Bad haircuts! (pics of my first shearing attempts)

[patandchickens]

Well, I'm back from a week visiting family in PA, where I also picked up a pair of hand shears I'd ordered from Premier, and the sheep are getting really hot in this weather, so I figured that I might as well bite the bullet and see what a mess I could make.

So, here ya go, before and after pics -- laugh away!

I know I left WAY too much wool on the sheep -- though I intend to tidy them up and slim them down a bit more in a few days -- but I figured that was better than removing bits of sheep along with the fleece. It really is HARD to tell where the fleece stops and the sheep starts, in a lot of places! Fortunately Jose (the ram) was extremely cooperative -- he basically lay/stood there enjoying the cool breeze -- and Kurly wasn't *that* bad although unlike Jose she had to be tipped and laid down for most of it. I believe it was about 1/2 hr per sheep, maybe a bit more. Only a few tiny nicks, and only to Kurly.

Next year I will aim for cleaner more usable fleeces, and a tidier more-professional shearing job... but by gum, despite never having used hand shears before (and kind of sucking at clipping horses, historically speaking) I GOT IT DONE

Yay me

(Yes, I find the "after" pics very comical and embarrassing too, but fortunately the sheep don't seem to care <g>)

Pat

 

[ksalvagno]

Congratulations on your attempt at shearing.

You may want to get down closer to the skin for the heat. Unfortunately, only getting part of the fleece won't help with heat. Even if you do a little at a time and take a whole week or something, that would be good. Once you get that first line close to the skin, then the rest will be easier. I would try and get a close cut right down their spine for the first cut and then go from there.

 

[lupinfarm]

You might also consider hand shearing the "top layer" and then purchasing a good set of livestock clippers. We have Andis clippers, the kind that have the detachable cord pack and battery pack. They make a blade for them for hobbiests, its a blending/shearing blade which we use on our poodles (dog sheep?!).

Clearly you got better as you went, Jose looks horrendous but Kurly ain't lookin' so bad!

 

[aggieterpkatie]

That's pretty good for your first attempt!! If you want to shear your sheep all the time, I'd get a shearing machine. Hand shears are awful unless you're really good at it. I guess you have to learn though in order to get good at it. Some of those professional shearers use hand shears and are super fast and so good at it!!

I am halfway through shearing Darla. I sheared her in the fall with my shearing machine, because I'd just gotten her from the breeder and he'd skipped shearing her in the spring (he had a heart attack). This spring I sent a comb and cutter away to be sharpened so I could shear her again. I paid to have my Romney done because she was in full fleece, but since Darla only had 1.5" or so I decided I'd wait until my comb and cutter came back and do her myself.

Well, I put the new comb and cutter on the machine and didn't have the tensioner set correctly so I BROKE my comb. I didn't have another comb that was sharp, so I decided to break out the old hand shears. I'm halfway done with her.

Can you tell she's preggo?

Pat, I find it's much easier to clear away a section of wool and then slide the blade down into the wool vertically (hard to explain) and clip only about an inch or so of wool at a time. Instead of clipping the wool from the outside in, you need to slide the blade so it's cutting next to the skin. Does that make any sense? I can try to take a video if you want.

 

[patandchickens]

I should probably add that the Jose "after" pic was just after the main shearing bout, I *did* tidy him up considerably after that, just forgot to take a photo of it. He still does look fairly awful though, they both do Once I get some more-urgent tasks done I really AM going to go back and try to neaten them up. Have to dig up a stone to sharpen the shears first, though, boy do they dull fast!

Question, about the whole overheating issue that Karen brings up. How nekkid does a sheep have to be, to comfortably get through the summer? (We very seldom get into the 90s F, here; a typical "hot summer day" would be in the low to mid 80s).

I am wondering because Karen's comment about them needing to be stripped cleaner got me thinking about the lambs. The shetland lamb should be ok, he was only born in mid-April and is neither large nor all that fluffy yet; but I have these two British MilksheepX ewe lambs that were born way back in January and are of a fairly good size (bigger than the shetlands anyhow) and have probably 1-1.5" of dense fleece on them already. Am I supposed to be shearing them, too? I didn't think so, but now am not so sure.

The two adult shetlands' motley clip jobs have left some areas with as much as 1" of (dense!) wool, but a lot of areas it is 1/4" or so with the skin fairly well visible. If I just snip back the chunkier areas so there are *more* areas with the skin fairly-well visible, will they be cool enough? The ram will have a shady treed area for the hottest part of the summer; the girl sheeps will have a shed but not much pasture shade.

I'm debating whether to invest in a pair of electric clippers for next year. Probably won't decide till next year

Pat

 

[Beekissed]

Pat, kudos for even trying!! What a job! I bet your hands were cramping near off......

I have a Katahdin ewe that is in full fleece, though not as full as a typical wooly booger but she has a pretty thick coat right now. It seems Kats don't shed off their first year.

She doesn't seem to be suffering any more than the other two who have shed nearly all the way. And she is pregnant. To a certain degree I think the double coats may even insulate against the heat and create a pocket of air next to the skin, not sure.

I know this...I knew a lady who raised Great Pyr dogs and she used to shear them in the summer until her vet told her that she was actually making the dogs more hot by doing this. Not sure why....

 

[miss_thenorth]

We did ours about a month ago. We borrowed my sil's electric clippers that she uses for her llama. It was challenging, and it took a while, but my hubby did a pretty good job. We took turns, but he finished them up and made them look 'neat'.

We put them up on the milking stand, and clipped away. I have no idea how to use the hand shearers, but it looks like it might take some getting used to.

did you make their rope halters or buy them? do you leave them on all the time?

 

[goodhors]

I have heard the arguments about leaving hair (dogs) on for insulation from heat, do not find it true. We have a Bouvier dog, hair grows constantly like wool. Kind of soft and curly type hair, not like a short-haired, water shedding coat dog. She gets extremely hot if not clipped short for summer.

With both dogs and sheep, they can't sweat to dissapate the heat of the inner body. Panting is mostly how they cool the body. We do things with competition using horses who do sweat, and you STILL have to worry about the heat of the inner body mass when temps and humidity are up. Horse can't pant, breathe, or sweat enough to bring that inner body heat down without help. You can tell the truth of this with a thermometer taking temps rectally. Horse skin FEELS nice after hosing them down, water running off with sweat and heat. However the inner temp with thermometer shows the core to be STILL at 104F, so horse NEEDS a lot more cold hosing, cooling down, before allowing him to be put away. Thermometer is your friend, doesn't lie to you like feeling the skin will.

So with the dog and the market lambs, we shear them down pretty short, 1/4 inch, which allows any shade and breeze to affect the skin temps. Neither dog or sheep can usually pant enough to be efficient at lowering the body on days with both high humidity and temps. We can get a lot of those in our areas. So sometimes you have to bring the sheep in under shade, put a fan on them. Dog may lay in the kiddie pool, lowers her whole body temp with cool water. You have to look at the animals, see how hard they are working at cooling themselves by panting. I don't have pasture shelters, just trees which sheep often do NOT lay under! So they come into airy barn, with wire panel stall sides, have the fan on them to cool off with.

I would continue with clipping the animals in the photos, try to get the coats shorter, let the air reach the skin. Might want to wash the sheep too, clean any cuts or dirt on the skin. Check the udder for cleanliness if lambs are coming, who will be sucking dirt otherwise.

I find shearing my clean washed sheep is easier. My blades don't get dull as fast. Daughter has been shearing her lambs after washing. She has to vacuum on blower, removes most of the water, then shears them damp. Seems to work pretty well with the clippers. She uses regular blades on big Clipmaster machine. We had terrible luck shearing with the sheep head on the Clipmaster. Even with various combs, all SHARP, they didn't cut wool well, sheep fighting would get lots of stab wounds that needed extra caring for. With the other blades we have seldom cut any lambs, wool trims off pretty well.

We clip them at least monthly, only takes a little time after the long wool is gone. They gain weight a lot better too. Hot lambs just are not hungry. Even temps in the 80Fs, with high humidity, will have them panting with mouths wide open. Then they need some shade and a fan. They do park themselves in front of the fan, instead of off to the side out of the breeze. They almost will smile at you!

Just an idea for you clipping. I would not try using hand cutters, you are braver than me!! Way too pointy, EEK! Also think hand cutting is too much work for me, my hand would be a claw! Ebay sells the Clipmasters, I think those blades were the 83-AU which is the most common size. We use those same blades to body clip the horses. Sometimes you can find a set of clippers used, locally with animal keepers or the blade sharpener guy. Pretty much any part can be fixed if damaged. I got my clippers as a Christmas gift when I was a kid for the horse. They are over 25 yrs old, still work like a charm. I have single speed clippers, they are lots more powerful than the variable speed Clipmaster models. Having the reostat for variable speed just cuts the power way down, heat up a lot faster too.

 

[lupinfarm]

I agree with goodhors, we have 4 Poodles... all of which have sheep wool coats and they get clipped all through the summer as close to the skin as possible.