One morning we paid a visit to another WWOOFing host on the island. We went to see his sheep getting sheered. He had several hundred sheep, and one by one they got brought on stage and sheered of their wool.
The sheerers were quite skillful as they grabbed the sheep, wrestled it into place, and held it still while sheering off all the wool in just about a minute. They then pushed the sheep through a door on the stage and brought on the next sheep.
Comment by Peg Moore — November 28, 2007 @ 12:33 am
I love it! He/she’s so cute in the first picture. How cool that you got to see it all. Maybe farming’s in your blood and in your future! XOXOX
That was a quick response mom. What are you doing up so early?
Comment by Peg Moore — November 28, 2007 @ 12:38 am
Is that where those awesome down under wool sweaters come from? Have you bought one yet? I’m sure you don’t need it this time of year. It’s amazing to think you’ve got “intense heat” (mentioned a couple posts ago).
BTW, yes, I truly am up at 6:39 a.m., MI time! It’s a miracle! Did I tell you I slept 20 of 24 hours a day or two ago? (When you sleep that many hours, you lose track of just what day it is.) I’d been with Kristin (hospital) several nights and was catching up, I guess! Mmmm, it felt good! OK, enough about me. Keep having fun! XOXOX
These sheep shearing photos are fun. Did you just watch, or did you help, too? I remember a long time ago (probably when I was in grade school)when we had sheep at Gunderland. The shearing crew would come and shear the sheep. Your photos look very similar to what I remember.
Yeah, it does look like you’re getting ready for a stint at an agricultural college. ;^) Fun to see how that kind of stuff really works – where wool clothes and blankets really come from. and to see the skill of the people involved. I take it you didn’t WWOOF there? Just visited. Nice head shot of the sheep.
You slept 20 hours in one day? hahaha. That’s great. When I saw you up at 6:30am I figured it was more likely you were still up rather than up early.
I got a wool sweater in NZ. It is pretty nice, but yeah I don’t thin I’ll need it much here in Australia.
We didn’t help with the sheering, just watched as they sheered. The WWOOFers at this place helped though, but no we didn’t WWOOF there, just came for a visit on sheering day. I never knew there were sheep at Gunderland. Interesting!
The wool goes on the table and they pull off the little bits that aren’t nice. I was shocked at how big the wool was when they threw it on that table, and that they sheered the sheep keeping it all in one piece. And yeah, the sheep all get nicked up a bit. Apparently the better the sheerer, the less nicks the sheep get.
ohh, man, bethany!!! remember when i had animal science class and me and rian had to “throw” sheep to get them on their butts to shear them? and i used you as a sheep to demonstrate? hahahaha!!!
11 Comments »
Comment by josh — November 28, 2007 @ 12:25 am
One morning we paid a visit to another WWOOFing host on the island. We went to see his sheep getting sheered. He had several hundred sheep, and one by one they got brought on stage and sheered of their wool.
The sheerers were quite skillful as they grabbed the sheep, wrestled it into place, and held it still while sheering off all the wool in just about a minute. They then pushed the sheep through a door on the stage and brought on the next sheep.
Comment by Peg Moore — November 28, 2007 @ 12:33 am
I love it! He/she’s so cute in the first picture.
How cool that you got to see it all. Maybe farming’s in your blood and in your future! 
XOXOX
Comment by josh — November 28, 2007 @ 12:38 am
That was a quick response mom. What are you doing up so early?
Comment by Peg Moore — November 28, 2007 @ 12:38 am
Is that where those awesome down under wool sweaters come from? Have you bought one yet? I’m sure you don’t need it this time of year. It’s amazing to think you’ve got “intense heat” (mentioned a couple posts ago).
BTW, yes, I truly am up at 6:39 a.m., MI time!
It’s a miracle! Did I tell you I slept 20 of 24 hours a day or two ago? (When you sleep that many hours, you lose track of just what day it is.) I’d been with Kristin (hospital) several nights and was catching up, I guess! Mmmm, it felt good! OK, enough about me. Keep having fun! 
XOXOX
Comment by Clara — November 28, 2007 @ 1:53 am
These sheep shearing photos are fun. Did you just watch, or did you help, too? I remember a long time ago (probably when I was in grade school)when we had sheep at Gunderland. The shearing crew would come and shear the sheep. Your photos look very similar to what I remember.
Comment by dadman — November 28, 2007 @ 3:17 am
Yeah, it does look like you’re getting ready for a stint at an agricultural college. ;^) Fun to see how that kind of stuff really works – where wool clothes and blankets really come from. and to see the skill of the people involved. I take it you didn’t WWOOF there? Just visited. Nice head shot of the sheep.
Comment by josh — November 28, 2007 @ 11:39 am
You slept 20 hours in one day? hahaha. That’s great. When I saw you up at 6:30am I figured it was more likely you were still up rather than up early.
I got a wool sweater in NZ. It is pretty nice, but yeah I don’t thin I’ll need it much here in Australia.
We didn’t help with the sheering, just watched as they sheered. The WWOOFers at this place helped though, but no we didn’t WWOOF there, just came for a visit on sheering day. I never knew there were sheep at Gunderland. Interesting!
Comment by Claire — November 29, 2007 @ 11:39 am
What are they doing with the wool on that table with rollers on it? I would like to shear a sheep, but I’d be afraid of getting kicked in the face.
Comment by Claire — November 29, 2007 @ 11:41 am
And ouch…it looks like the sheep in the second picture got nicked on the hind leg.
Comment by josh — November 29, 2007 @ 12:10 pm
The wool goes on the table and they pull off the little bits that aren’t nice. I was shocked at how big the wool was when they threw it on that table, and that they sheered the sheep keeping it all in one piece. And yeah, the sheep all get nicked up a bit. Apparently the better the sheerer, the less nicks the sheep get.
Comment by Robin — December 8, 2007 @ 6:24 am
ohh, man, bethany!!! remember when i had animal science class and me and rian had to “throw” sheep to get them on their butts to shear them? and i used you as a sheep to demonstrate? hahahaha!!!
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