dear sweatyfarmer, i did the wool board course up here 5-6 years ago as i started to get more sheep, and i learned a valuable leason-get a profesional to do it. As the man doing the course said to me on the day(Graeme (thats me) four or five thousand sheep for practice and you could really pick this up) i took his point and saved me the stress of cutting them to shreds, ___ing my back and generaly doing a ___iss poor job. instead i put some effort in sourcing a good profesional shearer who would do the job to my satisfaction. He is a lovely bloke, a contract shepard, who has sheering all his life and he does what i want him to do and he treats my ladies with care. I make a decent profit on my cheviot fleece, which is a high value one at the wool board, and i am happy the job is done properly.
i do understand the impulse to try to do everything but think about it. i tried my hand when the local shearers and me had a fundimental disagreement on our relationship, they worked for me and should do what i wanted, not the other way around. but i found it beyond me to do a decent job, so gave it a go, leason learned. if you are wanting them scalped for the board get a pro in, if you have specialist needs like handsheering for unusual wool, then i withdraw my comments and suggest you get the name of a good back specialist for after.
in either case good luck
Topic: Sheep Shearing (Read 3051 times)
