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.

Tunbridge Wells Festival

Last Sunday I was sitting in the middle of the street in central Tunbridge Wells spinning, much to the curiosity of the general public. No, I hadn't gone completely mad, I was taking part in Tunbridge Wells Festival. 

This festival is a new event started by Stephen Mason, a local businessman and Chief Executive of Trinity Theatre in Tunbridge Wells. Profits go to a number of local charities, notably Hospice in the Weald. Some of the roads were closed to make way for the many attractions, there were craft stalls, a stage with live performances, street entertainers and fairground rides for the children. 

Having a niche business, I don't do many general events but I decided to support the Tunbridge Wells Festival. We were fortunate with the weather, the day before it poured and I was rather worried but on Sunday the sun shone and the crowds came out. 

I had a lovely day, sitting in the street spinning. A couple of small dogs took fright at the movement and a few children thought it would be fun to grab the turning wheel. Many people who stopped for a chat had never seen a spinning wheel in action. There were the usual reactions: 'how do you sew on that?' 'is that a spinning jenny?' 'look at that lady knitting!'

I was spinning a silk/baby camel blend and I heard many parents carefully explaining to their children that this was sheep's wool. Note to self, when spinning in public - stick to wool. 

I haven't spun much silk, the next day my hands felt puffy, does anyone else find spinning silk hard on the hands? What reactions do you get when you practice your craft in public?

Joel Barton Sets New UK 9 Hour Lamb Shearing Record

On Saturday 4th August after a few hours sleep I blundered out of bed at 2.30 in the morning. Why? To witness Joel Barton's attempt at a new UK 9 Hour Lamb Shearing Record. He was starting at 5.00am and I wanted to be there.

When I arrived at Walter House Farm, Woodchurch near Ashford, Kent, there was an atmosphere of quiet tension. No one was rushing, no one was talking much, everyone was intensely focused on the final preparations.

Preparing the lambs is a highly skilled job in itself. Shearers had worked through the night dagging the lambs to the strict requirements of the rules. Only an area over the tail the size of a man's fist is allowed to be shorn in advance. This means the lambs have full belly wool and, being Romney lambs which carry a lot of wool, wool between the teats and up the legs. In competition shearing, the sheep are sheared in front of the teats so the shearers can go flat out. Record attempts are supposed to reflect the shearer's normal day at work so he still has to contend with all the fiddly bits.

Three judges were there from the British Isles Shearing Competitions Association (BISCA): Charles Fuggle from East Sussex, Arwyn Jones form Wales and George Graham from Ireland. The judges ensure the record attempt complies with the strict rules. They monitor the quality of the shearing and any injuries to sheep. Quality and animal welfare are not sacrificed to speed and numbers. If the shearing is not up to standard or sheep are being injured then the judges will stop the attempt.

The day was structured with military precision. At 5.00am Joel Barton dragged the first lamb out of the pen. He sheared for 2 hours, losing less than 10 seconds between lambs. Every 15 minutes he paused to change the cutter and gulp a drink but these pit stops lasted maybe only 20 seconds. After 2 hours shearing, Joel had done 119 lambs. Then there was a hour break for breakfast.

The rest of the runs lasted 1 hour 45 minutes each, with breaks in between. This pattern reflects a normal shearing day. In the second run, Joel sheared 110 lambs, then 106, 102 and finally 100. When the attempt started, everyone stayed quiet, afraid of distracting Joel. I switched the flash off on my camera in case it disturbed him. Joel had his music playing and he was in the zone. 

As the day wore on and more people arrived to watch the audience took on the job of shouting encouragement. There was a countdown to the 500th lamb, with lambs being shorn in around 54 seconds each it was hard to keep track. Joel sheared his 500th lamb at 4.22pm.

He needed to shear 522 to break the record, with less than 40 minutes to go and the record not yet broken we shouted Joel down the last side of each lamb. I can't begin to imagine the pain he must have been in by then. At 4.45pm, with 15 minutes left Joel broke the record. Joel finished at 5.00pm. The new record: 537 lambs shorn in 9 hours.

I took my spinning wheel but I had to give up spinning for the last hour - it was way too exciting!

I estimate Joel sheared about 430kg of wool in the 9 hours. He filled a woolsack an hour:

It only took Joel 3 hours to shear all this wool

Joel has a Just Giving Page, money raised will go to the British Heart Foundation.  

I am gradually adding photos from the day to Flickr, I have several hundred to sort through, so it may take a while. You can see the pictures here.

UK 9 Hour Lamb Shearing Record

In less than 12 hours Joel Barton from East Sussex will attempt to set a new UK 9 hour lamb shearing record. Currently the record is held by Roy Collier who sheared 521 lambs in 9 hours on 27 August 2011 in Knockrobin, Co Wexford, Ireland. 

Tomorrow's attempt is taking place at Woodchurch, near Ashford, Kent. Joel Barton has been a professional shearer for seven years. He first started shearing when he was a student at Plumpton College. Joel has been training for the event for the last year.

Joel will be shearing Romney lambs. He will start at 5am and finish at 5pm. Joel will shear for two hours, then take a break. After that he will shear in 1hour 45 minute runs with breaks in between ( a run is a period of time when a shearer shears continuously without stopping, during each run Joel will be looking to lose less than 10 seconds between lambs). This work pattern reflects a normal working day for a shearer. A normal working day for Joel would be eight hours actual shearing broken down into four runs. 

 Supporters have traveled from as far away as Scotland and even New Zealand to assist Joel. Behind the scenes, a team of around 15 people will be making sure everything runs smoothly. The back up team have the vital job of ensuring a constant supply of lambs and taking care of the equipment. The record attempt will be closely monitored by officials from the British Isles Shearing Competitions Association.

Tomorrow I will be reporting on Joel's progress via Twitter @Romneyteg. 

In the meantime here is video coverage of  Roy Collier setting the current record.

The New Shop is Now Open

The stock is on the shelves. The floors are swept. The shutters are up. The door is propped open and the sign turned over. The new Shearer Girl Yarns online shop is now open! Do wander in and browse. 

There is a new range of yarns to drool over - the Bounce DK range. The Bounce yarns are 100% Bluefaced Leicester wool, produced in the UK. I have hand dyed the Bounce range in a choice of acid or natural dyes. One of my favourite colourways has to be Maple Leaf, I love the rich autumnal colours:

Bounce DK in Maple Leaf

There are also new stitch marker designs such as the Colourful Cubes range, which come in various colour combinations:

Colourful Cubes Stitch Markers in Pink/Yellow

 

 

 

Do drop by and let me know what you think of the new shop.

New Online Shop Opening Tomorrow!

Last month I explained I am getting a new online shop. I am happy to announce the new shop will be opening for business tomorrow! At the moment you can visit the shop and look around but you will not be able to make a purchase. Tomorrow is the big day when the Paypal gets connected up and you will be able to place and pay for orders.

You will notice, not only is the website new but I have also made an adjustment to the business name. I have decided to simplify the name from Shearer's Girl Yarns to Shearer Girl Yarns. I think the new name is more straightforward. 

 

Simon Kiteley, the web developer, has done a brilliant job, the new website is a vast improvement on the old one. Do go and have a look around the new shop Shearer Girl Yarns. Let me know what you think!

Wellingtons and Wool

The Shearer Girl Yarns stand

I'm back from Fibre East. What a weekend we had! We arrived quite late on Friday and got busy setting up the stand. Then it started to pour and pour. Within half an hour there was a small lake in front of my stand. Suddenly I became aware of the sound of water on plastic. There was some broken stitching along the edge of the marquee and rain was pouring in onto the Willo Alpacas stand next to me. We rushed to drag their stock out from under the waterfall.

I took the decision not to risk the stock and we put it all back in the van. I slept with my mobile beside me switched on, just in case someone rang to say the showground had been washed away. The next morning stallholders were not allowed to bring vehicles onto the field so everything had to be lugged across the field to the stand.

Trying to set up a stand without letting anything touch the ground is no easy thing. I have no problems with mud in its place and I've experienced much worse conditions. But when you have spent hours painstakingly dyeing yarn you really don't want it to get wet or muddy.  Once the stand was set up we just needed some shoppers. 

Fibre East is a well organised event and the staff of Scald End Farm, where the event is held, are always very helpful. The farmer, Martin Towler, was on hand to check the state of the ground throughout the show and deal with the worst patches. Staff put down woodchips and carpet underlay. It was definitely welly weather.

The puddle in front of my stand

Despite the exceptional weather, we had a good show. Everyone soldiered on and helped each other. We had quite a few customers come up and say they had bought batts last year and were very happy with them and wanted more. The Marbled Jacob batts were a best seller. 

I even managed to do some shopping myself:

 More on my purchases later!