HELP! SHEARING QUESTION?

[scooby]

My daughter is doing her first 4-h lamb this year. And its hot! I need to shear her but last time i sheared was 15 years ago and i dont remember how o and i gashed a 3-4 inch gash down my lambs side so i am a little resistant to do it my self. but all the shearers numbers the extension office gave me fell through. But they do have a pair of shears they will loan out. so here is my questions I read that if you use a 23 or 24 tooth cutter or/ slick shearer that is harder to cut the lambs and that even children can use it succecfully. is this true? also can you tell me anything that relates to shearing.... do's/ don'ts. and are the cutters interchangable or do they have to be for that model /make. also any one know where to get a cheap usable pair(under $100) if she decides to continue to do this?
Thanks for any info i appreciate every bit!!!

 

[nsanywhere]

I did my first shear this year. Tried the GIANT sheep shears from my cousin's farm - total disaster. They were hard to hold, I was terrified, my sheep got cut, fur bits everywhere, uneven and incomplete. Ugh.

We ended up using dog clippers and it was brilliant. Took about an hour, and lots small passes, but we got the whole fleece off like a giant blanket.

Even better, no cuts to my ewe, and the fleece was trimmed almost right to the skin so she is nice and comfy cool now.

I will be using those dog clippers again next year for sure!

good luck

 

[scooby]

so would regular clippers work? I got a pair of those in my bathroom!!!! How mush where the dog clippers?

 

[ksalvagno]

I don't know if the dog clippers would work but I would think you would at least need a 7 skiptooth blade. I use Andis clippers on alpaca crias and no other blade works on their fiber except the 7 skiptooth. Can't remember how much they are.

 

[Mea]

Any chance that an older 4-H er might be willing to help You ??? Some of those kids can be better than some adults ! Might check with Your extension office.

Also You could put a listing on Craig's List for shearing...or Help with Shearing.


Just a couple ideas that occurred to me. Good Luck.

 

[scooby]

Ya talk to the extension office already, unfortunatly around here all the 4-hers pretty much do everthing themselves. What is the diffrence between dog clipper, horse clippers and sheep clippers?

 

[scooby]

o ya and whats the best way to shear them? standing up/ laying flat, should i just tie her to the fence or push her up against one?

 

[goodhors]

Who is your sheep leader? Ours were really helpful in teaching how to prep the market lambs for show.

Our routine now is to wash the lamb, usually with liquid Tide that takes out dirt and gunk in the wool. We use the blower side of the shop vac, with a nozzle for crevices in furniture and blow off excess water. Then with lamb on a stand, we use clippers and shear while wet.

We have the big Sunbeam/Oster clippers using the 83-84AU blades for clipping. Those are just regular blades, not sheep blades. Does a pretty nice job and lamb stays pretty still on the stand. Goat milking stand would work too. Just get the lamb up off the ground to save your back with no leaning.

Haven't ever tried clipping sheep with small Oster clippers! Could work since I clip the dog really short using the A5 or A2 models. I use the #10 blades for that.

We have a shearing head on clippers. Have a variety of blades and combs that friends said worked on THEIR sheep for shearing. Did NOT work for us on our meat sheep. Long fingers of combs will rip a sheep FAST. Even on clean sheep, newly sharpened blades, they just do not cut well, neither smooth or fast. One move by lambs and they are torn open. Just ugly, since we are not unskilled in shearing, but sheep clippers don't work as promoted by others.

With the "all purpose" blades on the clippers, we have had no cuts or rips if sheep jumped around. Blades go right thru the wool, leaving a neat, SHORT length behind for showing. Sheep or lambs need to be dampened, those blades don't seem to cut well on dry or dirty wool.

Very odd to me, that sheep folks sell sheep specialty tools that don't work well for all. I have now got a shearing head and a number of blades that don't work for sheep. Using the same clippers and blades for body clipping the horses AND the sheep.

Make sure to keep any blades cool. They will get hot enough to burn a sheep or yourself! If you can't hold blades of clipper in your hand, they are too hot for the sheep. This is why we have multiple pairs of clippers, so we can alternate when they get warm. Hot blades will lose their "temper" as steel changes in the heat, dull up fast. Wastes your blades and then you pay again for resharpening.

 

[scooby]

so what type of clippers id sunbeam.....horse/cattle /dog ect. and you just use a regular clipping blade not shearing blades?

 

[nsanywhere]

I don't know the clippers we used exactly - will have to ask my friend - but they were sunbeam.

We don't have a stand so got her on her back and held the front hooves while sitting on a stool. We started with the tummy and got most of the way around, legs, etc., then had her stand up to do the back, head and neck.

Once we got a big chunk off and she realized how much better she felt she didn't fight us. She was a bit skittery for the rest of the day, but all good now.

Def a 2 person job!