Shear Bliss

The big day finally arrived! The shearers came and we hope to have wool aplenty and discuss the possibility of lamb chops in our future freezer. But first. Of course “but first”. First, we had to get the sheep down to the red, red barn to await the promised shearers’ arrival. This involved rounding up the sheep from the front paddock and moving them down the roadway about a mile to the holding pen.

I discovered something very profound in this roundup. The Lord family is composed of all Sheriffs and no posse. Each one of us automatically took charge. (Well, actually the sheep were in charge but you know what I mean.) Dan yelled to me, “Mom move to your right.” Yael yelled to me, “Terry move to your left.” I surveyed the rampaging sheep and yelled to both Dan and Yael to execute a flanking action. We continued to yell conflicting commands to each other and the sheep continued to run in every direction but the direction of the gate. Finally, I quit yelling and Dan and Yael just stood looking at each other. The sheep looked at us as if we were crazy and decided to scramble through the gate and down the road.

Yael took the car and the kids to block the sheep from going all the way down to the main road. Dan followed the sheep and I lagged behind. Far behind. By the time I got there, our sheep were cutting a wide swath around the roadway, the shearers were there, our neighbor Dave was there and it appeared to be chaos. But we had the expertise of a sheep dog.

I have never seen anything like it. One ewe started charging toward me and when she was only about 4 yards away, this streak of black fur threw himself into the air and hit the ewe on the side of her head with his body. The ewe, understandably startled, blinked at me and obediently turned around and headed back to the flock.

This marvelous dog is called Flight and I could see why. He flew up and down the roadway herding those sheep. He barked at them, he ran at them, he zipped through their legs and the sheep, who never paid any attention to human desires, meekly crowded into the holding pen and awaited the shears. I now want a Flight of my own. Even more than I want a quad bike, which is saying something. John and Paula says a trained dog will run over $4,000 which is a tad out of my league which runs more to a mutt from the pound. Oh, Flight is officially retired at the tender age of 12. He was just along for the day's outing. I guess sheepherding instincts are bred to last.

John and Paula sheared our sheep. They are a husband and wife couple who bore with our endless questions patiently and gently but firmly took off all the wool. For all that effort we got three bags of usable wool and a bag and a half of dreck (Yiddish term for junk wool from around the tail area, etc.). We also got the flock tailed (for health purposes) and checked out the nails. A complete going over. The best news was that the ram is in good health but has something like athlete’s foot which they treated.

What kind, generous people these Kiwis are. Dave let us use his holding pens and even gave us his wool. We plan to use it for insulation and the dreck we will bury to help our soil which is very clay-like. John and Paula spent an inordinate amount of extra time just showing us the basics of sheep and giving us a host of tips that will make us slightly less inept.

I have been researching how to clean wool (yep, the old book learning once again) and hope to start next weekend. Three bags isn’t much but it’s more than enough to learn with. I hope to get enough to stuff a duvet with and each season I will add to my knowledge and the kids will get another duvet. It seems that John and Paula had a claim on Dave’s wool which they graciously ceded to me. In exchange I promised to give them the results of all my research. Let’s hope I can keep up my end of the bargain so that they don’t feel ripped off. I feel a genuine sense of responsibility in this. They have been wonderful and I would hate to come up short. So, if anybody knows anything about wool cleaning, carding, or uses. Please get in touch. Thanks in advance.