Dressing tups for sale

[Macsky]

What’s everyone’s techniques/timescales/tips on preparing tups for sale? All I have done is card and trim and wash legs and faces, what else is worth doing? Does washing the fleece a few weeks beforehand make a difference? Worth it?

If you want to decry the practice…..start your own thread

 

[Highland Mule]

What’s everyone’s techniques/timescales/tips on preparing tups for sale? All I have done is card and trim and wash legs and faces, what else is worth doing? Does washing the fleece a few weeks beforehand make a difference? Worth it?

If you want to decry the practice…..start your own thread

Spray on a bit of colour/ oil the horns. Anything like that tells the buyers that you are putting on a bit of effort, which would indicate you do the rest of the year too.

 

[Macsky]

Spray on a bit of colour/ oil the horns. Anything like that tells the buyers that you are putting on a bit of effort, which would indicate you do the rest of the year too.

No horns here thank goodness

 

[Highland Mule]

No horns here thank goodness

Saves you a job then.

 

[BAF]

Prepped 7 for a sale this time. Bathed them 3 weeks prior to the sale. Just hose and washing up liquid it made a big difference. Lifted the grease and dirt out of their wool. The little darlings had been lying in soil underneath an oak tree and were a not unattractive shade of brown pre wash. They were that dirty I'd be tempted to wash then twice a fortnight apart next time.
Apparently a good technique is to use more hair spray than an 80's pop star and that will hold the wool in the shape you want. I am rubbish at that sort of thing I'm not patient enough. But I can buy/see a good sheep in the rough.

 

[Longlowdog]

Purl dip with a hint of whatever colour your breed is sold in sprayed heavily on to/in to fleece will help hide a multitude of stains after you've scrubbed out the worst of the muck. However, do it weeks before the sale, no-one like to handle a sheep at a sale and come away with wet, smelly hands.
If you buy the wee pots of colour be aware they are designed to be tipped into a dipper containing a lot of water. Start with a quarter of a teaspoon to a 20l sprayer and go from there.

 

[Farmer 83563]

If you want to decry the practice…..start your own thread

 

[sgoti]

i wash them about a week before the sale with a hose pipe and shampoo, or preshure washer if there back ends ar dirty! i use buscuit bloom powder mix a tiny bit with water and use a waste oil spray gun on the compresor. do it a good couple of days before so it gets time to dry, a good tip for you, DO NOT put them in a feild with any tractors o machinery parked up they will go and rub against them few years ago one got stuck under the digger, he was black when he came out

 

[Ysgythan]

What’s everyone’s techniques/timescales/tips on preparing tups for sale? All I have done is card and trim and wash legs and faces, what else is worth doing? Does washing the fleece a few weeks beforehand make a difference? Worth it?

If you want to decry the practice…..start your own thread

Year before sale
1 - shear ewe lambs in late July/early August
2 - shear any shearling candidate ram lambs in October
Months before sale (shearlings)
1 - shear when fly strike starts being an issue
2 - depending on that timing may shear December in lambers again at the same time as the ewe lambs.
Couple of weeks before sale
1 - dip with softened water
2 - allow to soak then take a pressure washer to the worst bits
3 - purl and bloom
Day or two before sale
1 - wash head and legs leaving suds in
2 - Spray coat to freshen up
3 - pluck stray daggy bits
4 - rinse head and legs
Day of sale
1 - wipe head and legs with damp cloth
2 - spray some limoshine if feeling extravagant

 

[neilo]

Prepped 7 for a sale this time. Bathed them 3 weeks prior to the sale. Just hose and washing up liquid it made a big difference. Lifted the grease and dirt out of their wool. The little darlings had been lying in soil underneath an oak tree and were a not unattractive shade of brown pre wash. They were that dirty I'd be tempted to wash then twice a fortnight apart next time.
Apparently a good technique is to use more hair spray than an 80's pop star and that will hold the wool in the shape you want. I am rubbish at that sort of thing I'm not patient enough. But I can buy/see a good sheep in the rough.

You’ll need something to ‘fix’ the fleece down again if you use washing up liquid! It strips all the natural grease and oils out of the wool.
Use soda chrystals in water (basically making the soft water @Ysgythan mentioned) instead.

 

[BAF]

You’ll need something to ‘fix’ the fleece down again if you use washing up liquid! It strips all the natural grease and oils out of the wool.
Use soda chrystals in water (basically making the soft water @Ysgythan mentioned) instead.

To be honest I don't like doing anything I'm not good at so I'd happily pay someone else to do all the sales prep including washing them!

 

[Nithsdale]

I've never dressed a tup before... but I reckon Bootcut jeans and a Hoody would look good.

 

[Nithsdale]

Sorry, couldn't resist


Taking notes as I might need to start in the not too distant future

 

[Macsky]

I've never dressed a tup before... but I reckon Bootcut jeans and a Hoody would look good.

Always thought a pair of ray-bans would look pretty sharp

 

[Y Fan Wen]

Couldn't believe my eyes when next door came back from oop north with a blackie. He was green with shining horns and claws as though he was just going for a night of pulling birds.
Here WM are always shown au naturel. Only earmarks, tags and felt tip lot number on the horns are expected.

 

[Werzle]

i wash them about a week before the sale with a hose pipe and shampoo, or preshure washer if there back ends ar dirty! i use buscuit bloom powder mix a tiny bit with water and use a waste oil spray gun on the compresor. do it a good couple of days before so it gets time to dry, a good tip for you, DO NOT put them in a feild with any tractors o machinery parked up they will go and rub against them few years ago one got stuck under the digger, he was black when he came out

Or in a field with fresh ish creosote posts

 

[AftonShepherd]

Sorry, couldn't resist


Taking notes as I might need to start in the not too distant future

Dressing yourself? Or selling tups?

 

[Nithsdale]

Dressing yourself? Or selling tups?

Both... you've seen what I wear

 

[AftonShepherd]

Both... you've seen what I wear

I assumed there had been a power cut ...

 

[Macsky]

Or in a field with fresh ish creosote posts

Or the aluminium sheet round the bottom of the old arsenic filled telegraph poles, a good rub leaves them black with the tarnish off it