[Pedwardine]

Had Michael out to shear our motley crew this morning. Was put onto him by a friend who's seen his Sheer Sheep show. Thought he was a bit of an arse talking on the 'phone and we were kinda ready to dislike him intensely. Refreshingly nice guy, utterly blunt and to the point but we liked the 'no messing' attitude immensely. He just doesn't suffer fools and is always prepared for them until they prove otherwise. Thankfully we proved ourselves as no fools as he proved himself to not be the w****r we'd anticipated    He was very patient with the sheep (called 'em wicked names from time to time    but was very gentle). Any errant characters, he stopped for them to calm down before continuing. We had absolutely minimal cuts usually on the sternum where the fleece was very close to the skin and sticky with it. Very impressed at the warning that one ewe was stressed & trembling and cause for us to be extra alert re her welfare.


We liked him alot and the whole experience was very professional, organised, fast and unexpectedly FUN.


Up his own. Knows it. Exceedingly charming nevertheless and a sterling shearer.

[SallyintNorth]

Ah, that will be sheersheep on Ravelry.  I bought a Teeswater lamb fleece from him 18 months ago.  Eyewateringly expensive but absolutely beautiful fibre.  Great to hear about another good small flock shearer

[plt102]

I've used mike before and can agree with your comments. Gonna give him a call this weekend!

[Marches Farmer]

We've had all sorts of shearers over the years - worst were the Young Farmers showing off to my daughter (who was totally unimpressed).  Too many nicks and cuts as they tried to shear more sheep  than the others.  Didn't think much of the one that managed to shear off 6 eartags, either, or the one that leaned against the hurdle texting while I tried to revive a ewe that had just collapsed (and, yes, I did put them in the shed to empty their rumens before shearing began). My daughter was incandescent about that one - "What do you think he was texting - Just killed a ewe.  LOL?"  If you find a good shearer treat him like gold dust (cold drinks and the occasional homemade cake also go down well).