Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Shearing class

One Sat. I drove down to Arlington (3 hours south-west) to take a class on shearing. I already shear my sheep with blades (hand shears) standing up and thought it would be nice to learn the other way.

The class was at the Arlington research station. We all got to shear 3-4 sheep. It is a lot harder than it looks to shear! (Every one thought so.) We got handbooks with info on shearing techniques, sheep handling facilities, wool quality improvement, grinding& sharpening, alternative& specialty shearing,and resources. There is also a section on fitness exercises. I have a lot of work in that area! And all winter to do it!

There were some ewes that already had lambs-they were so cute!

We were also served lunch.

The breeds were Polpays, Hampshires, crosses and Rambouillet. I sheared 3 Polpay ewes. I got the shearing pattern down but need to work on handling the sheep!

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