Blog #30

Longwools and big noses

So …, both jobs went well on a recent weekend.  Five sheep on Saturday, three on Sunday -- nothing earth-shattering, just straight up sheep shearing.

Saturday, we headed out at seven so we could stop by Café Vignette for a latte on the way out.  If I get a nonfat latte, I can delude myself that I’m being healthy.  Some milk, espresso, and honey works well in combination and is now my preferred emotional support beverage.  I’ve cut back to two cups of caffeinated coffee most days, so splitting a latte with Dede helps my mental health, even if it’s not great for my physical health.  After the latte was added to the loadout we headed up to Bolingbroke to shear a few Leicester (pronounced LES-tur) Longwools and a Hampshire-cross.  This farm is a fun place to shear for all the menagerie present. 

When we got out of the truck there was the obligatory livestock guard dog barking at us so we knew he was on duty.  As we opened up the truck a few cats (and a goat) came out to see if we were exciting, then strolled off when we weren’t.  The chickens came over, looking to see if we had any feed, and as we unloaded and set up, the geese nosed around to see what was up.  Interestingly, the sheep were nowhere to be seen or heard.  A harbinger, perhaps?

  

We completed the prep work in a very well-lit, airy barn with breeze fans blowing across my shearing board, but far enough back that they really were a breeze and not a gale.  Once I said “Ready” the owner and wrangler headed off to the end of the barn and the sheep pen.  Of course, being sheep, the five to be sheared headed to the back of the pen in the deep grass and had to be convinced, literally by hook and by crook, to head back to the barn. That harbinger I alluded to, yeah, it was an omen. The owner and wrangler took care of the wrangling while I was one more body keeping the sheep in the corner until they had a lead on them to go over to the board.  Dede was right there with the gate so we could get one out and not all of them at once.  During the day we did have one bust past us all, and kind of like a dog when it catches its tail, this sheep seemed confused once it was out of the pen and nowhere near other sheep.  Dede re-opened the gate and a few of us got between the open barn door and the errant ewe and she saw the best option was to head back to the pen.  No fuss, no hassle, just working with the sheep’s natural behaviors.

The four longwools sheared up easier than the previous year and transformed from wooly, red-clay colored mops of wool to sleek, golden sheep enjoying a fresh bite in a pasture with a few hair sheep, a guard donkey, and a horse.

 

                 

 

The one dark-faced sheep was a Hampshire-cross that was originally destined to be a show sheep but instead has become one of the flock with no attached diva status.  I can tell she’s a Hamp-X based on facial structure and coloration, but I can’t tell what the cross is since there seems to be some longwool traits, but nothing definitive.  Regardless, she needed to be sheared for health and hygiene and came out looking great.

Sunday was a new farm for me outside Eatonton.  I left a bit earlier since it’s about thirty miles farther from home, and the route puts me past Scooter’s coffee on the Gray Highway.  I know, big surprise, I ordered a honey latte.  It was intermittently raining on the way up and when I checked with the owner, he said the sheep were penned up in a dry barn, so everything looked good.

The owner is a retired Army officer who also runs a non-profit focusing on getting veterans out into sporting activities in a social setting where all can feel welcome.  There’s a lot of truth to the saying “The worst day fishing is better than the best day working.”  It was great to chat with him.  I’ve sheared for several folks who are also retired from a career in our nation’s military, and they share the joy of growing living creatures and seeing them flourish.  After many years of seeing how others live around the globe, the veterans I shear for show so much happiness in being at peace with their world on their farm, raising and providing for healthy, well-tended animals.

I pulled up to the barn where he and his sons were on-the-spot to get me set up and on to the job at hand.  While the owner and I talked, the boys got my gear unloaded and provided great labor getting set up and corralling the sheep. At least one of the sheep hadn’t been sheared before and the others appeared to be bred as show sheep, so production shearing was new to them.  Everyone pitched in to corral and tip the sheep so all I had to do was shear.  The first was a hair-cross that didn’t shed out well, and it was so cool to see it transform from chocolate and honey to licorice and milk.  The wool flowed off all three and while the outer surface was damp, the skin side of the wool was gold with lanolin.  The big challenge was the wethers.  Since wethers don’t have reproductive duties, they have nothing to do but grow wool and weight, and these two, Hans and Franz, excelled at both.

  

The owner and I chatted as I caught my breath and discussed his non-profit and the opportunities for veterans to get beyond their four walls, whether the literal confines of their house or the situations they find themselves in.  During the work week I’m truly blessed to work with men and women who share similar life experiences with me, having lived in Korea with some, deployed to the desert with others, or flying the line and in training.  Now that we’re all in blue jeans or khakis, with hairstyles that are longer and more colorful than AFR 35-10* allows, it’s good to be able to talk with folks who have seen and experienced things that aren’t always easy to deal with.   Now we also talk about other shared life experiences, like who to call for garage door repair or for a plumber or HVAC issues, but the shared experiences from a previous life do work together to provide a bond of trust and faith.  I’m not going to apologize if that sounds a bit preachy, since (A) this is my blog, and (B) everyone needs an outlet.  This one’s mine.

Back to shearing, though …

All too soon I was done shearing and packed up, heading back down the highway to another latte and home.

YAY!!!  Fall Shearing 2025 is about to start, probably sometime in August, so watch for those jobs popping up soon!

 

C-Ya!

 

*** No animals were harmed in the making of this post. Shearing is an important part of sheep farming for the wellbeing of the sheep. ***

 

*Yes, I know, AFR 35-10 has long since been replaced by AFI 36-2903 and further replaced by DAFI 36-2903.  "35-10" rolls off the tongue better.