Click go the shears…
The shears were clicking today. If you listened to the song, it will require a whole other post from me to translate the different Aussie terms used, so we might leave that for another time. Suffice to say it’s an iconic tune that sums up the agricultural history of Australia beautifully.
What you see below is what this farmer’s wife (would-be novelist) does when she’s asked to…
Looking out across the dry, empty paddocks now the sheep are in the shed and undercover for shearing over today and the next day or so.
Yarding the sheep.
No fancy clothes, Hermes scarves, nailpolish and brand names here…
LOVELY shoes…
Some of the ewes undercover ready for tonight in case there is a heavy dew. They must be dry for shearing.
The shearer hangs in a sling to protect against back injury and works with electric shears.
The sheep are shorn annually and are quite used to it. They may not like being naked so much but they go willingly into the yards and shed and the shearers know their trade. We don’t use dogs at the moment. Our Wonder Dog – a proper Scots Border Collie – died and we haven’t replaced him.
Rousabout works at the table, skirting the fleece (pulling off the dirty grubby skirt). The skirtings are baled separately and used by processors for things like socks. The skirted fleece is then placed in these bins, waiting for my son to press into bales. This is the wonderful merino fleece loved across the globe by Italian and Chinese spinning mills.
Some of the rams waiting to be taken to the shed. Our rams are Border Leicesters used for producing a nice little first-cross lamb. The Borders’ fleeces will be baled separately so they don’t contaminate the merino fleeces.
Pressed bale.
Bright white sheep off shears.
Back into the kitchen at 5 PM to get our dinner and make next lot of slices/cakes for tomorrow’s smokoes. Smoko is an antiquated term from the 50’s/60’s when the tea break at 9.30 AM and 3PM was indeed a smoking break. Not many shedhands and shearers smoke these days. Although our rousie snuck off to have a puff today! Shearers used to have a hot meal in the middle of the day provided by the grazier’s wife. Now they opt for light meals like sandwiches and rolls. Thank the stars!
…so my socks were once grubby skirts? Who knew? Thanks for this, Prue.
If you put it like that Johnny, yes, they were. How neat is that? Cheers.
Thank you Pru for a fascinating post about Sheep Shearing and the Farmers wife. I really enjoyed reading this and loved the pictures. Always wondered about what was Merino Wool and how it differs from other wool. You stated that they are sheared annually..I thought it was done more often, so that was quite a surprise. Do you ever use your wool for spinning and turning into yarn?
Hi Carole, glad you enjoyed it. Merino wool is historically the finest wool bred and therefore suited beautifully to the fine fashion market. It is a luxuriously soft fibre, putting it up there with cashmere. The Italian fashion house, Zegna, only uses merino wool for its fine suitings. It also has the capacity to breathe so well that science developed a product called ‘cool wool’ which is tissue thin and can honestly be worn all year round no matter the temperature. My husband’s business suits are cool, fine merino wool and he can travel for 8 hours on an international flight and arrive with barely a crease. The sheep are only shorn annually because the staple (the length of the fibre) must be at a certain point for spinning mills to be able to use it. I’ve spun coloured fleeces on a craft spinning wheel in my youth for fun, but our farm is a commercial enterprise and so all wool goes to the market.
I loved this post Prue. The sheep look a handsome lot, with or without their woolly fleeces. It must be incredibly hard work – but as the last sheep pops back into the field… that must be a good feeling. A job well done.
I’m appreciating the merino vest i have on today even more.
Yay for pure new wool, Bollyknickers! it is a good feeling and they are all pregnant so it’s much easier for them to lamb safely without the weight of a year’s fleece on them. Sometimes, full wool ewes get cast on delivery (go down and can’t get up) and if they go down at dark and aren’t found till dawn the next day, it can be life-threatening for them.
That answers another question i had. I was wondering why they were being shorn just as the winter sets in but when you link it up with lambing season, that makes sense. Gosh, they are busy girls aren’t they?
You make me smile, Prue. Busy shearing and cooking and organising, yet you still manage to take photos of it all! I love it! 🙂
Nikalee, I haven’t got two little kids to look after and this only happens twice a year (ewes and then lambs) and believe me, I do NOTHING compared to the blokes. In fact this time, I took a bucket of paint down to the front gate between smokoes and splashed it round. (you should see my work jeans: Jackson Pollock comes to mind in monochrome white!)!!!
Wow Pru, that is really interesting. Is this the wool they use for Uggs? I know you can wear them all year round. I have just got into knitting and will check out Yarn made from Merino Wool to use for a Summer Wrap! What wonderful fun it must be having a sheep farm. Thank you again for that very informative post, I really enjoyed it. I loved learning about the shearing of Sheep and about Merino Wool. 😀
Not sure what breed they use for UGGS, it could be anything as its cured hide from a deceased sheep. My daughter has UGGS that are a blessing for her in winter.
Can i be cheeky and put in a little plug for genuinely Australian UGG boots? I did a lot of research and as far as i know the only Australian owned, Australian made boots produced from Australian sheep are made by UGG Pacific Sheepskins. UGG Australia is now owned by an overseas company. Quite apart from supporting Australian farmers, for me it was important to support a company that employs people with learning difficulties, as this company certainly did at the time i researched. They were slightly more expensive but the quality is far superior and they are already a few years old and still look good.
ABSOLUTELY!!!!!!!!
And there’s surely a post in that too.
I agree the real UGG Pacific Sheepskins are much better than Ugg Australia. Trying to convince the rest of the world will be hard. It’s like trying to teach people that Abercrombie and Fitch are the bottom of the fashion bucket! http://www.news.com.au/technology/abercrombie-fitch-ceo-mike-jeffries-slammed-over-comments/story-e6frfro0-1226644223630 Lots of posts about THAT lately, as well.
An interesting article – thanks for linking. When he says that he is sorry his “choice of words was interpreted in a manner that has caused offense” it leaves me wondering how else we are suppose to interpret a statement that he only wants good looking people wearing his clothes. It really wasn’t much of an apology.
Part of the problem for the consumer is not knowing how things are produced. When i was doing my degree i did some research on sweatshop labour and was quite shocked about how some ‘quality’ product are produced. For the consumer, paying more does not necessarily guarantee an ethical production.