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Today, eight new breeding ewes joined our flock.  It was something of a reunion as these new ewes were the flock our original three came from.  So our three were reunited with their mothers.

We only have a small trailer, so we collected them in two batches of 4.  We had fun getting them into the trailer, but once in our field, they came out quite happily.  Our 3 were not quite sure what to make of the new arrivals, but unlike chickens, they enjoyed a peaceful introduction.

The second batch of four were most restless when they were left behind and were duly delighted to be re-united.  By evening, they were all happily lying together chewing the cud.

Horner Shearing sent us a replacement part overnight and with rain forecast from tomorrow (which probably means it will be sunny), we thought we’d better get the sheep sheared today. You can’t shear them with a wet fleece and also, wet fleeces are attractive to flies. The main reason for shearing them is for their health, the wool is a bonus.

It was a lovely, sunny afternoon (after a fairly breezy morning), so conditions were perfect.

We started with Bluemli. She was not happy at all. She considers herself the leader of our small herd and so is used to getting her own way.  Well, I am much better now at getting a sheep to sit and to her surprise, she found herself in shearing position A.  Not for long.  testing my training to the limits (and I spent the early part of the afternoon studying the DVD again), she struggled and moved did everything she could to get free.  Especially when I tried to shave her leg!  She did get a little stressed so we did spend some time calming her.

But, my revision paid off and we had much more control.  Our positioning was also better so we put less strain on the drive shaft.  And 35 minutes later, Bluemli emerged sheared, albeit a bit scruffy!

Then, it was the last sheep, Louise’s turn. She struggled at first, but soon relaxed.  I didn’t do her stomach particularly well which caused problems later on.  Nevertheless, we improvised and soon, she too, was sporting a short summer coat, albeit with some trimmings.

But we are really pleased.  Sheep shearing is not easy at all (my back is most put out).  But they are done, we have three bags of wool ready to be cleaned up and weaved.

The question is, do we do that too, or do we send it off.

Decisions, decisions!

Plus, 75 minutes to shear 2 sheep, the Blue Seal requires you to shear 3 sheep in 30 minutes, unaided.  I think we need a bit more practice.

Having had trouble finding sheep shearers for our small flock, we decided to do it ourselves.  But, first, we thought some training might be a good idea.

So we signed up for the sheep shearing course run by the British Wool Marketing Board at Fernhill Farm.

We turned up on a freezing cold, wet May morning and shivered gently in a large barn full of sheep and other trainees.  These ranged from young farmers with hundreds of sheep to older farmers with a smaller number of sheep and us.

It turned out to be two of the most physically demanding days I can remember.  But also highly rewarding.

The key was to learn the moves so that the sheep is both comfortable and in the right position.  Get it wrong and the sheep was off in a flash.  And weighing in at around 80Kg, these sheep were pretty strong.

But we worked hard and managed to shear a few sheep, albeit with some help from the instructors.  We plan to do another course and get our Blue Seal.

In the mean time, as soon as our shearing kit arrives, our 3 ladies will be shorn.

We are expanding our flock from 3 to 11 this week with 8 new arrivals.  There will be some reunions as the incoming flock are the ones our three orginated from.  So they will be reunited with their mothers.

We can’t wait and look forward to having them.

We have commisioned some new stock proof fencing in our orchard so that will give us extra pasture.  It will be interesting when we come to try and move them.  The training has begun.