Sheep shearing shenanigans
Home » Blog » Judy Sutherland » Sheep shearing shenanigansHerding sheep turns out to be harder than it looks. Judy's trials on the farm continue...
As hair grows on humans, so does wool grow on sheep. Our lambs arrived in a rather wooly state, and it wasn’t long before they needed a visit from the sheep barber. We found a willing man with the right equipment; it was our job to get the sheep to a new, specifically built enclosure so he could perform the act.
Mr Shearer was coming early afternoon so we had plenty of time to round up the seven grazing animals. We assumed they would be very happy to move to the next paddock of green grass via our new pens. But, as I am finding out more and more frequently, my assumptions are wrong more often than not. Four of our wooly creatures did go straight into the pens—but three wised up and determined not to go near them.
Jim came up behind the sheep while I stood at an appropriate possie on the hill to direct them into the yards. As they came up the hill and saw me, they took off down the hill again. Then I came up behind the sheep while Jim stood at an appropriate possie on the hill to direct them into the yards. As they came up the hill and saw Jim, they took off down the hill again.
Let’s try a different tactic: we’ll move them around the hill, then up the fence-line. More exercise for us, scrambling over gorse stumps and drying prickles. I was pleased to have my thicker-than-gardening-gloves on! We managed to get the fluffy jerseys to the pens, but even their mates couldn’t entice them in. They took one look at Jim and ran straight past him—again … and again … and again. Why is it that it seems necessary for us to repeat exercises many times? Okay, I know, we really do need the exercise!
Eventually, we called in reinforcements. Two of my nephews were called from town and neighbour-with-the-junk came to help on his quad bike. The sheep were eventually baled up in said neighbour’s pens, loaded onto our trailer, driven to the top of the hill and unceremoniously tossed (well, not quite) over the ha-ha into the pens.
Mr Shearer arrived just as the fun ended and duly shore our wooly stock. Oh, what naked sheep we now released back into the paddocks.
We heard soon afterwards that sheep will naturally go to the bottom of a hill. More pens were built, which could be accessed from three paddocks. We also had the brilliant idea to put a water supply in these yards, so stock would be totally familiar with the pens when we needed to enclose them. The yards were built at the bottom of the hill: they were a pleasure to construct (I only needed one series of visits to my physio afterwards), and the bottom-of-the-hill theory works very well. Hurrah, we got something right, at last!
