Thursday, February 18, 2010

To shear or not too shear-- that is the question

Actually the question is-- should I be the one holding the blade shears. Most sheep need to be sheared once a year. Some are sheared twice a year and some hair sheep actually shed (sort of).

The time to shear will soon be upon us (usually March or April) so early this week Karen and I drove an hour and a half to see Kevin Ford ( considered by most to be the best blade shearer in the U.S.) shear sheep. We went with snow predicted and came back in a snow squall so I want to give Karen an award (she has goats that don't even need shearing). Actually, Karen and I are,were,are,were,.... going to shear my 6 sheep and llama. Originally (way back) I had planned to but then I saw what it entailed. As I started looking for options Karen and I started helping each other with our animals and Karen told me we could do. So I started believing her and the next logical step was to take her to see a master demonstrate. Karen took an incredible video of it on her camera in a dark barn ( you can view it if you go to her blog under blogs I follow). HIMJ "Shearing a Sheep"

Karen was a professional hairdresser for part of her work life so maybe that was part of what gave me optimism but when I recall Karen, my sister Gail (a nurse), and I trying to draw goat blood at Karen's house maybe I should come to realize IT JUST ISN'T THE SAME.

I think I am back to looking at the options.

5 comments:

  1. I watched that video actually did a fast forward after a few minutes and it was amazing. Both the video (was she using a tripod?) and the shearing. If it were me (after having attempted the blood drawing) I'd look really hard at the options.

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  2. I'm back to "we can do it". Call me crazy. Maybe we can at least try one first.

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  3. You have to try it at least once! You will always wonder if you don't and it will become one of the things in life that defeated you.

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  4. I think you guys are all crazy. Just an observation. And which poor sheep is going to be the guinea pig? Just kidding. Just wondering do the sheep get cold after you shear them?

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