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| You want our wool? |
Meet the lovely ladies I've been shearing today. They are Suffolk Mules, which means Dad was a Suffolk and Mum was a North of England Mule. They are about a year old so this is their first time being shorn. A very confusing experience I should imagine.
Yesterday was the first day of the shearing season for me. I have set myself the goal of shearing at Plumpton College Open Day on 12 May. In order to shear as part of the public demonstration I need to prove I'm good enough. The last couple of days have been training in preparation for Open Day.
Due to other commitments I could only do part of each day. But I sheared three sheep yesterday and three today. Six in two days isn't much, a professional shearer would expect to do between 200 and 400 a day. Only another 197 to go! Still, I'm just glad to ease myself back into to what is an extremely demanding activity.
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| Where did my fleece go? |
Today I was told I have made the grade and will be permitted to shear on Open Day. This means I will get to wear the special red shearing vest printed up with 'Plumpton College Shearing Team'. It feels like I've reached a milestone. But there's still a long way to go.
I am stronger now than when I first started trying to learn to shear but I still need to acquire a lot more strength and stamina. I guess I'm going to be on a diet of spinach for the next three months!
Blimey! 200-400 sheep a day! That's some shearing! I think I would probably manage one sheep as I have no clue!!
ReplyDeleteI don't know how they do it, professional shearers are athletes.
ReplyDeleteI think I would keel over after two.
ReplyDeleteAmazing - 200 a day!
How many do you have to do while 'on show'?
Well done on getting to do the demo, they look very well sheared and happy sheep.
ReplyDeleteIt always amazes me to see footage of those that shear so many, I get tired just looking at it! Such physical work.
Thanks Dawn.
ReplyDeleteWow, I'm in awe of you being able to shear. It's such a demanding and skilled thing to do. I'll be thinking of you on the 12th! Thanks for your lovely comment today. All my art work is drawn freehand and then painted with water colour pens, and art pens. I wash each layer with a water pen and layer up with different art pens to get the deep colours. I don't use a computer at all in my paintings, other than to scan the work onto my computer to show it on my blog. I love doing them as it's so relaxing! I've collected quotes for years, so I leaf through my notebook full of quotes and pick one that feels good, and then just paint away. I never know what it's going to look like till it's finished!!! Em xxxx
ReplyDeleteThanks Emma, I love your artwork, the colours work so well and I love the style. The quotes are great too.
DeletePlaying catch up and a bit late, but I love your post-shearing pic; how long-legged and elegant the sheep look, if a little stunned... the fleeces look interesting too.
ReplyDeleteAm in awe of your ability to shear (shame the open day was cancelled), but amazed by the numbers a 'professional' can do - I remember NZ gangs when I was a child being very impressive. It's just starting round us - North Wales - and I'm looking forward to getting my spinning paws on this year's fleece...
They are elegant sheep aren't they, nice fleece too. Hope you get some lovely fleeces to spin.
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