# Shearing your own sheep - 101



## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

In order to retain and make it easier to find the valuable information and expertise shared by these knowledgeable and SO experienced women, I'm stealing this thread and giving it a home of its own.
This info came from MOgal and is greatly appreciated.

SHEARING YOUR OWN SHEEP 101
Got a call from Carol last night asking me to address the owner/shearer question. My computer went off line just as I was getting to that and it was too late to reboot the accursed thing. Here are my thoughts on the subject.

The small flock owner to whom Carol referred who had the wool butchered by a shearer was me. I had had several long conversations with the man before he ever showed up at my place and tried to remind him as he destroyed a year's work what I needed of him. If it weren't for the presence of his 4 young children and my whole fiber guild watching the proceedings, I would have gotten his attention as best I could and thrown him off my farm. He second cut ALL the wool from my three sheep, saying things like how slick and pretty the SHEEP would look and he'd be embarrassed to have anyone see them if they were otherwise. So...I decided I could second cut the wool as well as he did and without stressing my sheep from a stranger's handling. Even my first attempt yielded better wool than his had been.

I had already attended a sheep shearing school sponsored by the University of Missouri extension and Oster shearing products. It was taught by Charlie Swaim, a champion shearer, and personnel of the University's sheep farm who were also excellent shearers. The first time I went was to write a story for publication in what is now Small Farm Today magazine and the second time, I volunteered as a helper. I bought a pair of rigged hand shears, correctly called "blades", from MidStates Wool Growers--about $30 at the time--and went to work. The blades are cheaper and easier to maintain than the electric shears. Since I hadn't actually shorn a sheep at either class, I was more or less experimenting the first year but still got a better handspinner's fleece. I did leave probably more wool on the sheep than necessary but that only served as "seed for next year's crop." Besides a rough shorn sheep is a lot like a bad haircut--you really can't tell it after 3 weeks.

I only had 3 sheep, all so tame as to be more like an old family dog than sheep, and I lost one last winter. Over the years, I have developed a method that works for me--I'm old (and considerably crochety in my old age), I have carpal tunnel problems in both hands and arthritis in the hands and my back so if I can do it, anybody can. The key is extremely gently well handled sheep and lots of patience and time. My method is slow since it takes me over an hour to do one sheep but I get good fleeces and my girls are calm usually ready to nibble grass from the end of their leads once I take them back to the barn.

First, don't mess with scissors because they work your hands to hard. Regular blades are made like a spring in that as soon as you release pressure on them, they spring open. With scissors, you have to use hand strength to open them. Also, the handles of scissors are narrower than the blades, putting more pressure on one spot on fingers unlike the wider handles of the blades. Mine are called "rigged" because the handles are wrapped with leather to reduce friction on the hands and they have a small adjustable strap that rests across the back of the hand to help the blades stay in place as you work. They also have two pegs at the inside end of the cutting edges that meet at the end of each stroke.

I have a fairly large concrete pad on the east end of my house where I shear. In the afternoon it's nice and shady so pleasant to work there. A plywood sheet might be adequate for someone who shears Australian method (what most professional shearers do) but the larger concrete area is more convenient for me. I can move to the sheep if necessary instead of having to move her to stay on the plywood. After sweeping it thoroughly (want to keep out VM, etc.), I lay the sheep down by standing near her hips and reaching under to catch the leg nearest my body then pulling her head (she's wearing a halter and lead at this point) around away from me while pulling that leg from under her. She just slides down my legs and will lie quietly especially if I can keep one foot under her shoulder so she can't roll onto her sternum then get her hind legs under her.

I keep a low stool nearby and while sitting on it, I clip away all the soiled matted belly, chest and front leg wool that I would skirt away later and throw it in a box for composting. I don't do the britch (hind end) at this point. The hardest thing is getting started, making the first cuts around the neck and head, for fear of her zigging when I zag and my possibly injuring her seriously. I usually pull the sheep's forequarters onto my left leg (I'm right handed), supporting her upper left side on my leg and using my left hand to keep her head out of the way, facing away from me. I start at a point where the wool is thin at the base of her chest then work upward toward her chin. Since this is the beginning of the process, she's usually a little more "squirm-y" so I must be careful not to stab her with the shears. Once that track is open and you can see her skin, go back to the beginning point on the chest and make another "blow" beside it. I do this so that the wool falls away from me. Keep going until the shorn patch
reaches her ear. I haven't done anything to the face wool at this point. Turn her so that you can go farther around her neck without breaking the fleece, just fold it back onto her back. Sometimes with my biggest ewe, I have to switch her to my right leg to do the right side of her neck. Once you have done it, you will know what is comfortable for you.

To do her head, I use my off hand to protect her eyes and ears as the skin there is close to the bone and you are dealing with convex curves--make the process much easier.

At this point I let the sheep slip off my leg gently and she's lying on the concrete on her right side. I start at the flank area, just in front of the hind leg to begin the first of the long blows. This is the fastest and easiest part of the whole process as you have long strokes or blows across a convex surface. Taking strokes about 3/4" wide, slip the points of the blades into the wool for about 2/3 the length of the blade and close. I try to keep the outside edge of the blade nearest me very close to or touching the skin with the edge away from me raised a little. This makes small tufts but it helps keep the sheep's skin out of the way. Roll the shorn wool toward the sheep's spine after each blow.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

BY THE WAY--VERY IMPORTANT!!!!DO NOT PULL THE WOOL AS YOU SHEAR TO STRAIGHTEN A LINE SUCH AS AT THE ELBOW. PLACE YOUR FINGERS ON THE SKIN WHERE YOU HAVE ALREADY SHORN AND PULL IT. IF YOU PULL THE WOOL, THE SKIN MAKES A LITTLE TENT THAT IS EASY TO CUT. IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME ASK A MAN WHO SHAVES WITH A NONELECTRIC RAZOR. Keep making these long strokes from back to front getting more and more into the hind leg wool with each blow. When I can feel her spine with my fingertips, I bunch the wool near her body and roll her over to expose the unshorn side. Again start at the lower edge where you previously cut away the waste wool and start shearing. For me this is from front to rear. Again roll the wool toward her spine as it's shorn, moving farther and farther into the wool of the hind leg. Once you reach the spine it's WOOL AWAY!

You will still have some wool around the britch and between the hind legs, unless you did the area around the teats or scrotum (I've never shorn a ram) when you cleaned up the matted stuff. I usually compost the wool from the hind legs inner surfaces and outside at least to the stifle joint because the sheep has lain on that wool for a whole year. The britch wool is usually short from having clipped this area for lambing and it's always stained and soiled. GENTLY clip small bits from around the rectum/vagina until you can see what you are doing then clear it all away. Sheep kept for replacement ewes are left with about a 1-2" dock while market sheep are docked almost flush with the body so use caution until you know how your sheep were handled.

You're done. Stretch your own back, shoulders and hands gently. At this point I usually have to roll my lazy sheep onto their chests so they will know it's over. They don't lie with their heads flat on the sides but turn them so that their chins are resting on the ground. Being ruminants, this helps prevent aspiration of the cud should they have one during shearing. Mine usually do enjoy a cud while I'm working. If one of the sheep seems stressed from lying on its side too long, break off the wool you've shorn and let the sheep up to breathe normally. I saw a friend's overweight pregnant ewes pass out from their torsos being crimped during Australian method shearing. They couldn't get adequate oxygen during the process. None were any the worse for wear but it scared the shearer no end, not to mention my friend. It is very helpful to attend a regular shearing school because of all the little tricks you will learn, such as the pressure points that will cause a sheep to straighten its hind leg that I can't describe. Contact your state Land Grant college or Oster to see if there are schoos scheduled in your area.

Cuts to the sheep are usually not a big deal unless you did like a woman at the first shearing school I attended. They were using electric shears and this lady caught a bit of skin at the point of the sternum and opened it all the way to the sheep's jaw. It bled like crazy but the shepherd took the sheep aside, stitched her back up, gave her a tetanus booster and they finished shearing her. Unfortunately, the woman was about 8 weeks pregnant and suffering morning sickness--this episode didn't help a bit.
I always make sure my sheep have had their tetanus boosters about 3 weeks before I think I will shear as a precaution and mine are always up to date.

It's possible to shear with the sheep standing if you have some arrangement like a blocking stand or a goat's milking stand. The head is secured in a special holder but the sheep has to learn to stand still. MidStates sells both a regular one and one that lies flat until you lead a sheep onto it and secure its head. Then it has a hand cranked lift device to raise the platform to a comfortable working height. I know mother/daughter shepherds from Tennessee who have one and it's a big help to them. I don't know how you would organize the sheep to shear the belly as my friends were only using theirs the day I saw it as a blocking stand for shows.

I know I've left stuff out so please ask questions. If I don't see them, Carol will get on my case to come back and look. Only teasing, Carol.

RECOMMEND BOOKS---
Two books to recommend--The first is Spring Fleece A Day of Sheepshearing by Catherine Paladino. It's a really neat little book about shearing with blades written almost in the style of a children's book but a little more sophistocated. I would love to get my hot little hands on some of the Romney wool in the pictures and I KNOW Carol would. Gorgeous stuff. This is a sweet little book but won't teach about shearing. The second, Shearing Day Sheep Handling, Wool Science and Shearing with Blades by Kevin Ford just might or will at least give you a really good start at it. Mr. Ford acknowledges the Paladino book in his first page. He deals with shearing from a historic standpoint, comparing styles in the early part of this century in Wyoming, Europe and Australia/New Zealand. He speaks to the positions, holds and such that I only hinted at, not employing them myself, and deals extensively with selecting and rigging a pair of blades. It's an excellent book though not cheap.

Another way to market wool from "meat breeds" is to have it made into comforters. There are a number of mills in the US that will accept your wool, clean and card it into bats then enclose it in muslin. I think they will "tie" the comfort then you make a duvet from decorator fabric. I know of 2 companies in the US and one in Canada that will accept your wool, spin and weave it into blankets of the size you prefer. I have friends from SW MO who have done this and the blankets from their "spinner's" flock are so luxurious and beautiful. They sent in both white and colored fleeces to get a variety of stripes and grays in their blankets. Although the blankets were sold at less than what I've seen in the Hudson Bay Point blankets, they were every bit as nice or nicer than the HBP blankets.

A third way to use the wool, especially the springier breeds such as the meat sheep produce, is quilt batts. I have a friend who is an avid quilter. She got her hands on a wool batt, said it quilted like a knife through butter and had a hard time finding them again since hers was a special group order. Wool would be far warmer than poly and certainly than the cotton quilts I slept under when I was a kid. Nothing at all warm about a cotton quilt, I assure you, unless you have a cozy cat snuggled in the small of your back.

Also, if you were a reasonably accomplished shearer, either electric or with blades, I can almost guarantee that owners of small flocks of specialty sheep like mine would beat a path to your door to have you shear for them. You would have to be much faster than I to make it pay but it is possible to earn a little income. Contrary to what the guy who sheared my 3 believed, it is possible to be accurate and fast! Just leave your temper at home. I know of one shearer whose wife is a spinner. He was out of business for a long time after he lost his temper with a fussy ram one day and kicked him repeatedly in the belly and genitals. Word got around and only new folk hired him until he figured out what the deal was. He mended his ways and I think some of his old customers are hiring him again. The owner of the ram has not. Losing your cool with an animal is so nonproductive and if it's someone else's valuable breeding ram.......you get the picture.

This whole question of "waste wool" reminds me of a friend here in the county. She said one time that when life gives you lemons, you can't be satisfied with just lemonade. You must make lemon pie. Pretty apt description of making something, like income, out of nothing, or in this case "waste" wool, I thought.


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

There's a thread on the sheep board where we assembled a list (and lots of links) to Wool Processors in N America. HERE I could copy it to this forum (with permision) if you'd like to add the info.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

I think that would be a wonderful idea! Perhaps Karen could turn it into a Sticky for us too 

I just thought of something. Maybe you should put it in the Sticky for the Fiber Links.


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## cowgirlone (May 9, 2002)

I shear my sheep while they are standing. 
I halter them (one at a time) and tie them to a fence. I sit on a small bucket as close to the sheep as I can get to keep them in place.

I use hand shears, nothing fancy, non electric. I shear in strips...I start on the back....go from the head to tail, and go down the side, (from front to back.

Then I turn the sheep around and go down the other side. (doing the legs too)
I do the head and finish with the belly.

I spin my own wool so it doesn't matter to me if the coat is in one whole piece or in long strips, it cleans up and cards and spins the same.

I clean out as much of the veggie matter that I can, then bag up each sheep's wool into burlap bags. Mark who's wool is in each bag and it's ready to card and spin.


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