After our rush to get the goats in under cover we were rewarded with lovely thunderstorms and 1/4 inch of rain on Saturday afternoon - very satisfying to know we didn’t run round and round the paddocks in vain. Luckily though, Sunday was bright and sunny again and not too hot, perfect weather for shearing.
I was up at the shed at 8.30am getting ready (ugh), shearers like their floors swept, and we had to make some room for the fleeces. Stephen and Anne arrived at about 9 and we got started.
A few goats at a time get put into the catching pen - it’s right next to the shearing floor and has a swing gate. The shearer goes into the pen and catches a goat (or sheep) and then backs out straight onto the floor in the correct position.
Shearing starts at the belly, traditionally this is swept aside and sold separately as sheep belly is usually shorter, but the goat bellies were nice and long and clean so we kept them together in a box for carding. Then the hind legs and rear end are done and this was discarded - all the dirty straggly bits.
Then the real business starts, and it’s fascinating to watch as the locks peel away from the skin in layer after layer. The shearer goes up one back leg, across the flank on that side, does all the topknot fiddly bits (horns are fun!) and then down the other flank. The good fleece all peels away in one big piece.
The nekkid goat gets sent out the door to a pen (only one went the wrong way and leapt around all over the shed before we caught her!) and the shearer catches the next one.
The shed hand (moi!) gathers up the fleece and takes it to the skirting table. There’s not much skirting to do, as we left behind most of the unwanted bits, but I had to check carefully for any second cuts and straggly bits that crept in.
The fleece is then rolled up in a pillowcase (you can see them behind me) and allocated to a pile depending on the quality. Even though the goats are all roughly the same age we had quite a lot of variation.
After 19 sweet little does, goat number 20 was rather more of a handful :-D
We didn’t put his fleece with the rest, it’s rather pungent smelling!
Goat number 21 wasn’t actually a goat:
…but his fleece is just as lovely. He gets shorn standing up, he’s far too dignified to sit down on his butt for a haircut. I don’t have a picture of him afterwards, but will get one in the next day or so.
The goats get shorn twice a year, this is their third clip and will probably be the best overall, although some of them had such fine fleece this time that the next one will probably also be excellent. Their next job is to have some babies for us - hence the smelly man pictured above :-D
The Mohair will be up for sale soon, washed and dyed in Mum’s Etsy shop and as whole fleeces as well. I’ll keep you posted.
Ciao! x
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