[Dans]

Hi all,

It's my third summer of having sheep so you'd think I'd have worked this out by now, but how do you know when to shear?

The first year we did it at the end of May as that's when other smallholders in our area had booked for. That was ok but the castlemilks had shed a lot of the fleece themselves by that point and I would really like to harvest the fleece from them.

The second year we did late April as the ewes were due to lamb in May (we were late I know) and I was worried that if we waited until after lambing for a time the shearers would be comfortable it would be too late.

This year I have the option of going with someone who could do them mid May or someone who could do Mid June. I'm a little worried about leaving it as late as Mid June as the sheep are already seeming a bit itchy in their fleece.

We are down in South Lincolnshire and our night temperatures are about 6-8C at the moment.

How do you decide when to shear each year?

Dans

[twizzel]

Did ours May 10th last year after a ewe was struck on the 8th. We are in the south west it is mild and damp so perfect conditions for strike. Most of ours last year were fit to shear by that time but the odd couple where lambing had taken it out of them were still sticky and didn’t shear well. All to do with the rise I think? This year will aim to do them the same time maybe a week later if we can get away with it... any longer than end of May and we really play lottery with strike.