Shearing

so we had a phone call from neighbours - they were shearing their 70 sheep this evening .  So went to help out -  even if it was just handing round cups of tea.

First task is to construct a race to get the sheep from the pen to the shearer and  somewhere  convenient for  the helpers to  wait for things to happen

Meanwhile  the sheep need to brought inside

 and then encouraged to enter the race

and then they get sheared

and then the fleece gets sorted and rolled

An hour or so so set everything up,   70 sheep took about 40 minutes to shear .
and then another hour  when we all had something to eat together afterwards

Stooks and Stirks

The Gotlands were blade-sheared a few days ago . A neighbour got to hear about it  and came to record a  piece for local radio whilst we were shearing one of them

February 2015 edition of 'Stooks and Stirks' - there is a piece about  shearing the Gotlands

 The Radio Orkney facebook page is here

https://www.facebook.com/pages/BBC-Radio-Orkney/31395967167


and the piece in February 2015 Stooks and Stirks   programme  starts at 38.46.
In case the radio program becomes unavailable , the mp3 file is also available as an mp3  download ( or your browser may decide to stream it)

Blade shearing the Gotlands

Sheared Sheep

We've got 4 Gotland sheep and a ram, Fraser. We went to get him in November  and then when the ewes were here Fraser got his chance.
The ewes came to us from Sanday but they were originally in the north of  Scotland  cared for by the  Transalpine Redemptorist monks on Papa Stronsay.  



The monks have a blog and I think I've found a picture of the Gotlands  when they had them  and when they were lambing.  The tle that came to us is that the monk who was responsible for the sheep moved on and so they stopped keeping them
 

We havent got the sheep just for lambing ( but hopefully Fraser has done the business) but also for their fleece. Gotlands can be sheared twice a year and  we decided that  now was the moment.  They are hopefully pregnant and  there were some concerns expressed about turning a pregnant ewe . Cant see  why it should be a problem is done expertly ( well, there is one problem) but nevertheless it was decided that we wouldnt.



 So catch a sheep . this was easier because theh had been penned inside overnight in case of rain, and then set to with some shears .










the sheep were done standing which makes it a bit harder because the   fleece doesn't fall  away but after a couple of hours we were becoming more adept , and speeding up a bit ( but  only a bit)












 And the end result. A few boxes of this , which will be washed and processed  and then turned into yarn.

 And the sheep - probably feeling sorry for themselves but its surprising what some sheep nuts will achieve. if the weather is bad they can  be inside for a few days if they wish

BEFORE

 

AFTER

Rooing

Primitive varieties of sheep  shed their fleece every year . It is something that has been bred out of the usual sheep that you see. They are sheared to remove the fleece. There are some historical pictures of rooing sheep  - most seem to come from the Shetland Archive

 Icelandics, Soays  and Shetland can all be rooed, as can Borerays.




They were starting to shed  and would rub themselves up against the fencing and bits of fleece  were appearing on fencing.

So we decided to roo.




So first you have to catch and immobilise your sheep . That's a tale for another occasion.

And then  hold some of the fleece  and pull - and it separates at the layer between the old and new fleece , and comes away .

and just keep going. It doesn't seem, to bother that sheep (being restrained initially bothers them  more)

The fleece will that is removed will need to be processed in due course.
For some of the sheep , not all the fleece comes away  at the first sitting - so they will be back  in a week or so for another roo.

And the  roo'ed sheep  wanders off to go and do what sheep do in May ( eating grass mainly)