I rang the shearer and asked him to give me a date when he could come and shear. As usual, I got a swift reply and an even swifter date. “How about tomorrow afternoon?”
There is no way you can say no as you never know when you might see them again and given the forecast looked good as well, I said yes immediately and then worried about cancelling my planned activities for the next day.
We got the sheep in early, as there was a dampness in the air and you can’t shear wet sheep. It was a noisy affair as the ewes have still got their lambs at foot.
Two shearers arrived later than planned, as the job before had taken longer than expected, apparently the farmer couldn’t count and there were more sheep to shear than anticipated. In no time at all, they were set up. So it wasn’t long before they were shearing faster than we could role the wool and in about an hour the job was done and dusted. Lambs bleated so loud as they tried to recognise their mums
without their winter coat. The four mature rams we pen up tightly for a while, as they take an instant dislike to each other once shorn and with large horns they can easily hurt each other as they sort themselves out and decide that they do actually know each other.
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With the wool placed into the wool sheets and the shearers packing up, it was time for a long cold drink. Thanks to Charlotte and Libby for helping. It’s always so much more fun when there is a group of you – the hot work and the smell soon become irrelevant as you all have a good laugh. I was also very pleased that we had no signs of flystrike.
Janet East
