Basic shearing machine/clippers

[Green farmer]

With the current lockdown, not sure how it's going to work out with getting a contractor to shear the sheep this year. So, thinking of investing in a basic shearing machine or clippers and doing it myself. Maybe something like a basic rambo, or would I better off spending more and getting something like a lister nova. The flock is around 150 ewes. I currently use a jakoti for dagging all the market lambs and hand clip the odd ewe with maggots, but it's slow. Lastly , I've started to experiment with easycare replacements, but the first of these are only a few weeks old, so it's going to be a few years before these filter though the flock and the older ewes are retired.

 

[neilo]

When we faced a similar prospect in 2001 I bought a secondhand (mains) Lister Nova from Horner. I don’t shear much of I can help it, but it is a million times better than the 12v unit it replaced and is still going faultlessly.

I stupidly bought one of those cordless battery units a while back, thinking it would be handy for tidying up the odd one in the pens. As I was again cursing the weak willied thing the other day, I was thinking how the £220 would have been far better put towards a generator (as I used to have, ex F&M cleanup) to use the mains unit down the field.

 

[Bones]

I have a Horner 12 volt battery one, bought 6 or 7 years ago , cliped 150 ewes then put away in a cuboard, good enough tool, but shearing my own sheep was the final motivation I needed to change to all easy care sheep, will sell it for handy money,

 

[Green farmer]

I have a Horner 12 volt battery one, bought 6 or 7 years ago , cliped 150 ewes then put away in a cuboard, good enough tool, but shearing my own sheep was the final motivation I needed to change to all easy care sheep, will sell it for handy money,

Thanks Bones, I might p.m you whenever I figure out what machine to buy. That's the problem with making the switch, slow process to make the changeover. Just hate the messing with getting them sheared every year. Sitting in the kitchen today saw my first fly of the season buzzing around the room. Their getting earlier and earlier every year. Are the 12 volt ones the same power and speed as a plug in machine ?

 

[Bones]

Thanks Bones, I might p.m you whenever I figure out what machine to buy. That's the problem with making the switch, slow process to make the changeover. Just hate the messing with getting them sheared every year. Sitting in the kitchen today saw my first fly of the season buzzing around the room. Their getting earlier and earlier every year. Are the 12 volt ones the same power and speed as a plug in machine ?

not to sure about the speed, you could look up the Hornor site, they were good for out lying ground , just connect to land rover battery and away you go, if the weather holds up like this it will help with the availability of shearing gangs, maybe help save your back as well,

 

[Green farmer]

not to sure about the speed, you could look up the Hornor site, they were good for out lying ground , just connect to land rover battery and away you go, if the weather holds up like this it will help with the availability of shearing gangs, maybe help save your back as well,

I'm suddenly getting the urge to speed up the changeover process. My easycare ram outside the window was as bare as a pink plucked chicken a few weeks ago and is just shiny clean white how. ?

 

[Bones]

I'm suddenly getting the urge to speed up the changeover process. My easycare ram outside the window was as bare as a pink plucked chicken a few weeks ago and is just shiny clean white how. ?

if you could get your hands on a wiltshire horn Ran , might speed things up faster

 

[tepapa]

12v machines don't run quite as fast as mains electric but do a good enough job for doing a few out in a pen away from home.

 

[Deutzdx3]

Decided to shear my own alpacas, bought a 12v Horner of a chap on here. Great machine but what a job to shear. Greatest respect to shearers. Well worth it to have sitting on the shelf to get your self out of a situation though.

 

[Al R]

I'm suddenly getting the urge to speed up the changeover process. My easycare ram outside the window was as bare as a pink plucked chicken a few weeks ago and is just shiny clean white how. ?

I have a lister nova 12v, good machine, last one did 25 years of 900 ewes dagged at least once a year plus most of the lambs too. Motor finally collapsed last year and in a hurry as needed one that day bought another, one of the lads did 280 ewes crutched a few weeks ago in a day plus small lots he had to get in.

I wish I’d bought the Horner Rambo QuickDraw mind (£530?)

Flies/bluebottles and maggots(bacon traps) have been around for weeks.


Got plenty/not enough of these around at the moment too mind! V

 

[Green farmer]

I wish I’d bought the Horner Rambo QuickDraw mind (£530?)

[/QUOTE]

Their listed on the website at near £650 once the vat is added. Getting fair near the price of a full overhead machine at that money.

 

[SheafbarnRyelands]

Rambo quickdraw looks the job. I have a handheld Razor cordless machine with the battery in the handpick. I have it for flies and tidying up the back ends. Great for tagging and belly clipping. Shearing - It does the job but it is pretty big and bulky. I have sheared using it, but it isn't ideal.

 

[SheafbarnRyelands]

Rambo quickdraw looks the job. I have a handheld Razor cordless machine with the battery in the handpick. I have it for flies and tidying up the back ends. Great for tagging and belly clipping. Shearing - It does the job but it is pretty big and bulky. I have sheared using it, but it isn't ideal.

Dagging*

 

[Nithsdale]

12v machines don't run quite as fast as mains electric but do a good enough job for doing a few out in a pen away from home.

That really depends what 12v machine you're comparing to which mains machine...

Horner 3.2 is a hell of a lot faster than a Lister 2speed, for instance... but obviously isn't as fast as a Nexus in top gear

 

[livestock 1]

Last one I bought was a lister nexus and a Heineger hand piece to go with it.
The gear is there to be had

 

[andybk]

Thanks Bones, I might p.m you whenever I figure out what machine to buy. That's the problem with making the switch, slow process to make the changeover. Just hate the messing with getting them sheared every year. Sitting in the kitchen today saw my first fly of the season buzzing around the room. Their getting earlier and earlier every year. Are the 12 volt ones the same power and speed as a plug in machine ?

pretty much ,but still prefer my old lister 2sp mains machine to push on through the hard ones ,
one advantage of the horner 12v is leaving in truck and shearing anything that gets on its back in situ in field before it doesnt make it next time . worth getting if , only if for crutching everything when needed,
and dont forget a course , 3 days proper training is time well spent

 

[Estate fencing.]

I bought a reconditioned horner longhorn 3.5 10 years ago, its has been pretty much faultless (the switch broke once and I manage to bodge it up with what I had in the truck to keep going) but I don't think they sell the fast ones anymore.
Iv shorn well over 1000 ewe hoggs a year with it plus probably crutched 12,000 sheep a year with it, its rattled around in the back of 6 trucks now!

 

[Nithsdale]

I bought a reconditioned horner longhorn 3.5 10 years ago, its has been pretty much faultless (the switch broke once and I manage to bodge it up with what I had in the truck to keep going) but I don't think they sell the fast ones anymore.
Iv shorn well over 1000 ewe hoggs a year with it plus probably crutched 12,000 sheep a year with it, its rattled around in the back of 6 trucks now!

The 3.5 is still on the website
(it's the 12v 2.8 you can no longer get)


I have the 3.2 Horner, and a Nexus running in top gear and there's very little between them... they both make my old Blue 2speed feel slow

 

[Bury the Trash]

Go for a mains one if you are working or can work near power ...and can afford the bit extra... It's the extra power that makes the difference , 12v hasn't got the torque of a 240v. Nothing worse than a hand piece groaning at you when you want to go faster... and especially in dirty dry wool.

Note the Horner mains ones now are 1/2 hp ....raw power .

Flexi drive will save a few quid and be fine especially for dagging.

If one is feeling particularly minted, then go for a Nexus pro or any of the new Heiniger's, as they have an electric stopper that cuts the machine dead in the event of a lock up ,
...or will also , switch it off ...
..in the event when one goes to dinner (and forgets to isolate the power or flip the switch cord up out of the way .....) leaving sheep in the pen, and they chew the switch cord and switches the machine on...
.... instead of burning the motor out ...

 

[Cvx1170]

230v is a more consitent power input maybe, batteries wont be going flat through the course of the day.
No diffrence in how it shears, 12v is an animal unless your battery is total shitt