How to shear a sheep

As the time wore on, though, I became more and more worried somewhat one bullet point- under Items to Bring, was listed A body with the strength and willingness to learn to shear sheep. Willingness, I could handle, but I wasnt so sure around strength. Our classmates, whether farmers or not, would all be vauntinglyger and stronger than me- most people argon, statistically speaking. Erin had been working out with hearing specifically in mind. Id spent the three months since January Joking about needing to start, but, of course, never did. In the morning, when Erin and I walked up to the pre-class circle of would-be- shearers, our instructor was saying something about how, used to be, they advised you take the class only If you could bench-press 120 lbs.I assuaged my dreadful sense of dread by thinking of when Emily learned to shear (never mind that she was 1 5 then, and Im 23), thinking of everyones encouraging tweets and emails, and swearing that, If I made It with without seriou s embarrassment (cutting remove an ear, very day (which, of course, has yet to happen). afterward a few shearing demonstrations and a rehearsal of the 5 positions of shearing, there very was nothing left to do but try it ourselves. Its Just standardised learning to swim, they told us, movie goat Jump in .We all split up into groups of four, grabbed a sheep and a pair of clippers, and got to work. To begin with, you sit the sheep up in front of you- this is first position. Starting at the breastbone (we called it the brisket ), start shearing forward the belly wool. Since this is the wool thats dirtiest, it helps to go ahead and get it out of the way. Its important to shear wide enough to make sure that youre well-set-up for farther down the road. After you take off the belly wool, you lean over further and take the wool off the legs and crotch, sort of scooping the clippers up the right leg, crossways, and down the left leg.The big danger here is accidentally shearing off a ew es teats, so youre supposed to cover them up with your left hand (you sure wont shear me off now ). Emily helps me navigate a tricky spot. Once the belly, crotch, and legs are clean, you rotate about 90 degrees, change into second position, and start shearing her left hind(prenominal) leg (Im using the feminine pronoun cause, well, most sheep are ewes). Its in any case in this second step that you clear the wool off from the tail area, and, since her head is good accessible, shear off the topknot of fleece from the top of her head. I love how much Reins smiling in this picture. Shearing is funAfter than, you swing your legs around your sheep and into third position. Youre departure to move your clippers up from the brisket on the bed, and end your stroke (or blow, as theyre called) under the left side of her chin. This is, in my opinion, the most thrilling- I mean that in both senses- part of shearing. Youre unzipping the elect along the underside of the neck, and it definitel y looks and feels the coolest, Because (obviously) the sheep is cover in wool, you cant tell where the wool ends and the sheep begins unless you have a very exact acquaintance of her specific anatomy and musculature (more on this later).Its pretty terrifying to move a pair of clippers into the unknown- rather, unknown, except for the knowledge that, if you make a mistake, you could cut your sheeps neck pretty badly. If one end of the error spectrum are nicks and cuts, then the other end of the spectrum is second cuts, which are short pieces of fleece that werent interpreted off with he first pass of the clippers. Second cuts cause all sorts of problems- if incorporated into yarn, they make it weaker, and cause it to pill more quickly- and so its important to keep them to a minimum.In fact, our instructors told us that we must not be so afraid of cutting the sheep, because, otherwise, all wed do is make second cuts. I wasnt so good at not being afraid (but, still, I nicked a few sh eep). After youve opened up the fleece along the neck, you keep making parallel passes with your shears- up from the chest, along the left side of the neck, ending right under the eye up the chest, along the neck, end under the ear.This is the part when its easiest to take off an ear, so, Just like with the teats, youre supposed to find it, get hold of it, and make sure to keep it out of harms way. Once the left side of the neck is clear, you start working on the left shoulder. Emily showed Erin and I a bit of weight-shifting footwork that helps get the sheeps shoulder in a better position to shear. The more you know about your sheep, the easier shell be for you to shear- and since shes covered in wool, it can sometimes be hard to tell. If you know shes fat, itll be, as Emily says, Easy, like shearing a beach ball.If shes skinny, youre going to have to work a little harder to navigate around the bony hips, shoulders, and spinal processes. Does she have two teats, or are there four ( ewes sometimes have an extra undeveloped set) to watch out for? If shes a pinewood sheep with Merino heritage (hello, Corm), shes going to be covered in the wrinkles and extra skin that those breeds were bred to have (more skin = more hair follicles = more wool per sheep), and youre going to have to make sure not to nick those. If shes in good health, she should shear easily.If shes doing poorly, though, the lanolin (which usually melts a bit, and helps o lubricate the clippers) wont flow so freely, and instead stays thick, like wax, and gums up your clippers. I was continually amazed at the intimacy of it, and humbled by the issue forth of strength and knowledge required- I dont think Vive experienced anything like it in my every single inch of every single sheep, and then use that knowledge to navigate a potentially dangerous situation (those clippers are sharp), and end up with a valuable product (7 or 8 lbs of wool per sheep).That said, its also hot, sweaty, greasy, difficult , dirty, exhausting, poppy, smelly, frustrating, and sometimes bloody. Dragging ourselves back to the hotel after the first day, I told Erin, If anyone ever tells me shearing like a beautiful, graceful, athletic dance between the shearer and the sheep, Im goanna punch me in the face, and there were plenty of Jokes about, Any Job where your read ends goat be higher than your head- thats not a good Job So, back to business. Once the totally left side is clear, you slide the sheep down your shin and into fourth position.A big part of learning the positions is making sure the sheep is comfortable- the more comfortable she is, the less shell attempt and fight, and the easier it is for he both of you. Its time for whats called the long blows, which are some of the easiest parts of shearing to learn (but hardest to master). They also look really cool. You move your clippers right across the body, tail to head. You keep making blows along the back, making sure to keep the comb of your cl ippers right along the curve of her back, until youre one blow past her spine.After that comes fifth part position swing your right leg around, pick up your sheep, and, holding her nose between your knees, start shearing down the right side- head, neck, and shoulder- rolling the sheep up towards you as you move down her body. Once youre past the shoulder, you start making fortuity passes down the right side- youre almost done After making those diagonal passes down the sheeps right side, all there is left to do is clear off the right leg and hindquarter. See how Erin is using her left hand to order all her weight into the sheeps right flank?That serves two purposes- 1) it straightens out the right leg, so that its easier to shear, and 2) it tightens up the skin, so that theres less risk of it getting caught in the clippers. Honestly, theres so much skin-tightening, head-holding, ear-grabbing, leg- threatening, and teat-saving done with the non-clipper-holding-hand, you might as we ll say that it did all the work Nevertheless, both Erin and I had pretty sore right 1) vibrate and 2) are dripping with motor oil and lanolin. Its not easy. But, one time youve cleaned off that last leg, youre doneEmily actually took videos of both Erin and me finishing our sheep- theyre up on Faceable, if youd like to externalize more. And so, here I am after my first-ever sheep, grinning like a goofball. She looks like a carpet after its been vacuumed But the Jobs not over once the sheeps shorn In their varying levels of wholeness- nagging from the gorgeous waterfalls of wool produced by some of the experienced shearers to the utterly destroyed scragglier produced by all of us beginners- the fleeces were taken to the skirting table and sorted.As someone who erred on the side of second cuts, I felt a little guilty Erin and I came away from the weekend physically exhausted, but otherwise wildly enthused about shearing- not only are we planning on tagging along with Emily when shes in Virginia next, but were also thinking of going up to Maryland for the wool pool (can you imagine seeing a whole state worth of wool, all in one place? ), and e definitely want to go to Maryland Sheep & Wool, too (anyone have a couch or a spare bedroom for us? ).