shearing

This spring saw a combination of warm and humid conditions, bringing an anxious lead-in time for sheep shearing. Apart from the visibly ragged pieces of fleece hanging down, and the scratching and rubbing that sheep do, when they get too waram and uncomfortable, it's what goes on underneath all that fleece that causes the worry.

Flies. Flies lay eggs in dirty fleece, which hatch into maggots, that literally eat their way into the animal. This cause and effect is known as fly strike and is deeply unpleasant to deal with - can be treated if caught early, but can also be fatal in some cases.

Like every other skilled seasonal trade - shearers are in huge demand by everyone, all at the same time, and many are unwilling to take on small flocks (economy of scale and all that). This can mean a long wait.

I consider ourselves fortunate, that our shearer was able to come to us when he did, despite the fact that we had less than an hour's notice before dark, to get all sheep in, as it had forecast rain overnight, and you can't shear wet fleeces next day. All sheep were fine, except one, where maggots were just appearing in a lump of poo stuck to her fleece. A couple more days, and they would have been burrowing into the sheep's skin. A lucky escape for her and for us.

Our ram, Frodo, was led in, looking majestic and imposing in his woolly robes, and then led out, as you might imagine a naked king Henry VIII to look - with nothing to hide his rotund and portly appearance, and no way of concealing the evidence of over-indulgence in the eating department.

There may well be a few people out there, who like me, can empathise with Frodo, as summer approaches. You know how it is, when you have to peel off those layers, and come to terms with all those flabby bits you pretended weren't there during the winter. Time to wake up and pinch an inch or two!