Shearing Gerbils at Townings Farm

Saturday I had a new experience: shearing gerbils. It was the Vintage Harvest Fair at Townings Farm, East Sussex. Townings is a family run farm specialising in traditional breeds. They raise Longhorn and Sussex cattle, Saddleback pigs and Hebridean sheep. 

At the Vintage Harvest Fair, the public can meet the animals, see vintage farm machinery in action, browse the craft stands and watch sheep shearing. That's where I came in. This was only my second public shearing demo, a scary proposition in itself. 

Being September, the adult sheep had all been shorn. However September is the traditional time for lamb shearing. So I in my enthusiasm had agreed to shear Hebridean lambs in public. Hebrideans are small primitive sheep. They have all their wild instincts intact and they have as many as four horns. 

I don't have much lamb shearing experience so I went along in the week to practice. I may as well have been shearing gerbils, or ferrets as one helpful onlooker suggested. Trying to hold the lambs was like trying to grip a bar of soap in the bath. You can grip an adult sheep with your knees and thighs. The lambs didn't reach my knees so I found myself bent into all sorts of contortions trying to hold the lambs with my lower legs while bending down enough to shear them.

This was shearing in miniature. When I was going round the fiddly bits between the hind legs I really wanted to switch to a nasal hair trimmer. The handpiece felt far too big for the lambs' dainty contours. Not only were they tiny, they also wriggled and squirmed and stabbed me in the legs with their horns. 

Weird things happened. On the long blows, when the sheep is lying on its side, you tuck your left foot under the shoulder. I did this and several times I ran into my toes with the handpiece. This never happens shearing adult sheep because unless you are a clown the sheep is a lot bigger than your feet. 

On the long blows

The lambs seemed to be able to get their toes on the floor or push against my legs however I tried to hold them. I think their legs are longer in proportion to their body than those of an adult sheep so when held in the same way as an adult the lamb can get its feet on the floor and escape.

This position isn't in the manual

Or maybe I'm just making excuses for poor technique? I do know I need to get more practice shearing gerbils, sorry - lambs.

An impromptu sheep dog demonstration

As a member of the Kent Guild of Spinners, Dyers and Weavers, I did a spinning demonstration for Kent Wildlife Trust at their Queendown Warren Nature Reserve yesterday.  It was a perfect day, lovely sunny weather, a beautiful setting and once we were set up, I was sat in a field under a gazebo spinning and watching the sheep.  What could be better?  

There were due to be a couple of sheep dog demonstrations during the day but the staff assured me the sheep would not be used for the demo as they aren’t used to being worked with a dog.  Instead the sheep dog would drive a few ducks around the obstacle course.  

Kent Wildlife Trust use Hebridean and Herdwick sheep for conservation grazing. 

 

The black sheep on the left with horns is a Hebridean ewe, the dark lamb on the right is a Herdwick

 

A Herdwick ewe

Conservation grazing is where a hardy primitive breed of sheep, cattle or ponies are used to manage a landscape.  In this case the Queendown Warren Reserve is chalk grassland.  The sheep’s job is munch any scrub which might try to grow.   Conservation grazing has its downside, the main concern being that the animals get enough food.  The primitive breeds used are well adapted to living on poor grazing but in their home environment they would probably range over a mountain or two whereas with conservation grazing the animals are often fenced into a relatively small area, limiting their food supply.  I was pleased to see these sheep had plenty of grass and were in good condition. 

Meet the sheep

The Herdwick lambs were pure bred but the Hebridean ewes had been put to a Southdown ram.  Yes, I know, I’m talking about Southdowns again.  I think the breed is stalking me.  Everywhere I turn I see a round woolly face looking at me!  The Hebridean cross Southdown lambs were lovely and chunky, most of them were white with brown faces and white head wool. 

 

Here is a pure Hebridean ewe with her Southdown cross lamb

The staff told me the Southdown nature has come through in the lambs.  Southdowns are notoriously difficult to move, some people describe them as docile, I’m not sure that’s the word I would use.  You can be jumping up and down waving your arms in the air and whooping and a Southdown will just stand there and look at you where a normal sheep would have had a panic attack and jumped out of the pen.  The staff told me when they are moving the sheep the Hebridean ewes run off but their crossbred lambs stay put so the ewes have to come back for their lambs.  When the Hebrideans had pure bred lambs the lambs would run with their mothers.  The ewes must be puzzled by their strange offspring.

Anyway, I was in full flow describing some detail of the spinning process when I heard an unusual amount of baaing.  I looked up and saw the sheep were charging up the hill shouting to each other.  Then I saw a group of excited Herdwicks my side of the fence.  No doubt all the baaing would translate as ‘Have you heard?  The gate’s open.  Let’s go next door girls!’  Sheep are flock animals, if one takes the lead the whole flock will follow.  I really didn’t fancy spending the rest of the day chasing semi wild sheep around Kent.

The sheep flocking up the Warren

Salvation came in the shape of the sheep dog demonstrator.  In the demonstration, the dog had moved a few ducks around a course with the trainer close by.  Now the dog shot off out of sight over the brow of the hill while the trainer stayed where he was, controlling the dog with a whistle.  He looked perfectly calm.  I wondered if the dog could actually do the job, moving a bunch of large stubborn ewes is very different from moving ducks.  Some sheep dogs are afraid of sheep.  They just aren’t assertive enough.  I’ve seen a single ewe chase a young sheep dog round and round a trailer.

However, after a few moments a tightly bunched group of Herdwicks appeared, heading in the right direction.  The dog was well back from the sheep and working beautifully.  ‘Let’s see if he can get them through the gate.’  I thought.  But the bunch of runaways trotted straight through the gateway and the dog came streaking back tail wagging to a round of applause.  An impressive impromptu demonstration.