Blog #34

Curiosity and a Blacknose?

So …, Once we got over the covered bridge it was only a few miles to the next batch of sheep, all Valais Blacknose:  two rams, one ewe, and a single lamb.  Blacknose sheep are quite dramatic to see in full fleece, with sharp demarcation between white and black wool, a rather blocky head, and marking placement that can really mess with depth perception.  Add in that they are one of the few horned breeds I’ve sheared that use their horns to control their local space, and they make a formidable sheep to shear.

Horned sheep (and goats) may use their horns in displays of aggression, but very few I’ve worked with use their horns to push, poke, or jab in the manner that Blacknose sheep use them.  Having sheared two mild-mannered horned nanny goats just an hour or two prior, I allowed myself to discount the way Blacknose can be with their horns.  I’ve shorn Blacknose sheep on three farms, and each time they remind me they have horns, so I don’t know why I thought these would be different.

 

I was also reminded that these rams are quite social and curious.  The rams were in the pen where I would shear, and as I started setting up they nosed through everything.  When I pulled the lid off my shearing box, they both nosed in and one decided to taste-test my pliers, which was something new.  When I nudged them away and got a hold of my pliers he gave them up, but it was another clue that these boys would need eyes on them all day.

Fortunately, they weren’t belligerent during setup, just curious.  I wondered what would happen when they heard the machine fire up, or if they had any memory of last Spring’s shearing.  More than anything else, both rams were content to stiffen up, then kick out of position, requiring plenty of repositioning and a second set of hands to hold them in place.

 

 

One additional challenge of Blacknose sheep is the proximity of their ears to their horns.  It’s challenging to get a handpiece between those two head appendages without significant risk of damage to the horn, eyes, the ear, the handpiece, or the shearer.  Oftentimes the best approach is for the owner to come back through with handshears, yes, two-blade, traditional hand shears, to clean between the ears and the horns.  This isn’t a tremendous amount of wool, but it needs clearing to keep from risking wool blindness, where the wool completely covers the eye precluding vision.  This is one more thing for owners to keep in their hip pockets—shearers will shear to the best of their abilities but won’t risk damaging an animal.  The shearer has the authority to shear the animal, but it’s still the owner’s responsibility to maintain the animal’s health and safety, which includes veterinary shearing and trimming.

 

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. ***