don’t understand this. Ian sheared half of two sheep and then . . . stopped? An average shearer does 10 sheep an hour. Shearing a single sheep takes no more than ten minutes, and in forty years of raising sheep, I’ve literally never heard of someone shearing half a sheep and then moving on to another. What you’ve described is extremely stressful for your animals. How long does it take Ian to shear an individual sheep?
Julian, I guess you didn’t read my blog otherwise you would have understood what happened. Try reading what I wrote then if you have any questions, let me know. If they are thoughtful and sincere, I will be happy to answer them.