[Jacob-list] Re: Sheep shearing question......

[Mary Hansson]

Thanks Gordon!
 
I have felt that the breakage of these fleeces is more likely stress, although I have found it very remarkable (hence my remarks) that both groups of the same flock have done it at the same time.  I brought home 2 girls and a ram last fall, and brought 2 girls and a ram this spring.  I wouldn't have suspected they would both experience the same stress when no other sheep in the flock have a break.  I will definitely be interested in how the lambs from these sheep fare next summer.  I have several people looking for lambs out of the line, but am hesitating selling those.  Once sold---information and observation vanish.
 
This is one reason why bringing home sheep from "new" flocks is so time and expense consuming---it takes lots of time to observe and understand the variety they bring to a flock.  It is also an excellent reason for getting SEVERAL instead of 1 or 2.......
 
Mary Ellen

gordon johnston <gordon at westergladstone.fsnet.co.uk> wrote:
Shearing and fleeces and rooing...
 
I'll start with rooing. The art of gently removing the fleece without using shears or clippers. You can only do this with a primitive sheep which sheds its fleece naturally. The Soays do and so I roo them when the fleece shows signs of lifting. The fleece always has a marked lanolin layer just above where the break in the fleece occurs. Wonderful on the hands of course.
You can roo some other breeds too. This year I rooed a Hebridean completely and from time to time a Shetland will roo completely. I have never been able to roo a Jacob but that might be because in the UK they have lost their primitive characteristics or perhaps it's just because they aren't Northern short-tails. In Shetland it was customary to roo sheep but to use a knife to cut the wool where it wouldn't lift easily. When I am shearing, with most sheep of all breeds there are areas which will roo but most are simply hand shorn.  
 
Of course sheep of any breed will shed fleece where there is a weakness in the wool caused by stress or illness. Quite a different matter. And then you have the sheep who rub their fleeces off against posts and fences. We have one old Jacob whose fleece is prone to felting and she will come and demand to be shorn. She does this by coming up to me when I am shearing another sheep and shouting in my ear. A mite distracting... 
 
Most sheep will have a rise in the wool - the weak area between the old and new wool. It is vital to shear through the rise if you are selling the fleece to hand spinners. If you cut below the rise (as with machine clipping) you leave a weakness in the wool which has to be broken by the spinner - they get fed up pretty quickly doing that.
 
One final observation. I was hand shearing sheep at the Royal Highland Show this year alongside a champion shearer. He was quicker than me but, to be as tactful as I can, I would not under any circumstances let him anywhere near one of my sheep. And he was being paid for what he was doing. There is more to shearing than speed...
 
Best of luck to you all whichever way you choose to part your sheep from their wool.
 
Gordon in rainy Scotland. 
 


Mary Ellen Hansson, MEd, RD, LDN
ISeeSpots Farm
Jacob Sheep:  Lambs, adults, wool
www.iseespots.com
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