A Look at Shearing on a NZ Sheep and Beef Farm
.JPG)
A few days ago at my neighbours, it was shearing time. I love going to watch the shearing because I spent many years on large sheep and beef farms and I miss the atmosphere.
I happened to be going there to visit so I asked if I could take some photos.
The shearers response was funny, thinking they might get famous.
They had 2500 ewes and 2000 lambs to shear over 4 days
Here is a brief look at shearing on a sheep and beef station.
Fun Fact
The world record for lamb shearing is held by Ivan Scott. He shore 744 lambs in 8 hours. That's 93 per hour and on average 1.5 lambs PER MINUTE. OMG that's amazing!!!!
Hard Work in the Shearing Shed
Taking the belly off.
Back Leg then Top Knot.
Going down the long side.
Other Back Leg and Nearly finished!
The Heat
It's the peak of summer here and the temperatures are reaching over 30 degrees. There isn't any air con in the sheds and with the tin roof the heat is stifling. The shearers find it very hot going. They have brought fans to help cool themselves down.
The Wool
The wool is sorted by the wool handlers into various grades. The belly goes in one pile and the edges of the fleece goes in another then the main body of wool gets packed in to wool fadges and gets baled.
Fleece wool.
Wool being packed in to the press to be baled. In the background you can see the completed bales.
Lambs
.JPG)
They must feel quite relieved to get rid of the wool when it's summer time. Lambs do much better out of their wool. They gain weight much quicker.
Jade
.JPG)
This is a typical Huntaway. Her job is to chase sheep. She barks to make them run away from her either on hills or paddocks but in this case she was used to move sheep around in the yards and to fill the shed with lambs.
.JPG)
Lambs waiting in the yards for their turn to have their wool off
I thoroughly enjoyed my time visiting the shed and hope you enjoyed a glimpse of Shearing in New Zealand.
Please feel free to comment as all feedback is welcome.
Please Remember to Upvote - Resteems are Appreciated :)
Wow - do you remember that TV show where people used to race each other shearing?
Now I'm wondering if it is shore or sheared? - Gonna have to look that up.
How I envy you stinking hot in a shed!
You need some snow
I think I'll go and stand under the aircon for a while...
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
You and your bloody new air con - grrr makes me jealous!!! On the plus side today is cooler!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Naww Hi lamb!! haha It needs its coat off too
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Great post Andrea! I've just joined Steemit after about a year of @sift666 badgering me to do so. Getting my ducks in a row to upload my intro post this week hopefully.
Shearing is a fascinating Iron Wo/man kinda thing- so cool!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Nice to meet you and welcome to steemit - I shall follow you! We can all help each other going forward :)
Have fun meeting new people!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
You call that badgering? :)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
amazing post steem frined.
i am inspire about him from your post.
thank you for your post.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thank you :)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Oh, what a fun day you had watching the sheep shearing! I always think it must hurt to get that wool cut off but I know it doesn't. I bet the sheep and lambs are much cooler now!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Yes it really was great! Being amongst the hustle and bustle of it all :) So much cooler I'm sure.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
This is a very interesting post. Thank you for sharing with us!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
You're welcome! I had a fun day - Thank you for coming to visit :)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Cool, I visited a farm when I was a kid. My school had an exchange with a school in France, and the family I stayed with were farmers. They had about 20 cows, some pigs, geese and ducks right near the house that they used themselves, but their main thing was a chicken farm. They had HUGE barns with thousands of chickens running around inside. I've never smelled anything quite so putrid as when they took me inside the barn to collect dead birds. Some of them will peck the weaker ones to death - made the term "pecking order" really have meaning lol
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Yip I hear ya - I have bred chickens myself for 20 plus years and they sure are awful mean. Even the baby chick kill each other very quickly. The smell is something you don't forget in a hurry especially in the heat.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
That's a lot of sheep to shear! And hot work too. Great photos.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
It really is a big job and it hurts my back just looking at them bent over all day. Thank you :)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Me to always enjoyed visiting farm houses.. It was interesting to see someone shearing.. Thanx for sharing
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
You're welcome - I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
That's a lot of sheep to shear. They look so different when there naked lol
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Such a lot of work - yea you're right they go from babies to more adult looking lol
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
More wrinkly lol
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thank you, it's always interesting to peer into another world! :)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
You're welcome - I had fun doing this one and hope I get the chance to do more like it. :)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Poor sheep having to lug that wool around in this heat.
Ambury farm is a working farm up in Auckland, they do Ambury farm day once a year, where the city Jaffers can get a taste of the country, they show the kids how shearing is done and let them get up and close.
Out side is the lady's knitting and selling jumpers, cardigans and booties - gives the kids the whole picture of wool.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
That's a great idea - it's amazing how many kids don't have any idea about wool and where it comes from!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I honestly don't know how the shearers cope with such back-breaking work over long hours.
There are competitions held down here every year, too, and several shearing gangs nearby. Not as many sheep as there used to be though, as so many farms converted to dairy.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
The competitions are still extremely popular! You're right the sheep numbers have dropped drastically over the last 20 years.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
And not only from these massive farm conversions, but because mutton, hogget and lamb have fallen out of dining favour. Perhaps not so much lamb, and that is slowly making a comeback I think; but with people being more health-conscious these days too they look to different cuts.
Not to mention the drop in using wool. I like that people have begun to look to other ways of using this natural fibre (I'd ditch synthetics any day!) such as house insulation because of its fire-resistant properties. :)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Congratulations @andysantics48! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on any badge to view your own Board of Honor on SteemitBoard.
For more information about SteemitBoard, click here
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPDownvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Congratulations @andysantics48! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on any badge to view your own Board of Honor on SteemitBoard.
For more information about SteemitBoard, click here
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPDownvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit