# Fall Sheep Shear



## nsanywhere (Sep 26, 2010)

I have 3 fiber sheep - mama Tilly is 1 1/2 years old, her baby boy Prince is 5 months and my bottle baby Pooh is just 4 months.

They already had 4" of wool (fleece? fur?) on them so we did the fall shear last week. It went really well! We skipped the big scary sheep shears and used dog/horse clippers instead. 

2 hours, 3 sheep, 3 bags full! Here are some pics:

Before pic - Tilly (all black), Prince (silver/white), Pooh (brownish)






Tilly half way done





Starting on Pooh





Prince almost done





Pooh all done!


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## Hollywood Goats (Sep 26, 2010)

Wow! makes me want to get some sheep!


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## goodhors (Sep 26, 2010)

Looks like the dog clippers worked pretty well for you!  Glad they cut the wool so the sheeps could be cleaned before winter.

I do like the before and after shots!  Now all you need to add is a sheep stand, makes your work a bunch easier!  Perhaps copying a goat milking stand, you could make one.  Pretty cheap for the benefits of having it.  If you haven't had a stand to use before, you will LOVE having one.

Nice to have one more, pre-winter job done!  My list is getting whittled down slowly, three weeks before vacation.  I got the woods area and ditches and big drainage ditches weed whacked today.  Woods are the bottom area where our field water runs off into, the neighbors fields empty into as well.  LOTS of water moving after fall rains, so clean main drain below that, helps a LOT.  Always seems to be winter when we get home, so my jobs need doing before I leave.


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## nsanywhere (Nov 16, 2010)

So.....I finally got around to washing the Sept. shear fleeces. What a job!!! 

I ended up splitting the fleeces into 2 laundry bags per sheep, then doing 2 washes and 3 rinses for each bag. I did all the washing in our big laundry tub/sinks then spun the last rinse in the washing machine. The amount of filth was pretty out of control, but I'm so pleased with the clean fleeces! The only hard part about it was fighting the urge to swish the fleeces in water. 

I'd like to make some coats for them to cut down on some of the filth for future. Any ideas what kind of fabric I should use? Water-resistant? Canvas? Do I need to be concerned that the jacket with ruin their fleece and felt it on the sheep? Any advice would be appreciated.

Anyway, here's a pic of them drying. Now it's on to the picking.....


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## aggieterpkatie (Nov 16, 2010)

I would do a google search on sheep covers or sheep coats.  They're not the tight ones you see on club lambs, you want ones that fit fairly loosely over each sheep, and you'll probably need multiple sizes for each sheep, because you'll need bigger coats as their fleeces grow.  I've read they can cause some felting around the edges, but you want them to be big enough so they don't rub too much.  Also, don't get waterproof fabric, because it can cause mold issues from trapped moisture.  

Great job washing the fleeces!


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## Bossroo (Nov 16, 2010)

I would highly recommend that you shear the sheep in the spring, rather than in the fall. Now that they are shorn, I would make sure that they have well ventilated shelter for the winter. Keeping any type of blanket on any sheep that is not headed for shows is not a very good idea.


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## goodhors (Nov 16, 2010)

Glad the wool cleaning worked out so well for you.  

I would have to agree that putting coats on the sheep is a poor idea for daily wear.  What might go better for you is improving your stabling, with better bedding, cleaning more often.  I would agree that you will want to do a spring shearing, get them all clean for the summer.  

Is the ewe bred for a spring lamb?  She might need crutching, clipping so her udder and back end are short wooled for having the baby.  Easier for nursing, she will not attract flies or hold nasty fluids in the wool after birthing.

We do market lambs in summer, attend shows with them.  We wash the lambs and clean the wool before going.  We see the same thing with the fleece breeds, they just don't trim off the wool after the bath like we do.  The big trick is blowing out the excess water after washing with soap.  You can use the exhaust side of a shopvac, blow the water out, so they dry fast and are nicely clean.  The pointed nozzle is best, compresses the air, warming it and adding volume to the blowing power.  The water will just fly off with the blower.  Then if you decide to shear, wool will be much cleaner as you pick your way thru the bags full.

I would think that your sheep would do much better getting bathed and blown off, than to try doing blankets to cover the wool.  I don't think you would like dealing with it and issues that arise in their wool.  You want wool to get as long as possible for easier spinning, few prickly ends!  However the length may be too much to deal with on only one yearly shearing, so a 2nd, late summer shearing may work better for you.

I make a big effort to keep my grazing paddocks weed free, keep them mowed shorter, between 5-8inches.  I don't let the grass go to seed.  Everything is pretty green all summer, doesn't get fiber and seeds in my wool.  Grassy surface prevents sheep laying in dirty places, they stay cleaner, longer.

These are just ideas, you look at your set-up, maybe some easy changes will help in keeping that long wool cleaner.  I just can't do the deep bedding, keep adding more on top all season!  For me, that is just a bed of nasty things waiting to happen to the animal, be it horse, cow, sheep or pigs.  No one should have to lay in same poop day after day.  Clean bedding, cleaned stall/sheds down to the ground, cleaned often, helps me have clean, healthy animals.  Clean bedding  prevents them getting that layer of encrusted dirt on the wool or hair of belly areas so they are not major work to groom clean.


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## aggieterpkatie (Nov 16, 2010)

Many people with wool flocks shear twice per year with no issues, and it's very common to keep coats on the sheep to keep VM (vegetable matter) out of the wool.  The coats are loose fitting and not tight, and they improve the quality of the wool.  Washing a market lamb and blowing out is a heck of a lot different than washing a full-fleeced wool breed.  In fact, I'm not even sure they're washed for shows.  And when you shear a fleece for market most people want to see it in the grease, meaning not washed. You can't see crimp and proper fiber length if it's been washed and dried. Some people even spin in the grease.

NSanywhere has a shelter for the sheep, so they'll do fine.   Lots of sheep people shear before lambing (so, when it's cold out) so the ewes take up less space, they're less likely to lay on lambs, and lambs have an easier time finding the teat.

And goodhors, many many livestock owners do the deep pack method.  As long as there is clean dry bedding on top, the livestock are perfectly happy and healthy.  Plus, in cold climates it's actually better to keep a deep pack because it creates warmth for the animals.  A foot deep pack on soil or concrete is way warmer than a few inches of loose bedding on soil or concrete.


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## abooth (Nov 16, 2010)

aggieterpkatie, glad to see your comment about the deep bedding.  That is how mine is going, a few chickens in the mix keep it all turned under.  I reallly didn't know if this was correct but the barn is always clean and dry on top at least!

oh and those are nice looking fleeces!


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## goodhors (Nov 17, 2010)

I know lots of folks do deep bedding, which is why I said I do not.  Deep bedding is an old method, common in lots of places, but may be a problem for certain uses, reasons.  I think that deep bedding is not as good of method, just like newer practices in other areas of animal husbandry. 

Just pointing out what I do, she may not have considered daily cleaning of sleeping area, as an aid in keeping wool cleaner.

Local Fairs, sheep shows I have attended, most of the wool breed sheep ARE WASHED, may be using a special soap for wool treatment though.  Even Merinos are cleaned up, come to the show without blankets on from outside paddocks at home.  Blowing or toweling them off, removes the water from the fleeces.

Yes, meat lambs are VERY different in presentation for competitions than the wool breeds.  Still we see the wool sheep folks washing and cleaning their animals before showing.

Again, these were ideas for her to consider in keeping the sheep wearing wool, cleaner for less fleece work after shearing them.  As hot as it gets around here, I could not see adding another layer to my sheep in the summer heat.  They pant with almost NO WOOL, so I would feel very sorry for wool sheep in fleece and blanket covers.  If sheep are anything like horses, the blankets will catch on everything, get chewed on, slip around to hang crookedly, all on a daily basis.  At least sheep won't have the geldings trying to undress each other!!  Horses need constant entertainment, which sheets and blankets provide.

My friends with wool sheep for spinning, have the grassy paddocks and pastures.  Animals stay cleaner for her, kept on grass instead of pens with dirt.  She has a LOT of animals, also Alpacas, so with that volume of fleece to deal with, she tries to keep animals as clean as possible year around. 

Sometimes doing things one way, like my daily cleaning, saves me time and prevents other issues in the long run.

My Grampa kept about 50 head of ewes, who lambed in spring.  He just kept adding straw on top of the dirty bedding.  However he lost lambs to various infections of the navel after birth, even though treated with iodine.  Lambs were always laying in dirty bedding, even with new stuff added daily.  Sheep had hoof issues which kept coming up.  They were always filthy for spring shearing.  Then in Spring he got to clean the big shed pens with all winter's worth of HARD packed poop.  Over a foot deep!!  He had a tractor with a bucket, so he really didn't think shed cleaning was an issue.  He had raised sheep like this for years, nothing we said could get any changes done, it would add to his  daily workload.  Even those lamb losses which I considered were needless, he told us "You always lose some when you have a big flock".  He couldn't see the profit loss.  His sheep, his barn and way of doing things.

nsanywhere wanted ideas, so that is what I gave her.  Her choices of what to use, what will work in her setup and time for doing chores.


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## aggieterpkatie (Nov 17, 2010)

Well, something wasn't right if the deep bedding method was making the animals dirty or damp.  Heck, in New England one farmer we knew bedded his cows in a quonset hut and the pack would get FEET thick.  I'm talking easily 5-8 thick each winter. He had an organic farm, so he obviously needed to keep his animals healthy, and they were.  I've never had issues with packs, but to each his own. 

And here's one website showing sheep coats , nsanywhere.  Some people like to jacket sheep only in the fall and winter when they're feeding hay.  Also, feeding hay on the ground helps prevent VM in the fleece.


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## nsanywhere (Nov 28, 2010)

Hey thanks everyone! This is a really interesting discussion and has helped me out a lot. 

I'm going to pass on the coats and keep doing what I'm doing since they seem to be very happy and healthy.

Picking the wool by hand now - this may take all winter!


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