We had quite a heavy weekend recently - the shearing of 330 sheep.
We arranged for the French shearer to come on the Friday, and a friend "volunteered" his son to catch the sheep him. In case of rain we got 150-ish sheep in on the Thursday - this made sure that at least they would get clipped, and we would be half-way there.
The shearer arrived 8.00 a.m. Friday morning - minus the catcher. Now David on shearing days is conspicuous by his absence. He always seems to have a "very-important-job" (vij). That meant that yours truly had to get the sheep in the pen, catch them and then put the wool in the sack. With only one shearer that wasn't too bad, except the sheep seemed to get bigger and bigger with each one I caught and lifted. Not only that, these people expect lunch! So he got apologies and a cold salad/sandwich lunch.
Sadly for David he managed to get his vij done in the morning, so was somewhat encouraged to help me in the afternoon. By the time 6.00 p.m. arrived we both felt as if our arms and fingers were being pulled from our bodies. Not only that, it had started to rain at lunchtime, and somehow the shearer had managed to fit into the shed both of the flocks so that he could continue with dry sheep on the Saturday.
Having arranged for her dad to collect her from Poitiers, we picked Laura up from his and went for a well-earned meal at the local restaurant. My bones just sank into my body.
Saturday arrived, Laura wanted to go out with her mates, but I persuaded her to get some dog food for the dogs and draw some money out for the shearer. However, the heavens opened and that put off her day out (thank goodness). So she and I did the sheep, whilst David returned a topper he had borrowed from some friends.
The poor sheep went out, minus fleeces, into the cold and wet!
The topper had been borrowed from some friends who are naturists. He phoned them up to arrange to go and get it, and on arrival at their place they were all starkers! He had some quite garish tales (tails?) to tell, and I couldn't do a thing with him for the rest of the day.
One of his comments was "no wonder they have good suntans". But as he said, he didn't know where to look!
8 comments:
Farming and naturism seem like a dangerous combination to me :-D
Thznk you for your good wishes about Mr Tibbs. It will take a few more days to see if he is going to pull through.
I feel sorry for the sheep, my alpacas at least had a warm day straight after they were shorn but I've noticed that now they are shorn they hunker down at the first sign of rain whereas before they would carry on eating until rain became heavy.
hello.
It's always wonderful to get glimpses of your frenetic farming life.
Being an idiot, I got slightly confused on this one with the Sheep theme and the Topper (I was thinking he'd lent a rampant ram to friends)
great blog
dND - yes, clipping sheep in the buff could be a bit dangerous.
Dolores - Topper is not a rampant tup, but a tractor-mounted (great) lawnmower. Sorry for the confusion.
I did forget to say that one of the lamb's that we found with minor maggot problems was clipped right out. She, obviously, has been christened Britney!
You've been working very hard, from the sound of it! I'm glad that you explained what a Topper was. I didn't have a clue.
Naturism has never appealed to me. I should think that the residents of our country town are very relieved about that. There are some things that you just do not want to see!
Oh dear, I was really mixed up on the Topper - once I'd dismissed the rampant ram option, I thought it must be a Top Hat! (For a wedding)?
Evidently, I'm not of Farming Folk!
Hi, me again! It's my birthday tomorrow (7th June). I'm having a virtual birthday party. Please call by if you can.
Hi, OMG it sounds like hard work! Well done for getting it all done. Funny how 'they' always have a vij when there is hard work to be done!. Debra xx
Well,there was I thinking it was a top hat! And had funny view of that on your Naturist friend.. 330 sheep is a lot of shearing, but it sounds fascinating and hard work. M zz
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