[wildandwooly]

Hi All
Has anyone else had difficulties shearing their sheep this year due to the months of rain we've had? I've only just got it all done, although luckily the weather hasn't been hot here at all either. I don't have a nice barn to shear mine in sadly, I have to do it outside. If this happens next year I'm going to have to have a plan B, whatever that might be 


  "I turn grass into wool. What's your superpower? "

[Fleecewife]

We were lucky and got all ours done in June.  The man (Mr Fleecewife  ) does them with blades, a handful at a time, nice and peaceful for man and sheep. Hebrideans don't seem to get wet from the rain, or if they do they shake like a dog and all the rain flies off, leaving a shearable fleece.


My superpower is my new, all singing, all dancing Cardiac Pacemaker 

[wildandwooly]

I love your superpower Fleecewife. It's the best sort  ❤️

[Womble]

We gave up trying to get the shearer and after a couple of cases of flystrike, we bought a 12V clipper in an auction and did them ourselves over the past few days.

Going to be honest, it wasn't great. We removed the wool, but also a few bits of sheep in the process (hopefully they'll grow back, but it did give me nightmares).

I tried to explain this to a friend and she said "yes, but at least you'll have learned how to do it properly now though". Er, no.

"Yes, but it's better for their welfare if you do it, because they know you". Womble thinks of the bits of sheep he accidentally removed..... Er, no.

"Okay, but you'll have saved some money at least, right?"  Also no! 

Summary and conclusion: I am an idiot. I can also hardly move this morning.

[wildandwooly]

I feel your pain Womble, my back isn't great either 😭
I use hand shears and usually that's fine as I only have 8 Shetlands but I feel like the idiot this year. I couldn't shear earlier in the year as the fleeces weren't ready but weirdly mine haven't even partly roo'd this year for the first time ever. Literally not at all. The weather has been almost constant rain, wind and also pretty cold but I was getting anxious about them not being sheared so I've been trying to catch the odd dry morning or afternoon when their fleeces aren't soaked to do 1 at a time. The fleeces aren't easy to shear this year either. Usually they've part roo'd or the rise is clear and the fleece easy to shear. It's been tough going this year. Maybe the amount of rain has felted the wool on their backs!
I did think about getting some hand electric shears from a sale or somewhere but after your experience I might stick to my hand ones, although next year if the weather is like this again I'm going to ask our next door farmer if I can borrow his barn for a few days  Also maybe his shearer! 

[Womble]

If you have a good relationship with your neighbours, why not ask if you can take your wee flock up to his place when he's having his own clipped?

The return favour is that you help him to run his through - an extra pair of hands might be very welcome!

[wildandwooly]

Yes I do and I think that is definitely a good plan

[SallyintNorth]

I remember - very vividly - the Aussie chap from The Big Sheep giving a demo at some agri / country show or other (Royal Bath & West I think it was, about 20 years ago!), and making a *huge* thing of how precisely they have to move and bend the sheep, and use their other fist to stretch the flesh taut wherever they're clipping, or you get little ribbons of flesh removed.  (And if that ribbon is in the udder area ... well then, she's meat.)  Terrified me so much I have never entertained the idea of using electric clippers myself.  It's blades all the way with me, and a few simple techniques to be sure you only cut wool.

And it's all much, much harder with black-fleeced black-skinned sheep, like Zwartbles....   

[Penninehillbilly]

I've been watching YouTube videos of Allen the Shearer, he used blades and makes it look so simple . And it's seems so calm and peaceful.

[SallyintNorth]

I've been watching YouTube videos of Allen the Shearer, he used blades and makes it look so simple . And it's seems so calm and peaceful.

It *is* calm and peaceful, even when you are very inexpert at it.  I can do a good part of most of my sheep with them not even restrained.  Just have to hold / guide them for some of the trickier bits.  (Except Yin, she lifts her legs for me like a horse    I didn't even teach her that, she just did it naturally )

[wildandwooly]

I have heard of Allen the Shearer Penninehillbilly. I must watch the videos!

Which blades do you all use? I think I need some new ones 

[shep53]

Jakoti light weight and easy to close,  used to always use Drummer Boy shears but heavy and tiring on the hand when using over many sheep

[SallyintNorth]

I have three sets of shears.

For full shearing, I use Trafalgar Double Bow Bent hand shears (not the largest size as I'm only little, and my hands don't have the strength they once did.) 

For dagging I use a set of single bow straight dagging shears, with very short blades.

I also have a set of Jakotis.  I use them for dagging jobs the smaller dagging shears can't manage, like large lumps of caked poo, where you can't get at the wool below the poop and need to cut through it. 

Lots of my friends use Jakotis for shearing but I don't like them for that nearly as much as my Trafalgars.  I prefer the action of the traditional style shears, and I don't like the lack of feedback from the Jakotis.  With the trad shears, if you do cut the sheep you feel it in the blades.  With the Jakotis, the first you know about it is when you see blood - and sometimes that means you can have made quite a substantial wound and not realised. 

The bent blades give me a much more comfortable hand and wrist angle for shearing.  With straight blades, my wrist tires first.  With the bent blades (and not too heavy a set for my hands), my back tires first.