TO CLIP OR NOT TO CLIP ….. so when and how?
This morning in early January 2008 with winter sun shining on frost -etched fields, I look at Grey Owl my precious 21 month old Silver Grey ram( Upper Mill Bloodline) showing off his 3rd fleece, newly washed by recent rain. It is a perfect length at approx. 7” with no damage or weathering. The moment to begin his winter clip has arrived. Why now and how has this pattern of twice-yearly clipping come about? (Insert first pic of ram).
The Beech Hill Black Wensleydale flock was founded with Upper Mill stock in late 2000 with much to learn. The following summer I rang everyone with Wensleydales I could find, asking how they sheared their flocks:
“What do you mean, how do we shear them – like any other sheep, of course!” (silly woman).
“We clip ours by hand…(oops, I am left handed)
“We shear ours standing up”. (they are nearly as big as I am).
“We turn ours upside down on a mattress, because they kick otherwise as they are bony (not a hope).
“We shear ours horizontally……”
“Vertically….” (I am now dizzy). “Why don’t you send it all to the Wool Board (not likely, after all that effort, time and money spent on nutrition and care – my first longwool fleeces after Texel Tat).
This morning in early January 2008 with winter sun shining on frost -etched fields, I look at Grey Owl my precious 21 month old Silver Grey ram( Upper Mill Bloodline) showing off his 3rd fleece, newly washed by recent rain. It is a perfect length at approx. 7” with no damage or weathering. The moment to begin his winter clip has arrived. Why now and how has this pattern of twice-yearly clipping come about? (Insert first pic of ram).
The Beech Hill Black Wensleydale flock was founded with Upper Mill stock in late 2000 with much to learn. The following summer I rang everyone with Wensleydales I could find, asking how they sheared their flocks:
“What do you mean, how do we shear them – like any other sheep, of course!” (silly woman).
“We clip ours by hand…(oops, I am left handed)
“We shear ours standing up”. (they are nearly as big as I am).
“We turn ours upside down on a mattress, because they kick otherwise as they are bony (not a hope).
“We shear ours horizontally……”
“Vertically….” (I am now dizzy). “Why don’t you send it all to the Wool Board (not likely, after all that effort, time and money spent on nutrition and care – my first longwool fleeces after Texel Tat).
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