We hava Racka

[Blue Sky]

A question for those of you with fleece breeds- wet sheep can’t be shorn. How wet is wet? ( how long is a piece of string?). Rainy weather is forecasted before Twister gets his haircut. Can he dry out in a day or two or should I put him up early? Thanks.

 

[farmerjan]

We used to put our horned dorsets up if they called for any rain within a 3-5 day period before shearing... Wool takes a long time to "shed off" the wet/rain.... don't know what his wool is like compared to domestic breeds.

 

[Baymule]

No experience with wool sheep, none. But it makes good sense to put him up before the rains start

 

[purplequeenvt]

He can still be a bit damp if you are just tossing the fleece, but your shearer will probably hate you. Shearing damp sheep is miserable.

He needs to be dry, dry if you plan to do anything with the wool.

 

[Blue Sky]

He can still be a bit damp if you are just tossing the fleece, but your shearer will probably hate you. Shearing damp sheep is miserable.

He needs to be dry, dry if you plan to do anything with the wool.

Thank you. The shearer is the tattooed gal on YouTube. Right Choice Shearing. She is as nice as can be and very reasonably priced. I want to present the best possible critter to shear for her sake and his. I don’t think he had ever been properly sheared when we got him. I get it, stuff happens, it doesn’t get done. He is for sale and I want to sell him shorn. He’s also a Good Boy as rams go. He could have clobbered me a couple of times and gave me a pass. He gets carrots for that.

 

[SteepedInSheep]

Thank you. The shearer is the tattooed gal on YouTube. Right Choice Shearing. She is as nice as can be and very reasonably priced.

I've seen some of her videos! It's so fun to watch the transformation. She's also so good with the animals.

 

[purplequeenvt]

Thank you. The shearer is the tattooed gal on YouTube. Right Choice Shearing. She is as nice as can be and very reasonably priced. I want to present the best possible critter to shear for her sake and his. I don’t think he had ever been properly sheared when we got him. I get it, stuff happens, it doesn’t get done. He is for sale and I want to sell him shorn. He’s also a Good Boy as rams go. He could have clobbered me a couple of times and gave me a pass. He gets carrots for that.

Personally, I’d pen him up if is supposed to rain within 3 days of being sheared. Did she ask you to fast him? Most shearers want the sheep fasted for at least 24hrs before shearing as a full rumen can make them uncomfortable during shearing which can make them wiggle more.

I shear my own sheep now so I make up my own rules, but back when we paid someone to shear, we had everyone dry, fasted, and contained before the shearer arrived. A couple of my sisters sheared small flocks for other people and I often went along as the minimally paid laborer. The worst thing was when you showed up and they hadn’t bothered to catch the sheep first and they were fat, flighty, spoiled brats (the sheep, not the humans) who wanted nothing to do with us. It would sometimes take as long to catch as to shear.

As tame as most of my sheep are, I have some that would decide to make themselves scarce the second they sense we’re about to do something they might not want to do. And they have an uncanny ability to *know* when that’s happening.

So anytime there is a paid shearer, a vet, or a potential customer coming, sheep are penned to make things as easy as possible.

 

[fuzzi]

I've seen some of her videos! It's so fun to watch the transformation. She's also so good with the animals.

I've watched a few of her videos as well, fascinating.

 

[Baymule]

It is of the utmost courtesy to contain your animals when someone is coming to treat, buy, trim hooves or anything else. Have them ready. Their time is valuable and if your animal isn't ready, they should upcharge for that.

What ram will you buy now?

 

[Blue Sky]

It is of the utmost courtesy to contain your animals when someone is coming to treat, buy, trim hooves or anything else. Have them ready. Their time is valuable and if your animal isn't ready, they should upcharge for that.

What ram will you buy now?

We penned and fasted Twister with no problems and he was easy to handle. He walked right up to me and let me worm him. I wonder if he is halter broken? I think we will take a break from lambing. Selling or processing the boys is a priority. I have three nice Painted Desert rams ready to go. The Racka boys are headed to Huntsville and two low color PDS for the freezer. I haven’t skipped a breeding cycle for years. I can’t recall that it ever caused any problems. Next ram will probably be a Blackbelly or Blackbelly cross. My blackbelly ewes always produced interesting colors.