First time sheering

misfitmorgan

Herd Master
Joined
Feb 26, 2016
Messages
3,726
Reaction score
6,995
Points
423
Location
Northern Lower Michigan
Firstly i would like to say...why are you shearing your sheep? It is to early in the year to shear sheep unless you have a warm barn your going to lock them inside of pretty much 24/7 until April. Generally if you have any over night temps in the 30s or lower you should not be shearing yet. Shearing to early can cause sheep to go into shock because of the immediate temperature shift. Another side effect is poor feed conversion and weight retention.

We have had crazy weather and it has been really warm a lot for this time of year but your still forecasting over a month of temps in the 30s or 20s overnight and almost 2 weeks of daytime highs in the 40s. How do you know when to shear your sheep? Basically if you can stand outside late at night or early morning almost naked for 15-20minutes a few nights/days in a row and not feel cold, then its time to shear. Most people who do not show sheep will not shear until April-June, in the northern half of the US.

All that aside....

Shearing just takes practice. Do not think your going to shear like the guys in the competitions. As far as i understand it those competitions are the fastest/best shearers from each country(who compete). Even the best shearers cut sheep, thats how it is, it is not something you really ever are 100% sure is not going to happen. Use a 13 tooth comb not a 9 tooth, you could even go as fine as a 20 tooth comb.
Something like this for a 13 tooth
https://www.premier1supplies.com/p/spirit-shearing-comb?cat_id=37
Something like this for a 20 tooth
https://www.premier1supplies.com/p/phantom-r-shearing-comb?cat_id=37

I will mention that the finer a comb the longer and harder it is to shear a sheep with. Pros use a 9 tooth generally because it is faster and easier to shear. I have heard rumors of a 7 tooth comb...dont know that it actually exists though. So why use a finer comb if it is harder to get thru the wool and takes longer? A finer comb makes it harder to cut a sheep, the 9 tooth comb has very large gaps between the teeth which makes it easy to get the buttery soft sheep skin between the cutter and comb hence cutting them. A 9 tooth also makes it easier to accidentally shear off a teat, belly button, pizzle, vulva, or ear....etc....yes it did/does happen. I would like to say it happens much less now then it used to but i think it may be more a fact of people being much more concerned with showing it these days then in past times.

Take your time, a few small nicks or cuts will happen and its ok if it does. I'm sure we would all the sheep included prefer if it didnt but you need to balance time spent stressing the sheep with the odds they will get nicked. Always keep blue kote on hand and a suture kit just in case, blue kote all nicks/cuts unless they are very large or deep. If you accidentally take a "strip" off, call a vet or take the sheep to the vet, it will need to be sutured or glued. Many will suture sheep on farm without any type of numbing agent, we would never choose to on a large area. DH has put in a suture or two about 3 times in his life when something went wrong.

Make sure you use plenty of oil on the combs and cutters and shearing head. You can hear the pitch/tone of the shears change when they have proper oil, you can also hear when they need more oil when you are shearing. Make sure your cutters and combs are sharp, and were sharpened correctly. Most people will send their comb/cutter sets out to be sharpened. Dirty sheep make dull combs quickly. Depending on the sheep we can shear 2-6 sheep before needing to swap combs/cutters. If you do not live in a particularly muddy place and do not feed overhead you should be able to get more sheep per set. If your speed is correct and your oiled properly and your comb/cutter are sharp shearing should feel something like cutting thru a stick of butter that has been out of the fridge for around 30 minutes give or take.

Hold skin taut esp around belly, brisket, legs....most cuts happen in those locations. Try not to pull on the wool, hold skin taut from an area that is already sheared if possible. Pulling on the wool and cutting towards the area your pulling on is almost a for sure way to pull the skin up enough to cut the sheep.

Unless your trying to shear professionally dont be to hard on yourself. DH takes 10-12 minutes to shear a sheep with a 13 tooth comb, thats a good time to aim for when doing a small number of large size sheep.

This is our Llama before and after he was sheared, you can also see the sheep before and after being sheared. The sheep that look grey are spring lambs, they have never been sheared and will not be sheared until the following spring.
20170511_203548.jpg

Pilgrim.PNG

The sheep are in the backround.

This is SH shearing....FYI never try to shear on MDF Board.
20170524_191820.jpg


This is our big ram after DH sheared him
ram sheared 2017.PNG


And this is kora after being "sheared" :lol:...I'm joking of course i used clippers.
20170528_095644.jpg
 

mystang89

True BYH Addict
Joined
Jun 23, 2012
Messages
1,051
Reaction score
1,996
Points
298
Location
Charlestown IN
Thank you. I had seen the local "sheep guy" who raised 60 or so sheer this a few weeks ago so I figured I was behind the curve. I don't mind waiting. I have plenty of things I can do to occupy my time.
 

Bruce

Herd Master
Joined
Feb 4, 2016
Messages
17,435
Reaction score
45,775
Points
783
Location
NW Vermont
My attempt to shear my 2 alpacas last spring with my brand new Premier 1 shears was a bust. The boys were pretty dirty and hadn't been sheared for 2 years but still, not even half an animal before they weren't cutting?? @misfitmorgan has already given you lots of the same tips she gave me after I posted my fiasco. They ended up getting "scissored" which actually worked pretty well.

I sent the shears back to Premier to see if there was anything wrong with them. There wasn't but I was able to talk to one of their people about technique. One thing he said will really screw up the cutter/comb pair is "second cuts". I was trying to get a smooth look and the second cuts leave a lot of really short fiber that basically felts in the shears. So DON'T worry about if they aren't all smooth and pretty like misfit's DH has done with that ram. My boys were very NOT smooth but they lived, probably because they have no mirror, and didn't tell each other how bad they look.

I had gotten the camelid comb as well as the standard comb that came with the shears. I ordered another cutter so I would have 2 sets and I ordered the hand shears in case things go south again this year. I'll use the hand shears on their heads and upper necks anyway. Teddy was pretty patient though not happy, Laddie was a PITA. But in both cases, the closer the shears got to their heads the more upset they got.

Premier not only checked the unit free, they sharpened the cutter and combs and paid for my cost to ship the shears to them. Can't complain about customer service!!

Just so you don't feel badly, here is a picture of Laddie pre shearing/scissoring and Teddy post shearing/scissoring. Click on it, it is much bigger and you can see just how NOT professional Teddy's "do" is:
DSCN0625.jpg
 

misfitmorgan

Herd Master
Joined
Feb 26, 2016
Messages
3,726
Reaction score
6,995
Points
423
Location
Northern Lower Michigan
Thank you. I had seen the local "sheep guy" who raised 60 or so sheer this a few weeks ago so I figured I was behind the curve. I don't mind waiting. I have plenty of things I can do to occupy my time.

It depends on how the sheep are managed. A lot of farms want sheep sheared before lambing and if lambing is early they will shear early. So either he has a warm barn, or he isnt worrked about feed conversion atm because he is more worried about lambs. There are people here that are shearing right now as well for lambing, but again most of them will keep the sheep indoors until about late april.....or they will long shear.

You're definitely not behind the curve. You are a lot farther south then us, I would say you can probly pretty safely shear the end of March where you live.

@Bruce I still don't think they looked that bad! We like smooth sheep and generally once you have some experience it isnt to hard to get smooth sheep without second cuts. Our Llama was fully sheared last year so this year he will either not be sheared or only sheared around his barrel and tail.
 

Bruce

Herd Master
Joined
Feb 4, 2016
Messages
17,435
Reaction score
45,775
Points
783
Location
NW Vermont
And eyes ;) It is nice for them to be able to see.

I didn't even try to get the boys' legs. They weren't real happy with me by the time I got the "upper" parts done and REALLY didn't want me touching their legs. One alpaca leg is stronger than one Bruce arm.

They and I are going to have to put our big boy pants on, suck it up, and deal with toenail cutting though. At this point I guess I'll wait until shearing time, probably sometime in May.
 

misfitmorgan

Herd Master
Joined
Feb 26, 2016
Messages
3,726
Reaction score
6,995
Points
423
Location
Northern Lower Michigan
Our Llama needs his toenails trimmed so badly!! Good luck trimming the boys...so far i have found out they absolutely hate it..least ours did/do. For shearing our llama wasnt to bad honestly, though he took about 20 minutes to shear standing up.
 

Bruce

Herd Master
Joined
Feb 4, 2016
Messages
17,435
Reaction score
45,775
Points
783
Location
NW Vermont
That is better than the 3 hours it took me to just do Teddy's barrel and part way up his neck!
 

Bruce

Herd Master
Joined
Feb 4, 2016
Messages
17,435
Reaction score
45,775
Points
783
Location
NW Vermont
Now WHY didn't *I* think of that upload_2018-2-23_8-0-13.png

Actually, all of Teddy's barrel and partway up his neck was done with the electric shears. I don't know how many times I took the cutter and comb off and cleaned them out, then reinstalled. Used a ton of oil.
 

Latest posts

Top