Shearing 2022

hendrebc

Member
Livestock Farmer
Shearing in Wales is so cheap, just get a contractor in
No.
We used to get messed about a lot because we have a good sized shed under one roof so were always expected to have dry sheep at a minutes notice when everyone else had wet sheep. And then if they had wind of any dry sheep anywhere else they would go there instead and we'd have to turn them out again till there was no more dry sheep anywhere else. The one shearing contractor we had who was good gave up when I was 17 so I decided to do them myself. Quite a few friends who worked for shearing contractors and a couple of the contractors themselves at the time said it was too many to do myself (i got the impression they just wanted a good sized flock with a shed on their round for a rainy day...) one even turned up while I was shearing to ask when I wanted him to come and finish.
So me being the stubborn bugger I am thought no f**k the lot of you I'm doing them and I've done them ever since 🖕🖕
Won't be any need shearing soon anyway.
 

tepapa

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North Wales
No.
We used to get messed about a lot because we have a good sized shed under one roof so were always expected to have dry sheep at a minutes notice when everyone else had wet sheep. And then if they had wind of any dry sheep anywhere else they would go there instead and we'd have to turn them out again till there was no more dry sheep anywhere else. The one shearing contractor we had who was good gave up when I was 17 so I decided to do them myself. Quite a few friends who worked for shearing contractors and a couple of the contractors themselves at the time said it was too many to do myself (i got the impression they just wanted a good sized flock with a shed on their round for a rainy day...) one even turned up while I was shearing to ask when I wanted him to come and finish.
So me being the stubborn bugger I am thought no f**k the lot of you I'm doing them and I've done them ever since 🖕🖕
Won't be any need shearing soon anyway.
Fair play to you.
 

tepapa

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North Wales
Got 100 hoggs and rams done this morning for one place. Hoggs were fit and sheared well. Then moved to do some ewes for another farmer. They looked awful, thin and sticky, but even though they were a bit sticky on the points it came off them surprisingly well, thank god. It gave me faith to attempt more ewes even though it's only mid May.
 

Kingcustard

Member
Anyone else hate shearing there own sheep, trying to get my dry mules done yesterday afternoon almost broke me, 120 sheared, wormed and the wool rolled and load onto trailer.
I love shearing my own. Every field clipped is one less to be checked every afternoon for backed sheep.

Used to do 3 - 4000 for local farmers and got sick of it.

The usual phone call now is...

Farmer.... Can you clip my sheep...

Me.... Yes...

Farmer.... When can you come....

Me..... I said I can clip them, I didn't say I will clip them, surely if your such an expert in sheep you should know how to clip them yourself .....


I still clip for a few old farmers who used to do their own but are too old now, but people who have never bothered to learn can bugger off....

When I came home dad explained that if you have sheep you learn to clip sheep and do them yourself.... that way you know what it takes to get a ewe to shearing season in condition and ready to be clipped

I don't need the hassle or the back ache of other folks sheep now and get pee'd off when they quibble £1.20 a ewe, or say that they shouldn't be paying for the ones that only have a few tufts left..... I point out that I could be charging double for tups and sticky sheep but don't ... its always folk that have never clipped that stand and tell you how the last guy did it better.... the reason the last guy isn't here this year is because you don't look after your ewes so they have no rise and are skeleton thin and an absolute c@nt to clip
 

Estate fencing.

Member
Livestock Farmer
Iv got that much work ahead of me I'm dropping the badly organized and bad to shear farms, its just not worth it. Small bunch's are fine as long as they are in when I get there in the evening but if one more text me 1/2 hour before I get there "bring a dog" I'm going to punch them. Some places are nice to go to, people are pleasant, sheep shear on whole well and they keep them coming at you all day, but the ones that have never even crutched a ewe and sheep aren't ready are just such a pain and Iv got better thing to do.
 

Estate fencing.

Member
Livestock Farmer
Got 100 hoggs and rams done this morning for one place. Hoggs were fit and sheared well. Then moved to do some ewes for another farmer. They looked awful, thin and sticky, but even though they were a bit sticky on the points it came off them surprisingly well, thank god. It gave me faith to attempt more ewes even though it's only mid May.
Hogg's this year are shearing better than I can remember, but they are far stronger than other years and some are giving are really battle. Got one big flock of 3000 dry hogg's to do next week then its time to start the ewes that seem in better order than last year.
 

Kingcustard

Member
Iv got that much work ahead of me I'm dropping the badly organized and bad to shear farms, its just not worth it. Small bunch's are fine as long as they are in when I get there in the evening but if one more text me 1/2 hour before I get there "bring a dog" I'm going to punch them. Some places are nice to go to, people are pleasant, sheep shear on whole well and they keep them coming at you all day, but the ones that have never even crutched a ewe and sheep aren't ready are just such a pain and Iv got better thing to do.
When you are hating the thought of clipping, then have to do 4 laps of a field to get them in before you start, it's the ultimate pee take.

When I am getting lectured about sheep by the folk who think they know it all I just ask how many ewes they have clipped and they soon shut up.

The people that have never clipped are usually the people who have the breeds with wool from head to toe and right down their legs, there is nothing better than turning a mule or a Suffolk cross to reveal a nice bare belly..... that's sheep shearing porn right there.

The hardest thing you do with a ewe every year is clip it, and that is a major factor in the ewes I run.
 

Optimus

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North of Perth
When you are hating the thought of clipping, then have to do 4 laps of a field to get them in before you start, it's the ultimate pee take.

When I am getting lectured about sheep by the folk who think they know it all I just ask how many ewes they have clipped and they soon shut up.

The people that have never clipped are usually the people who have the breeds with wool from head to toe and right down their legs, there is nothing better than turning a mule or a Suffolk cross to reveal a nice bare belly..... that's sheep shearing porn right there.

The hardest thing you do with a ewe every year is clip it, and that is a major factor in the ewes I run.
I always laugh when my brother comes in the shed an says " you should try trimming cattles feet all day"
I just laugh an hand him the handpiece. He's still not clipped one yet, including his own sheep!
 

Kingcustard

Member
I always laugh when my brother comes in the shed an says " you should try trimming cattles feet all day"
I just laugh an hand him the handpiece. He's still not clipped one yet, including his own sheep!
Haha read an article years ago from some Austrailian Institute who concluded that sheep shearing is the most physically demanding job there is with the exception of forced or slave labour.

Its amazing how many people claim to have clipped sheep but never take up the offer to shear one.....

.... My brother was complaining about me moaning when trying to clip 150 ewe hoggs in the blazing heat when I first started, so dad suggested he clip one if he was such an expert...... 20 minutes later the partly shorn hogg rolled one way off the trailer and he rolled the other..... his face was completely beetroot and he couldn't get up for an age...... he was probably having an medical emergency but me, dad and my other brother where laughing so much we couldn't do anything to help.....

Still the funniest thing I've ever seen in 30 years of clipping sheep haha, I'm laughing to myself writing this, away to remind him about it now haha
 

Optimus

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North of Perth
Haha read an article years ago from some Austrailian Institute who concluded that sheep shearing is the most physically demanding job there is with the exception of forced or slave labour.

Its amazing how many people claim to have clipped sheep but never take up the offer to shear one.....

.... My brother was complaining about me moaning when trying to clip 150 ewe hoggs in the blazing heat when I first started, so dad suggested he clip one if he was such an expert...... 20 minutes later the partly shorn hogg rolled one way off the trailer and he rolled the other..... his face was completely beetroot and he couldn't get up for an age...... he was probably having an medical emergency but me, dad and my other brother where laughing so much we couldn't do anything to help.....

Still the funniest thing I've ever seen in 30 years of clipping sheep haha, I'm laughing to myself writing this, away to remind him about it now haha
Worst 2 days of my life was going on a shearing course an trying to learn on sh!t blackie ewe hoggs.never been kicked an beaten like it ever since!
 

Kingcustard

Member
Worst 2 days of my life was going on a shearing course an trying to learn on sh!t blackie ewe hoggs.never been kicked an beaten like it ever since!
I went on the course and there were about 20 folk on the course, 2nd day there were 5, last day me and one other boy.

We were clipping blackie hoggs too, I hate to think how many of them were missing at least one teat by the end of the course. There were plenty with ears cut off and striped like a zebra.

I still hate ewe hoggs, I'd rather clip Suffolk tups
 

Kingcustard

Member
I was shearing sheep for an ex sas soldier a couple of years ago. Kept say how easy I looked. He looked a fool when it took him all of lunch to get through one. Kept very quite in the afternoon. 😂
Haha I bet you never laughed at him though....

.... Its a great chance to moan about your neighbours sheep though, they are too scared to say anything when you are calling them f@cking ill bred, ill fed, woolly c@nting goats of things in case you walk off and they have no one else to shear them haha.
 

Estate fencing.

Member
Livestock Farmer
I learnt of Welsh ewe hoggs and hated them for years, but after a god few years and with plenty of experience under my belt I overcame the fear/dread/hatered for them once I had the skill to master them
I quite like doing Welsh hoggs. Big Suffolk mule run dry are the bain of my life.
 

Kingcustard

Member
I learnt of Welsh ewe hoggs and hated them for years, but after a god few years and with plenty of experience under my belt I overcame the fear/dread/hatered for them once I had the skill to master them
I have sheared thousand of the jumpy little barstewards..... plenty of experience here, its more the fact that I am 6ft 6 and they are not big enough to get them properly between my knees so they keep slipping through the back.

Add the fact that the wool is worth f@ck all and it's not enjoyable at all.

Love clipping big mules, Suffolks and tups especially when these are the ones that people expect you to struggle on.

Only got 5 NZ Suffolk tups to clip and 3 texel tups which have almost shed.

When will @easyram1 get the wool bred off them and then they can rule the world haha
 

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