[feldar]

Yesterday after waiting most of the weekend for some good weather we managed to wash the show sheep for Devon County Show next week.
I still maintain i was more soaked than they were and after washing our best ram lamb he got in a paddy and did a roll over in the mudiest patch he could find. I was holding him by the halter and he did an absolute flid around the paddock with me attached, ending up with him rolling over and being dirtier than before we washed him!
I sometimes wonder why we bother! but i do enjoy the show scene

[FiB]

This is going to sound like the start of a joke but.... how do you wash a sheep?!!!  And then (ram apart) how do you keep them clean for a week??!!!

[feldar]

Well are you sitting comfortably?........
We start by using coldish not freezing, cause thats not fair, water and this gets most of the grease off the top of the fleece. The idea is not to completely soak it to it's skin just to remove most of the top grease so we can card up a week later.
We then soak any clinkers off tails and bottoms and make sure this area is nice and clean.
We do all this a week or so before the show to allow the natural grease minus the dirt back into the fleece. They keep fairly clean because they are inside and littered up well.
We tend to wash outside and dry off in the sunshine if there is any!
I have been known when we had appalling weather one year to trailer them home and dry off with a hairdrier!!

[FiB]

Wow I will look with greater appreciation at any show sheep I see at shows this summer!!!   Good luck - hope you win somthing    What breed do you show?

[feldar]

 Thanks for that, we show Hampshire Downs 

[Hazelwood Flock]

Wow feldar! that's dedication....
That means yours are halter trained...mine get training by being tied up for 10 minutes before going in the ring! we're not showing until 2pm so will have all day to part the locks on the fleeces of the 5 adult sheep before judging, Greyface Dartmoors are shown just the tidy side of tatty!
Looking forward to a tipple at Darkies Den on friday 

[smudger]

Hazelwood - how do you clean the dirty 'bib' on your GfD's?  Mine are almost black from mouth, down neck to top of legs. Don't know how they do it....

Feldar, is that really it? a bit of cold water, no ointments. lotions, potions, trims, dags, blooming (or whatever). Not trying to get a head start on us newbies?

[Hazelwood Flock]

The bibs are usually very tied up with hay/thistles/brambles and move as one entity! even if they are dirty once they are dry they are a lot more manageable. You don't half get tough hands!!!

[feldar]

We use a bit of bloom shampoo on the really pooy bits cause it breaks down the clinkers. You darn't cut them off because there has to be enough wool left on the back end to card up and make them look bigger. It's all false you know, i have a friend who can trim up a sheep and it can be the runt of the flock and he can make it look the biggest so don't be fooled by the pretty sheep syndrome, you've got to get your hands on that sheep and feel for condition.
You can tell the difference between fit and fat; fat wobbles!
We don't use a lot of shampoo because of washing out the natural lanolin, our show sheep are not moddicoddled like some are, my OH absolutely hates keeping sheep in all the time and refuses to overfeed so we dont always do so well in the show ring, but at least we know ours will go on and breed a lamb and not melt when someone gets them home.
Hazelwood, i will seek you out next week and definately have a tipple at Darkies Den, good luck to you, we don't show till the afternoon either, i hate it, just want to get the nerves over with in the morning.
Hope the weather warms up or i'm going to need that extra duvet

[VSS]

Working on our show team for the smallholder's which clashed with Devon this year. Ours have to be shown in full fleece - quite a tall order at this time of year when the wool is trying to fly off them - so washing is out of the question.

[Hazelwood Flock]

My lot are in full fleece too, here's a shearling ewe...



and my senior ram, a ewe and her ewe lamb...

[Pedwardine]

Ahh they're fabulous. 2nd pic looks like you've stuffed 'em and posed 'em  Are they real, really are they? That looks like alot of work HF. Very impressed.

[Bramblecot]

My GFD lambs have discovered the delights of rolling in the ofire site  ;Dand look nothing like your HF.  They really are gre Dartmoors .  Is the judging on Thursday or Friday next week?  I'll try and find you

[Mammyshaz]

Wow they look great. 

[Hazelwood Flock]

They are real..honest! it was a bit breezy when I took those pics!
Bramblecot, judging is 2pm thursday as our judge is showing suffolks in the morning.