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Author Topic: too early to start shearing?  (Read 5934 times)

devonlady

  • Joined Aug 2014
Re: too early to start shearing?
« Reply #15 on: May 05, 2016, 06:59:41 am »
An old saying was "shear them in May, you'll shear them away"

Sbom

  • Joined Jul 2012
  • Staffordshire
Re: too early to start shearing?
« Reply #16 on: May 05, 2016, 08:05:19 am »
Ours will be done before the end of the month and again in September/October time. They are panting heavily at the slightest show of sun already!
What breed do you keep [member=25947]Sbom[/member]?

New Zealand Romneys

Melmarsh

  • Joined May 2014
Re: too early to start shearing?
« Reply #17 on: May 05, 2016, 10:32:36 am »
Mine have usually been done end of May except one year I lambed in May and they were shorn in June....end of.????????????????

Foobar

  • Joined Mar 2012
  • South Wales
Re: too early to start shearing?
« Reply #18 on: May 05, 2016, 11:10:41 am »
It depends on how far north you are and what altitude you are, and on your breed etc, as to when you need to shear them.  There is no fixed rule that covers everyone :).

landroverroy

  • Joined Oct 2010
Re: too early to start shearing?
« Reply #19 on: May 05, 2016, 10:21:44 pm »
 An experienced shearer once told me that if you shear within a few weeks of lambing, and it turns cold overnight, the ewes' milk supply will cut right down, and not recover that season.
Rules are made:
  for the guidance of wise men
  and the obedience of fools.

Dogwalker

  • Joined Nov 2011
Re: too early to start shearing?
« Reply #20 on: May 06, 2016, 06:31:39 am »
Except for my silly shetland ewe who sheds  her fleece each year after lambing and is mostly bare. Happily feeding twins well.

A few of the hoggs are shedding and have a good new growth so I'll be rooing them in the  next few days before it all gets lost on the fields.

Louise P

  • Joined Jul 2015
Re: too early to start shearing?
« Reply #21 on: May 06, 2016, 09:51:29 pm »
It's my 1st year with shedders this year and a couple of them are almost completely naked already. They don't seem to be catching any harm and their lambs all look well.  :)

Jullienne

  • Joined Apr 2016
Re: too early to start shearing?
« Reply #22 on: May 07, 2016, 10:51:33 am »
I would say to leave it until the end of may beginning of June, unless you're in a hurry to do so? I don't shear mine until the very end of may beginning of June, as the fleeces have a very good rise by then. Do keep an eye out for fly strike, I have a feeling that it may be rather rampant this year!  :(
boast not yourself of tomorrow; for you know not what a day may bring forth. Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips. proverbs 27 verses 1-2.

 

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