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Author Topic: To shear or leave till next year?  (Read 2654 times)

Jon Feather

  • Joined Jun 2015
  • South West Cumbria
To shear or leave till next year?
« on: October 13, 2016, 09:31:39 am »
Our first year looking after shetland sheep (12 ewes and 3 lambs) has passed and there is one big job we haven't done.  For one reason and another we didn't get round to shearing or rooing them.  Most rooed themselves, either completely or partly but 2 still have a full fleece. 

I'm back to full health now and wondering if I should roo those partly rooed and shear the others (I don't think they will roo).

What would you do now?


pharnorth

  • Joined Nov 2013
  • Cambridgeshire
Re: To shear or leave till next year?
« Reply #1 on: October 13, 2016, 09:36:27 am »
Dag them perhaps or nothing. Can't see any value in shearing that late in Cumbria

Marches Farmer

  • Joined Dec 2012
  • Herefordshire
Re: To shear or leave till next year?
« Reply #2 on: October 13, 2016, 11:42:44 am »
Have they shelter during bad weather over Winter? 

Jon Feather

  • Joined Jun 2015
  • South West Cumbria
Re: To shear or leave till next year?
« Reply #3 on: October 13, 2016, 11:44:23 am »
Not much shelter.  We are right on the coast with their grazing going down to the sea.  The winds here in winter can cut you in two.

Sbom

  • Joined Jul 2012
  • Staffordshire
Re: To shear or leave till next year?
« Reply #4 on: October 13, 2016, 11:57:06 am »
My sheep are being shorn for the second time this weekend, however they are a completely different breed and we are much further south.
I think I'd be very reluctant to shear Shetlands that live on the coast in Cumbria at this time of year....

Jon Feather

  • Joined Jun 2015
  • South West Cumbria
Re: To shear or leave till next year?
« Reply #5 on: October 13, 2016, 12:52:43 pm »
Thank you peeps.  As I thought: leave well alone.  Out of interest, will the new fleece just grow through the old one or as a continuation of the old one?

moony

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Dent
Re: To shear or leave till next year?
« Reply #6 on: October 13, 2016, 02:02:09 pm »
We have some we haven't done. They look untidy but we are not doing it now and it won't do them any harm. We have shorn a few late on in the past and they struggled all winter to thrive. Not making that mistake again.

Marches Farmer

  • Joined Dec 2012
  • Herefordshire
Re: To shear or leave till next year?
« Reply #7 on: October 13, 2016, 02:46:02 pm »
Mostly the fleece just keeps growing.

macgro7

  • Joined Feb 2016
  • Leicester
Re: To shear or leave till next year?
« Reply #8 on: October 13, 2016, 03:37:31 pm »
Thank you peeps.  As I thought: leave well alone.  Out of interest, will the new fleece just grow through the old one or as a continuation of the old one?
Merino not shorn for 6 years:
Growing loads of fruits and vegetables! Raising dairy goats, chickens, ducks, rabbits on 1/2 acre in the middle of the city of Leicester, using permaculture methods.

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: To shear or leave till next year?
« Reply #9 on: October 13, 2016, 04:35:57 pm »
It happens to us all sometimes, so I'm not having a go, at all.   But just to mention, in case anyone reading this thread is not aware, that it is a requirement under animal welfare codes of practise, that all sheep in the UK have their fleeces removed each summer.

In your situation, Jon, I too would leave them now for the winter.  But I'd want them shorn as soon as the weather warms up next year, or be worried about strike, overheating, getting stuck on their backs, and so on.

And would check them several times a day when they're heavily pregnant in case of getting stuck on their backs.

If you think on balance that it would be better to shear them, you can get them clipped with a winter cut, which leaves about an inch of fleece to give them a start on their winter coat.  And then feed them to be sure they have the sustenance they need to keep warm, grow more winter coat, and at the same time come a-tupping and get pregnant.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

 

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