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| The sheep wait to be shorn. |
Do you shear your sheep? Why? The answer to the first question is yes, although not in a technical sense. In a technical sense we hire a very talented and personable shearer who comes in and does the actual shearing for us. Shearing is a very specialized skill that takes a long time to master (it takes about 10,000 sheep before they say you've really got the hang of it). On our end there is still lots of work associated with shearing. First we build a chute to get the sheep in a single file line, then we hook that chute up to the shearer's gate for easy access to the sheep on an individual basis. The chute is also connected to a holding pen so that they can't escape and are more easily guided into the chute for shearing. Once they are sheared the sheep are let out into a large pen to wait for the rest of the flock. Throughout this whole process the lambs are separated from their mothers, often for the first time, and it is REALLY noisy as they protest this short term arrangement.
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| Sheep shearing. |
The second stage of shearing is dealing with the fleece itself. The fleece is gathered up and taken to a sorting table where I and my helpers (this year a couple of adorable kids and my lovely aunt) pick all of the poop and straw and other debris off of the edges of the fleece. Once the fleece is picked clean it is rolled up like a big blanket and carried up a ladder to be dumped into an a-frame holding the giant wool bags. As the wool bag becomes full, I climb into it and jump on the fleece to compact it (it's really fluffy and bouncy) and then more fleece is added until the bag is jammed full. My heaviest bag packed so far was 254 lbs. The wool bag is then sewn shut and rolled out of the way. This year we had about 2.5 bags of fleece.
As for why we shear our sheep the simple answer is because it would be inhumane not to. Sheep have an internal temperature of 40 degrees Celsius, that is 2.3 degrees warmer than us as humans. They also carry on their backs in the form of fleece insulation that is so thick and so effective that in the winter snow collects on their coats and doesn't melt from their body heat. Now, imagine how hot and sticky and uncomfortable you are on a 30 degree day with high humidity. It's even worse for the sheep. Often by the middle of May the sheep are beginning to pant on warm days. Shearing is something we do for the well being of the sheep. It is done to keep them cool and to enable them to endure a summer living on pasture eating a healthy and natural diet.
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Our neighbour supervising. |
Do you raise your sheep for fleece or for meat? Hear at Hill Giant Farm we raise our sheep for both, which makes them dual purpose, however, the fleece is very undervalued compared to the meat. Ewe lambs are kept for breeding and to continue and expand our flock, while ram lambs are sold on an individual basis to neighbours and friends to put in their freezers, or are shipped to the livestock market in Cookstown, On. If you're interested in being one of our lamb customers you can always email us at hillgiantfarm@gmail.com for more details and recipe ideas.
What do you do with the fleece? Like many other industries the sheep industry has been hit by globalization. Within Canada there are very few places that you can sell fleece to and expect it to be processed within Canada. The price for fleece is also very low. Currently, we sell our fleece to the Old Mill in Blyth. Raising sheep for fleece in Canada would be a difficult way to make money.
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| Nap time on the wool bag. |
So that's the skinny on shearing sheep. Do you have other sheep related questions? Other farm questions? Go ahead and ask in the comments below and we'll make sure we answer them.
Megan
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