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

[gordon johnston]

Lots of people don't know about the rise, so don't worry.
Just think tree rings.
When it's summer and the feeding is good, the wool grows long and thick.
In winter when it's cold and the feeding's poorer, the wool growth slows and
thins. This thinner, weaker wool is the rise - the layer of weak wool
between last year's strong summer growth and this year's strong summer
growth.
The rise is most marked in ewes as in the winter they are growing lambs at
the expense of their own wool, so the rise is particularly pronounced - a
very noticable layer of very weak wool that hand shears just zip through. If
a ewe is stressed by illness during pregnancy, this weak layer is so weak
the the fleece can just fall off.
With tups (rams) and gimmers the rise is minimal and can be hard to discern
in places. Makes shearing accurately more difficult.

I hope that is reasonably clear

Gordon with 2 more sheep to shear.