Blog #37
So …, this seems to be the year of the reschedule. Both of my last two gigs had to be
rescheduled for weather-related reasons.
I had no control over either, but I couldn’t safely shear the sheep, so
we pushed to the right a bit.
I knew rain was coming later in the first scheduled day, but decided to
push on. We stopped for a latte and I
texted the owner who sent back the weather snapshot. Yeah, we turned around and went home, looked
at the schedule and then went for a November shearing date.
Once we got rescheduled the actual shearing day went
well. It was a quick drive out to Byron
with coffee on the way, so we got out there, saw the sheep in the pen, got set
up, and we went right to work.
These were healthy, happy sheep with high condition scores,
which is a dual-edged sword for shearing.
Condition scoring is a 5-point
scale, with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest. A score of 1 means something is really wrong,
whether it’s nutrition, parasites, disease, or other issue. A score of 5 means they haven’t missed a
meal, a snack, a convenience store, or a metaphorical cookie. Generally, 2+ to 3 is the optimum score. You want sheep a bit fuller around breeding
and expect lower after lambing and possibly while lactating. Higher and lower condition scores are acceptable
at different times of a sheep’s productive annual lifecycle, but the goal is
generally a 3. Show sheep have their own
scale, but would generally be in the 3-4 range.
These sheep aren’t standard production sheep, but they aren’t show
sheep, either.
Swiss Valais Blacknose sheep are often what I call “display
sheep” in petting zoos, farm tours, or photo ops. As such, they need to be in photo-ready
condition almost year-round, which means higher condition scores. That higher score translates to more weight—weight
that has to be muscled around the board, and weight that also includes more
muscle. When these sheep decide they’ve
had enough, they have the weight and power to make shearing and hygiene work
just that—work. Other than their weight,
though, these sheep were good to work with.
The owners keep them well-socialized, so they are happy to be petted,
have their noses scratched, and generally admired, which is perfect for sheep
on a farm that’s open for tours.
These sheep got the full workup today, a full shearing and hoof trim. Valais Blacknose are horned sheep, both rams and ewes, and the rams’ horns have a very tight curl. The owners were good with me getting in close but not being too aggressive near the eyes, horns, and ears. They got hold of the big ram later after shearing and gave him a well-styled coiffure, as you can see in the pictures of him. One other thing about Valais Blacknose—right after shearing they look a bit like a recruit after a “boot” haircut, but a week later they look really good.
In my last blog I mentioned using the Hoof Boss ®. This gig was a repeat, and I’m absolutely
sold on this product. When I found a
pocket of potential hoof rot, the grinding wheel let me get it open and exposed
without gouging out chucks of hoof with a knife. The owners could see the pocket and watch it
disappear back to healthy tissue without excising excessive hoof tissue in the
process. When I first saw the pocket, I had the owners look, get their opinion,
and carefully opened the pocket to avoid causing other hoof issues while
repairing the first one. Once that
animal was complete, I took a break, swapped grinding wheels, sprayed the old
one with disinfectant, and set it aside for deeper cleaning when I got home. The Hoof Boss is a well-designed tool that
performs as advertised!
We did have one sad note on the day—the last ewe had some
udder issues that appeared to be mastitis with some other open sores. With the owners right there, we looked, made
a triage decision, proceeded with shearing and trimming hooves, then gave her
initial treatments for mastitis. The owners followed up with their vet on
following days for further treatment, too. This is the great thing about having owners
stick around during shearing—if there’s an issue, they can make informed
decisions while the animal is immobile should some level of treatment be
necessary, whether it’s a drench, a shot, or a topical treatment.
Overall, shearing and hoof trimming a small flock of healthy,
happy, tour-ready sheep with involved, knowledgeable owners makes for a great
day. More than a few sheep or
less-than-involved owners can make it a grind.
I’m looking forward to shearing these sheep again in mid-spring. With long-hair breeds, too long between
shearing isn’t good!
That took care of the heavy lifting, and after we were
done and loaded Dede and I spend a few minutes scratching some sheepy noses and
enjoying the breeze and conversation, then headed on home to prep for the last
gig of 2025.
If you enjoyed this post, check out Moreauville Farm (on FB) in Byron, Georgia and contact them for a tour. They have a wide variety of animals to see and get up close and personal with having chickens on the small end and highland cattle at the large end of the spectrum.
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.
***
No comments:
Post a Comment