When the sheep are
being pulled out of the holding pen for shearing, the flock's records
indicate their status as being “okay”, “check”, or “cull”. An “okay”
is medicated for worms, sheared, and moved to the final pen. A
“check” is perhaps an older sheep that needs a once-over to make sure
she's still fit enough to breed; a younger sheep that has had problems
giving birth or getting pregnant; or a sheep that has been sick or
behaving strangely. If the animal requires treatment or further
checks, it is sprayed with an antiseptic spray that temporarily dyes a
spot of wool purple so they can easily be identified when in the pasture,
and then moved to the final pen. “Culls” are simply medicated and
moved to the final pen.
Shearing time is the
perfect time for a check on all of the sheep individually. All of the
sheep move through the shearing process as one status or another, except
for this season's unsold lambs, which move about, in and out of both pens
until they are let back outside.
The corral can't
quite fit all of the sheep we have, so in the middle of this process the
other farm-hand and I have to go outside and round up the remaining sheep
from the lower-barn area and bring them into the corral. This
process is mostly physical comedy.
The lower barnyard
has a large gate that opens into the main pasture. Earlier in the
day all the sheep were herded into this area from the pasture and the gate
was shut. It is a lot easier to herd sheep in a small barnyard than
a huge field. Unfortunately, the path to the corral features an
intersection bordered by a fence keeping them
from the main pasture, and a small stone wall to direct them either left
or right.
The sheep quickly
understand that a game is afoot, and very rarely turn to the left where
the corral is. Generally they will go to the right, jump over the
wall and form a big group behind you. This circle continues until
you try to head them off on the right; at which point they will turn to
the left and instead of going the rest of the way into the corral, jump
back over the wall on that side and
group
behind you again. After several circles, escapes from the corral,
and a few choice words, they end up where they need to be and shearing is
free to continue.
During these periods
of down-time, while a sheep's record is being discussed and sorted out,
Kevin sharpens his shears with a stone. Sheep's wool is thick and a bit
greasy, so a pair of sharp shears is absolutely essential. Periodically
the shearing area is quickly raked and re-swept, as the sheep drag dirt
and hay into the shearing area with them. Anything that isn't fit for
the large wool bag is thrown away. Sheep's wool doesn't really burn or
compost very well, so we aren't able to dispose of it ourselves.
When all the sheep
have come through the process, the door to the outside from the final pen
is opened and they joyfully exit the barn and go into the feed yard.
Kevin cleans up his shearing supplies and I start the task of taking the
bag down from the wooden frame and tying it up. When the bag is
securely tied, the other farm-hand and I carry it up into the loft of the
old barn. The bag itself weighs a few hundred pounds, but its size
makes it very awkward to handle by oneself. The bag isn't alone up
in the loft, we have about four tons of wool stock piled.
In the not so distant
past this area was a major producer of wool garments. Wool is excellent
for making cold weather clothing, because it will keep you warm even when
completely soaked. It is also generally water resistant and durable.
Despite all the fabric's strengths, wool is increasingly and incorrectly
seen as scratchy or old fashioned and has been largely replaced by
synthetic fleece and nylon. Occasionally people will come by the farm to
purchase small amounts for spinning yarn or some other textile craft, but
they rarely return or buy very large quantities. Periodically, a wool
buyer will contact the farm and the wool will be shipped off to
China for who knows what, but this usually requires about 10 tons of wool to
make it economical for all parties.
Another shearing day
come and gone and some more wool in the loft. I got to keep a fleece from
one of the sheep and this winter my girlfriend, Taryn, and I are going to
try and make it into yarn. I'm not sure if we'll be able to get through
all four tons, but with burgeoning interest in buying local and
doing-it-yourself, who knows, maybe that wool in the loft will be gone
before we know it.
