SHEARING DOWN COUNTRY.

I got invited by a local farmer to go "down country" yesterday and across the border for a day of shearing not that far from Abergavenny, where nearly all of our sheep end up in the market there. It really is down country too height wise. The roads gradually incline down to a difference of 400m. His land there approximately 90m above sea level. The forecast was for a clear morning with rain due in the afternoon, plenty of time to shear 160 sheep.

We arrived under clear blue skies with brilliant sunshine, reflecting off the trailer and Landrover sides. It was looking good until we saw the state of the grass >>>

which was glistening (i.e. wet). The next thing to do was to get the sheep all gathered in and see what state they were in, would they all be dry enough to call the mobile shearing team in?

The pens were empty and ready, in the spotlight of the sun's rays. Now they may not look much, but they are fit for purpose, in that they allow the filtering of ewes and rams from the lambs that don't yet need shearing and also giving the farmer a chance to see those that need attention, such as lameness due to overgrown hooves, or those showing signs of fly strike or other problems.

Using three dogs he got them all gathered in. Mainly Welsh Mountain, as you can see here, but there were also Texel X Welsh including two Texel rams, you will see them another day. But on closer inspection their fleeces were still too rain damp to shear, so they were released back out into the open fields to dry of for a few hours, which meant hanging around. Now this is Offa's Dyke country, so I explored a little around the area, but more about that another day. Meanwhile I spotted these ... 

<<< another breed of sheep. Suffolks, from the other side of Britain, with sticky out  ears that look more like propeller blades, but notice the juvenile interloper <<<  scampering up the base of the tree trunk ... a squirrel!

It was decided   ... to have another gather, to see if the flock had dried out enough, with rain forecast for the afternoon, time was running short. A second gather, one man and his three dogs managed to get all the sheep back up to the pens and a phone call was made to the mobile shearing team to head "down country". These two guys work damn hard during shearing season. One Landrover and a trailer, contain all the equipment they need, including a mobile generator to power two shearers stations. They travel miles at this time of year and boy do they work hard for what they earn. It really can be considered, back breaking work, especially when it comes to shearing the heftier than most ewes ... rams!

The second gather saw them all into the pens for sorting out. Lambs separated (all be it for a short time from their mams) because the lambs don't need to be sheared. Much bleating and calling ensued,  causing a cacophony  of sound in this so far quiet area of country.

The trailer was ready, with the wool bags empty, waiting to be filled with fleeces. Now ... an average Welsh Mountain fleece weighs about 1kg, a Texel ewe about 2kg and the winner in fleece category the Texel ram can weigh in up to a maximum of 6kg! But these were a mixed bunch and there are other factors to consider ... how much the sheep has already shed (lost) which parts of the fleece should be discarded due to accumulated "muck". It's not straightforward.

For the two guys shearing, it's back breaking work. The sheep may seem docile enough but there is a lot of twisting and turning and trying to ensure an even cut to retain the fleece in one piece for the two volunteers rolling them up to be put into the wool sacks. "Dirty" wool needs be discarded and a wet fleece, draped over a fence to dry.

In the case of a Texel ram, these were big thick fleeces and there were just two of them in the flock. 
Now, all this adds up as to what the farmer gets paid,
The Wool Marketing Board grade the quality of the wool but that only happens during a slow process in the year ahead. So when a farmer weighs his wool sacks in, they only get a nominal payment, a mere pittance. It can take up to a year before a farmer gets a final payment, during which the wool market prices may have changed dramatically. The cost the shearers charge per sheep may or may not be balanced by the weigh in and ... quality of wool price. Most farmers do it simply for the health of their sheep, let's face it as humans, would you want to be wearing winter weight clothes in the height of summer? And yes, even given the fact that this summer is unusually wet, would you want to be wearing heavy woollen jumpers? Sheep don't have the choice of acrylic!! Just half an hour before shearing had finished, the weather front brought in more rain (yet again!) 

One collie wanted to roll in all the discarded, dirty, dag ends of wool, as the rest of the team hurried to get the job finished before the downpour began.
The last few sheep were sheared as the wool sacks got stowed aboard the trailer and everything was hurriedly tidied away. Just one final photograph to be taken at the end of a frantic, but fascinating day ... sheep released, sheared and ...

happily grazing ... in the rain!